Norfolk Concerts makes the national news!
RyanAir forces musicians to pay £1340 for extra seats… for their VIOLINS - Mail Online
£1300 cost of RyanAir seats… for violins - Norfolk News

Rebuttal to RyanAir and Kevin Spilling by Douglas Gowan

"Mr Spilling's online letter displays the lack of knowledge of both facts and accuracy that bedevil anyone unwise enough to take on Ryanair and also it allows them, and their spokesperson Mr Macnamara free rein to then also tell porkies in the guise of fact. That deception is deliberate.

Violins cannot be transported in the extreme cold of an aircraft hold as the wood - under huge tension -will split thus destroying the violin. As was shown in the article the violins are very valuable, and the insurers will not cover transport in a hold. it is irrelevant whether the violin is in a container or not.

We have used Ryanair for about seven years, often monthly, and have NEVER been refused ability to take a violin on board, and as of last Wednesday morning five of the violinists due to play here in September boarded a Ryanair flight at Milan - Bergamo to Frankfurt with their violins, which they put as usual in the overhead. On Wednesday afternoon I was then sent an email by Ryanair changing the policy and demanding that we buy extra seats. These cost us £1,340 for three violins.

Ryanair have exclusive dominance on the Frankfurt route to East Anglia, and told me last Thursday that they were wanting to promote Mr O'Leary's policy on no carry on baggage unless paid for, and had targeted us. "We just want to make money".

We are a small Arts Trust presenting top international artists who stay after the concerts to teach youngsters at both state and private schools. The cost imposed on us by Ryan this past weekend is 10% of our annual budget. Who loses? Our children and our future musicians. Well done Ryanair, and now Mr Spilling!

PS: we have just learned that several British violinists of note carried their violins on to planes at Stansted LAST FRIDAY without extra charge, and no comment by Ryanair staff. Were we targeted as regular Ryanair users on the Hahn-Stansted route? Certainly this happening, with Charles Medlam being one of the well known violinists, completely contradicts the statement made to the EDP and other media by Ryanair's spokesperson."

Yours sincerely

Douglas Gowan