Russian musicians returning from London after the Bolshoi Theatre's season face an overland journey because of the new UK cabin baggage ban on planes.

They are under contract to keep their instruments with them and cannot check them in as hold baggage, chief conductor Alexander Vedernikov said.

 

They will probably have to travel by rail via Paris, he added.

 

A German musician flying from London told the BBC about the stress of having to put her cello in the hold.

 

Mr Vedernikov made his remark after noticing violins checked in as hold baggage on his own flight to Moscow.

 

The Bolshoi's ballet and opera season at London's Royal Opera House tour is not due to end until 19 August.

 

Mr Vedernikov arrived back in Moscow on Friday morning, a day after the terror plot alert which froze air traffic at London's Heathrow Airport and prompted a ban on cabin baggage.

 

"I saw two violins being checked in as luggage, which is unacceptable," he was quoted as saying by Russia's RIA-Novosti news agency.

 

Bolshoi musicians borrow their instruments from Russia's state collection and do not have the right to part with them under any circumstances, Russian media note.

 

'Wobbling on the trolley'

 

German freelance cellist Julia Morneweg, who lives in London, has until now booked an extra seat for her instrument each time she flies.

 

"These restrictions are a disaster for me," she wrote in a posting on the BBC's Have Your Say before flying to Zurich.

 

After her arrival in Switzerland, she recounted the ordeal of having to hand over the cello, valued at up to £10,000 ($19,000) and not covered by her insurance if carried in the hold.

 

"It is never safe enough in the hold and they don't treat instruments properly," she told the BBC News website.

 

She was not allowed to see the cello being put in and had to hand it over to the bulky items desk despite asking for it to be treated like a child's pram, which would have allowed her to keep tabs on it right up until boarding.

 

"I looked out the window and could see it wobbling on the luggage trolley," she said.

 

Confusion over the new restrictions extended into the cabin when a hostess asked passengers to switch off mobile phones and was met by loud laughter from the passengers, none of whom had been allowed to bring theirs aboard.

 

At Zurich airport, she found the prams lined up neatly in the baggage hall but she had to wait for her cello to come in on the bulky items conveyor belt on which it had been placed upside down.

 

Dreading the effect of the freezing cold in the hold on her instrument, she opened the case to find that one of the bows had been dislodged and there were scratches on the varnish.

 

"Air travel is an everyday part of the job for many musicians," Ms Morneweg said. "This is a crazy situation."

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4784225.stm

It's not just instruments which you don't want to be in the hold, it's laptops as well that get damaged if they are bumped around in the hold.

 

It's just madness, but sadly it is what we will have to get used to