3 AUG: Irish budget airline Ryanair is in the news again, this time for making three European musicians pay for additional seats for their violins on a flight from Frankfurt to London.
The carrier reportedly told the travellers that the instruments, valued at up to $1.2m each, were too big for overhead lockers and would have to have their own seats at a total cost of about $2000.
The musicians wouldn’t allow them to be carried as checked luggage, so a UK charity which organised their appearance at a Bach concert in Norfolk paid for the extra seats.
But the charity now says it’s looking at taking legal action against Ryanair for alleged breach of contract.
It says that when the musicians’ flights were booked a month ago, the airline agreed that the valuable instruments would be exempt from hand luggage limits.
A Ryanair spokesman said terms and conditions of carriage clearly explain that musical instruments need to have a second seat and that policy has not changed in two years.
