Carolin Widmann Forced To Carry Bare Guadagnini Violin on Airplane
German violinist Carolin Widmann was forced to remove her 1782 Giovanni Battista Guadagnini violin from its case and carry the bare instrument in her arms on a set of Lufthansa flights from Helsinki via Frankfurt to Leipzig.
Violinist Carolin Widmann, carrying a 1782 Guadagnini violin in her arms after Lufthansa refused her violin case on the flight.
"No argument helped, and I was forced to fly home, holding my bare, naked Guadagnini violin wrapped in my sweater in my arms," Widman wrote on her Instagram page. "In the 25 years of my professional career, I often had to negotiate or discuss with airlines and staff," she said, but this was the first time she was met with such fierce resistance.
The incident unfolded at Helsinki Vantaa airport in Finland, where she arrived on Friday morning after performing in a concert with the Tapiola Sinfonietta in Espoo, Finland, the night before.
"As a violin soloist, I fly to most of my approximately 60 International concerts per year with this company," Widmann wrote. "I (or the promoters) spend quite a large share of my fee on plane tickets and I have a Senator status as a frequent traveler."
At the airport, she was told by the Lufthansa representative at the check-in counter that her standard-size violin case exceeded the measurements allowed as cabin baggage on their flights.
"That I am flying with Lufthansa dozens of times per year all over the world and never had a problem with the measurements of my violin case didn't help the argument in the least," she wrote, "...neither did my Senator status."
She asked to speak with the supervisor from the handling company Airpro, and when that supervisor arrived a half-hour later, she said that Widmann would have to purchase an extra seat for the violin.
"I was desperate enough to do this," Widmann wrote; however it proved impossible to find a seat on both of her flights. "On my connection flight from Frankfurt to Leipzig, the flight was fully booked, no free seat was available to purchase for my violin case."
For ticketing reasons, they couldn't sell her a ticket for the violin case for one leg of the trip only; the instrument case's ticket needs to have the same routing as she did.
"Despite my pleading, arguing, and despite my tears: They had no mercy and insisted that the rule had to be followed," Widmann wrote.
This being the case, "the only way I could get home would be to check in my violin case with my valuable Giovanni Battista Guadagnini violin from 1782 like an ordinary suitcase. Of course this wasn't even an option for me."
It wouldn't be for any of us.
This left just one more solution: "I was forced to do the unthinkable: I had to check in the empty violin case as an extra suitcase and had to travel with the bare violin, out of its case, from Helsinki via Frankfurt to Leipzig," Widmann wrote.
"Tears rolling down my cheeks because I felt so protective of my instrument and was so shocked at the completely stubborn and nonsensical insistence on 'rules' that seem to be brutally implemented at Helsinki airport only, I took my precious and beloved violin out of its case, wrapped it into my sweater, carried it with me through security and boarded the plane," Widmann wrote. "I held my violin in my arms during the entire time of my journey to protect it and also was in touch with the owner of the instrument in London to inform her about the situation. She was very supportive."
She added that, unlike the Helsinki check-in staff, "the Lufthansa crew on the flight was extremely friendly to me and helped in any way they could."
Widmann and her instrument made it home safely, but with a renewed sense that the airline situation is untenable for working musicians.
Widmann also presented some math: A standard violin case measures 80 cm x 27 cm x 16 cm. The allowed measurements for cabin luggage are normally 55 cm x 40 cm x 25 cm. In other words, the volume of a violin case is 34.6 liters, and the volume of allowable cabin luggage is 55 liters. That means that the volume of a violin case is actually considerably smaller than the volume of the roller suitcases that are regularly allowed on any flight. (Smaller by more than a third!)
"It takes no math genius to realize that the volume of a violin case is actually much SMALLER than that of a trolley that's easily allowed to take on board!" she said.
"We violinists (and the afterworld who we preserve our valuable instruments for!) depend on our instruments being treated securely and with respect - namely traveling in a safe violin case from A to B," Widmann wrote. "We are happy to follow the rules. But these rules urgently need to be updated, amended, and applied globally - so that we can travel with our valuable instruments for our profession without fear of harassment or of being denied boarding."
The United States actually has much more protection for traveling musicians than does the European Union, when it comes to carrying instruments such as violins, violas, etc. on an airplane.
A 2012 FAA regulation in the U.S. (which was updated in 2015) "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."
The European Union has no such regulations, though the International Federation of Musicians has petitioned the European Council to enact a proposed rule change. The council so far has opposed the measure, opting to allow airlines each to set their own policy.
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Replies
Brutal officialdom. I'm glad Ms. Widmann and the violin made it safely to Leipzig, but what an awful experience for her.
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December 3, 2025 at 10:51 PM · How odd. Most airlines now have an explicit exemption for instrument cases on their websites. Let’s hope the outcry forces this carrier to catch up.