Cellist turned away from Air Canada flight after instrument wasn't allowed

Amit Peled and his cello. Photo by Ben Freedman

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A cellist’s quick trip from Baltimore to Montreal turned into a two-day odyssey after Air Canada refused to let him bring his instrument on the plane. This despite the fact that he had paid full fare for a second seat specifically for the instrument, crafted in 1695 and worth over a million dollars, to fly with him.

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Amit Peled is an Israeli-American cellist, conductor and teacher who has performed at venues around the world and released more than a dozen recordings including The Jewish Soul and Cellobration.

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He’s no stranger to travelling by air with his instrument propped up in the seat next to him. “Almost every week of my life,” he told National Post in an interview “That’s what I do. In the last 30 years, I’ve been traveling all over the world.”

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This week he was on his way to the Orford Music Festival near Sherbrooke, Que., where he was due to perform and also teach a class. But after driving from his home in Baltimore to the airport in Philadelphia, he was told by an Air Canada employee that his cello couldn’t board the plane.

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He was flabbergasted. He’d had issues before — often because his musical companion doesn’t have a passport — but they’ve generally been solved at the airport.

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“However, this time in Philadelphia, the lady at the counter said: You can’t bring the cello with you because it was not named the right way in the computer.”

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He said the employee informed him that she could make a change but that it would cost $700. “And I said, well, I already paid a full-price ticket. And here it is. It’s right here in front of you. You can see it. And she said: I’m really sorry.”

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Peled decided to go through to the gate anyway, hoping someone there would help him, but he was given the same answer. “Everybody goes on the plane, and I told her, I’m going to miss my flight, and thus I’m going to not be in the festival where I have to teach and play,” he said. “She didn’t care. And then, of course, the door closed and I missed the flight.”

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Angry and stranded, Peled shot a short video in front of the gate, showing his cello and suitcase and explaining his plight.

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“I have a full class of students waiting for me there from all over the world,” he says in the video, posted to social media. “I have my cello ticket, my ticket, and just here at the gate I’m denied entrance because the procedure to ride for the cello was not right on the computer.”

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He ends by saying: “I’m really really sorry and I hope to be able to teach the students on Zoom. I can’t perform on Zoom but I’ll teach them on Zoom. I’m going home and never ever ever fly Air Canada again.”

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Peled then called his daughter to pick him up for the two-hour drive back to Baltimore. But as he got home, his phone rang. “I get a phone call from somebody from Air Canada, and I’m shocked. And that person is in charge of customer service, calling me,” he said.

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The airline had seen the video. “Can you believe that? I mean, it’s the first time in my life, honestly, that social media did something good for me. I was absolutely shocked. I mean, it’s not just somebody from Air Canada. It’s like the guy who runs customer service calling me, and he says: I’m really sorry, but I saw the video, and first I want to apologize.”