Nor was I to use rewards from my own account to buy cello’s tickets.” “I was threatened with legal action if I ever again attempted such a heinous crime as holding a mileage account in my cello’s name. The same thing happened with British Airways, Isserlis says. After the airline damaged his instrument, he said, the company “even made it difficult for me to file a claim.”Īccording to Delta spokesman Paul Skrbec: “We advised him that mileage cannot be accumulated for tickets purchased for musical instruments.”
“Southwest Air handed me back my double bass in its flight case - with the neck and scroll dislodged from the body by a jagged break,” says Rice University grad student Drew Banzhaf, who had been on his way to an important audition. “And when they couldn’t get six seat belts around it, they threw us both off the plane!”Ģ012 IN REVIEW: L.A’s top 10 arts and culture stories “Air Canada tried to put my cello in a bassinet like a baby but one that doesn’t wake and cry,” says droll London-based cellist Steven Isserlis. Cellists have been bearing the brunt because their cargo is too precious to check as regular baggage but so large that it requires an extra cabin seat. And it’s overtaking what used to be a well-understood, mutually respectful transaction - between cellists (mostly) and the industry that transports them and their treasured instruments. Loud grumbles can be heard by travelers at this busy time of year under normal circumstances, but what is that noise going on with itinerant virtuosos carrying on board million-dollar-plus Strads and Guarneris on their way to concert dates?