Cathay Pacific and Dragonair set to revise policy on musical instruments
Current rules set dimensions for instruments and mean many cannot be carried as cabin baggage
The city’s musicians might have less trouble bringing their instruments onto the plane in future, as Cathay Pacific and sister-airline Dragonair are set to revise their policy.
The proposed revision came after a lunch between Hong Kong Bar Association chairwoman Winnie Tam Wan-chi and senior management of the airline last month, during which Tam complained her daughter could not bring her violin on board as a cabin baggage on a trip to Beijing, and urged the airline to relax the restrictions.
Her wish was answered on Monday morning, as service delivery director at Cathay Pacific, James Ginns, wrote her an email saying: “I am pleased to let you know that the policies will be revised and aligned to allow small musical instruments such as violins to be carried as cabin baggage on both airlines.”
Cathay Pacific later confirmed the news in a response to the Post, saying: “We are in the final stage of fine-tuning the details and will be announcing the new policy later in the summer.”
The airline’s baggage policy on musical instruments had long been criticised as too “rigid”, and deterred many high-profile musicians from flying with the carrier.
Under its current policy, Cathay Pacific allows passengers to bring “small musical instruments such as flutes or violins” with dimensions no greater than 78x25x15cm as baggage. Those exceeding the limits must be checked into the hold, or their owners would have to pay for an extra seat to put the instrument.