“On Monday, violinists Zach de Pue and Nick Kendall of Time for Three were left alone on the tarmac at Charlotte Douglas International Airport after the captain and crew of U.S. Airways flight No. 4799 informed them that their violins were not allowed on the flight,” reports Laurie Niles on Tuesday (5/27) at her Violinist.com blog. “Both violinists are members of Time for Three, and they were on their way to meet up with their bandmate, bassist Ranaan Meyer in Fayetteville, Arkansas, to play for the Artosphere Arts and Nature Festival.” Individually, de Pue, Kendall, and Meyer also perform with several major orchestras. “In frustration, they made this video [while waiting on the tarmac to board the plane]. By about 7 p.m. they were on their way on another flight, according to their Twitter feed.… It would appear that denying them on the first flight was against FAA policies. The FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act of 2012, approved by the U.S. Congress in February of that year, in Section 713, ‘requires an air carrier to permit an air passenger to carry a violin, guitar, or other musical instrument on a passenger aircraft without charge if it can be stowed safely in a suitable baggage compartment in the aircraft or under a passenger seat.’ ”
Posted May 28, 2014
