The famous Polish musician Janusz Wawrowski found himself in an unusual situation. The airline has banned a $5 million Stradivarius violin from being carried on board. The man was forced to travel from Vilnius to Warsaw by bus, reports Mirror.
Polish virtuoso violinist Janusz Wawrowski was flying home after performing with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra. A Polish Airlines employee “decided to be principled” by saying that the size of the violin is larger than the size of the allowed carry-on luggage. She offered to send her to the cargo hold.
Janusz Wawrowski tried to explain that this is a very valuable musical instrument that has no analogs in the world. But the representative of the airline in response only said: “Let’s see what happens to her in the cargo hold.” The musician, instead of an hour by plane, was forced to get home 8 hours by bus.
“At first I thought it was a cruel joke. The airport was almost empty, so I did not expect such a problem at all. When it turned out that I was not allowed on board, I was devastated,” says the musician.
The valuable $5 million instrument was bought by an anonymous donor and presented to Poland in 2018 to mark the 100th anniversary of the country’s independence.
According to the Mirror, the airline later contacted the musician to say that they had changed their policy and now violins are allowed on all LOT Polish Airlines flights. They apologized and reimbursed Wawrowski for the plane and bus tickets.