Cello Forces Vienna Musician Off Flight, But Airline Changes Its Tune

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Vienna musician who bought an extra seat for the cello he was flying with was kicked off his flight when airline officials deemed the instrument a flight risk. Cellist John Kaboff, founder of the Kaboff Cello School in Vienna, Virginia, was taking an American Airlines flight Tuesday from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to Chicago, where he needed to go to get his instrument repaired, ABC News reports.

As he's done in the past, Kaboff purchased a seat for his cello, and he planned to use a seat belt extender to secure it, something else he had done on previous flights with the airline, the report stated. But this time, he was denied an extender by the crew and told he couldn't fly because his cello was a flight risk, the report added.

The flight crew mistook Kaboff's $100,000 cello for the larger string bass, which the airline bans from the cabin. Although the professional musician tried to educate the crew, he was told the pilot had made the decision that the instrument had to be removed, WJLA reports.

"I've flown American Airlines twice this month already, and I [didn't] have a problem," Kaboff told ABC News.

After failing in his attempts to convince flight attendants and the crew captain to change their minds, Kaboff disembarked. He then did what most people in the 21st century do when they've been frustrated by a consumer experience: He vented on social media.

"I need to go to Chicago today for work. Unfortunately a flight attendant who makes the decision for the safety of an entire airplane has decided that the Cello touching the floor in the bulkhead is [not] safe," he wrote in the Facebook update that accompanied of his streaming video. "This is where the Cello is supposed to sit."

Kaboff's Facebook video not only received more than 5,000 views, it also received a swift response from the airline.

At the gate, American Airlines recognized the error, apologized to Kaboff and booked him on the next flight to Chicago, according to ABC News. The airline also said in a statement the following day that it would refund Kaboff $150 for the cost of his cello's seat, although he had yet to receive the money as of Thursday morning, the repot added.

Since the incident, Kaboff — who says he has been flying with a cello for 30 years an average of six to eight times a year — is asking for other musicians to send him their anecdotes of troubles flying with a cello. He said he's compiling the stories for a New York City TV station, according to his Facebook post.

— By Patch Editor Joe Vince

image via Patch archive

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