Sharon Corr slams Ryanair after violin dispute forced her to return home

Musician Sharon Corr has said she has been left “humiliated and angry” after the singer broke down crying when she was refused on board a Ryanair flight with her violin.

The Corrs star was forced to return home after the budget airline would not allow Sharon to take her instrument on board without paying for a place for it in the airline’s hold.

The Co Louth native, from Dundalk, said she was left crying, “humiliated and angry” at the situation and had to return home.

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Sharon told her followers on social media: “Today I was booked on a @ryanair flight I got up at 6 in the morning I was not allowed on the flight because I had my violin, I was in the airport for 7 hrs I had to return home after searching for my checked in bags.

“Humiliated, angry then crying as only a good woman can do. Why was I going to Dublin? My home turf, to rehearse, to go on tour! I’m beyond disappointed. Michael O’Leary, shame one you.”

According to Ryanair’s baggage policy, the airlines states that: “Smaller musical items (such as guitars, violins or violas) larger than 40cm x 20cm x 25cm can be carried in the cabin on a seat you have reserved and paid the appropriate fare for. You do not get extra baggage (carry-on or checked-in) for the extra seat.”

A spokesperson for Ryanair said: “This passenger was not refused travel from Madrid to Dublin (30 Jun). This passenger’s violin exceeded the cabin bag dimensions permitted for her flight, and therefore was required to pay a standard gate baggage fee to place it in the hold of the aircraft. This passenger refused to pay the standard fee and instead chose not to travel on this flight.”

In 2015, musician Zoe Conway, from Dundalk, Co Louth, revealed she spent a whopping €280 for a seat for her violin on a Ryanair flight.

She was travelling from Frankfurt to Dublin at the time and Zoe’s violin was her only hand luggage.

“I always carry it as hand luggage because it’s so valuable and delicate and if it was dropped, even from my hand to the floor, it would be damaged,” she said at the time.

However, staff at the Ryanair check-in desk of Frankfurt Hahn Airport told Zoe that she would have to buy a seat for the instrument or allow it to be placed in the hold.

“I couldn’t believe it,” she told the BBC at the time.

“There’s no way I could have put it in the hold, I just wouldn’t be able to cover the cost of repairing or replacing it.”

Zoe had planned to lobby her local MEP for a change in EU law, so that it would better reflect the law in the United States, where instruments are treated as normal hand luggage.