MIAMI, FL — A Chicago cellist was playing the blues last week after she and her cello were mistakenly given the hook from an American Airlines flight at Miami International Airport. To add insult to injury, the DePaul University music student said she paid for an entire seat to accommodate her awkward travel companion. Jingjing Hu’s return flight ended on even more of a sour note as she struggled to get the pricey instrument off the airplane.
“I purchased two roundtrip tickets for her and her cello on April 2 on the phone directly from AA and told them specifically that one ticket is for the cello as cabin baggage,” Hu’s husband, Jay Tang penned on Facebook. “I was told it is absolutely allowed and she won’t have any problem.”
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American Airlines, however, was playing a different tune when Hu strapped herself and the cello into their adjoining seats. Tang noted that the airline gave his wife a special seat restraint prior to asking her to get off the plane.
Alexis Aran Coello of American Airlines in Miami told Patch that the flight crew made a mistake and the airline plans to make it up to Hu when they get in touch with her.
Coello, whose name includes “cello,” said that the flight crew thought Hu was traveling with a double bass rather than a cello. Double bass instruments are not allowed on the plane that Hu was traveling on while cellos are welcome.
“One of our team members deemed it a double bass and that’s where the confusion began,” Coello explained. “That is why they told her that she could not fly because they improperly deemed it too big to fly. That’s really the bottom line.”
Tang said his wife didn’t have any problems on the flight to Miami on June 19 and she arrived at Miami International Airport three hours prior to her departure for the return flight on Aug. 2.
“Just before the flight attendants were about to close the gate, she was told to get off the plane because ‘the aircraft is too small for the cello,” Tang explained.
“After she got off the plane and trying to find the next flight that was guaranteed, she was told that the next flight was also ‘too small’ for the cello, and they called the police because my wife was ‘not being understandable.'”
Cue Miami-Dade police.
“The passenger became irate at the gate,” explained Coello. “They had to call law enforcement.”
Tang said his wife was “surrounded by three law enforcement officers” who escorted her to the wrong shuttle for the Holiday Inn that American Airlines booked her into.
She finally made it out the next morning on a Boeing 767, which is a larger aircraft than the one she got kicked off.
American paid for her hotel and meal accommodations while also issuing a public apology.
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“Customer relations has reached out to her,” Coello added. “They will make it right.”
Photo by Paul Scicchitano