For subscribers
After ‘priceless’ violin flies on lap, Lufthansa changes carry-on rules
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Lufthansa Group, citing "customer feedback", said it would be applying a new, more generous” carry-on policy for small instruments such as violins, trumpets or ukuleles.
PHOTO: PIXABAY
Christine Hauser
German violinist Carolin Widmann played a concerto in Finland in November 2025 and set off for a quick trip home before a performance in Vienna. But at the airport in Helsinki, she was faced with a conundrum: what to do with her centuries-old violin.
As she tried to board a Lufthansa flight, an airline employee said her violin case was too long to fit in the cabin. Despite her protests, the only option for transporting the multi-million-dollar instrument was to remove it, buy a second seat on the flight to Frankfurt and hold it on a connecting flight to Leipzig, her home town.
