Musicians roast Ryanair after baggage handler abusing guitars goes viral

Musician James Elson was surprised to find his guitars in one piece after Ryanair's mishandling of the instruments. Photo / Twitter, Elson7James

Ryanair turned up musical passenger dissatisfaction levels to 11 after a ground handler was filmed abusing a row of guitars.

Musician James Elson was travelling to play at a wedding when, to his horror, he saw the instruments being loaded onto his flight.

Recording the baggage handler dropping the guitars onto the conveyor belt, Elson was bewildered.

“Our fragile musical instruments being looked after - not,” the guitarist tweeted with the clip, complaining about the airline’s handling and “appalling” customer service. It was a shock to see the priority luggage abused and within full view of the aircraft.

Another passenger can be heard on the clip, scoffing in shock: “Oh, their equipment!”

“To think the amount we paid for you to take them …” said Elson.

Ryanair charges a fee of €65 or £50 ($102) per instrument, per one-way flight for handling delicate instruments.

Other musicians piled on the airline for shocking disrespect of the pricey piece of kit.

Oops! https://t.co/eTjVXsQmOo

— Feargal Sharkey (@Feargal_Sharkey) July 15, 2023

Political campaigner and lead singer of the Undertones, Feargal Sharkey, weighed in - retweeting the video to fans with the caption “Oops!”

Tom Jones’ guitarist Peter “Danish” Honoré branded the handling “not cool”.

Glasgow-based folk band Skerryvore squarely blamed the handler’s bad energy.

“It actually takes more energy to throw them like that than just lift and place gently”

Not everyone blamed the ground handler. One pundit was willing to play “devil’s advocate” and point out that Ryanair offers travellers the option to book a seat for their instrument.

“You placed them into cargo. I know others with valuable instruments will pay for an extra seat. I don’t see the baggage handler doing anything wrong,” they said.

Ryanir’s terms of carriage say that musical instruments attract an additional fee for carriage. Passengers wanting to carry a guitar as check-in must pay an additional full fare for the instrument.

“Musical items such as a cello, guitar, violin or viola which exceed our cabin baggage dimensions may be carried in the cabin if a seat for it has been reserved and the appropriate fare paid.”

Eventually, the instruments’ owner posted an update on Monday morning, flabbergasted to have had such support from fellow musicians.

“Thanks for the concern guys,” said James Elson. In tribute he shared a clip of the instruments in action, playing the ABBA wedding favourite Mama Mia.

Wow this, like, blew up.

Guitars were thankfully fine and the wedding was ace, despite @Ryanair’s best efforts lol.

Having nothing to promote so yeah, get over it. pic.twitter.com/XtgZGVoEcs

— James Elson (@Elson7James) July 16, 2023

“Guitars were thankfully fine and the wedding was ace, despite Ryanair’s best efforts lol.”

The airline was contacted for comment.

Travelling with instruments as checked luggage can be hazardous, and musicians know it.

Earlier this year virtuoso violinist Janusz Wawrowski refused to board a flight with Polish carrier LOT after being told his $5m Stradivarius violin could not fly as carry-on luggage.

In 2018 Romanian violist Marie-Jeanne Mai-Antal argued that she should not have to pay Ryanair’s fee for her string instrument and bow. Not to be accused of “splitting hairs” the airline’s policy only accounted for cellos, double basses and violins … She wished to fly with a “viola”.