United Airlines accused of rough treatment by violinist

United Airlines is reportedly being accused of rough treatment by a violinist after she refused to check her fragile 18th century instrument as luggage.

Yennifer Correia was traveling from Houston, Texas to a music rehearsal in Columbia, Missouri, on Sunday when ticket agents told her that she could not carry her circa late-1700s Italian violin onboard the aircraft, Correia’s attorney Phil MacNaughton told the AFP news agency.

The 33-year-old Venezuelan-born musician offered to pay any fees and asked for options that would allow her to travel with her violin, but a United supervisor tried to wrestle away the instrument leading to a brief tussle, MacNaughton said.

“There’s an unspoken rule in the professional musician world: never let an airline stow your instrument,” the Houston-based attorney said, pointing to a US aviation regulation that requires airlines to accommodate small musical instruments as carry-ons onboard flights.

United Airlines did not return a request for comment.

The carrier provoked outrage earlier this year for allowing a passenger to be dragged off an overbooked flight in the US.