After two musicians were not allowed to board a U.S. Airways flight with their instruments on Monday, one of them began playing his fiddle in protest on the tarmac.
CNN reported that Zach De Pue and Nicholas Kendall were told that they could not board the flight without checking in their musical instruments. De Pue, the Concertmaster of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, refused to check his violin saying that it is worth more than $250,000. Kendall was also carrying what he said was a pricy instrument.
When the pair could not convince the flight attendants that their valuable cargo would fit into the overhead bins, they were left stranded on the tarmac at Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
De Pue pulled out his instrument and began to play in protest of not being allowed on the flight while Kendall shot the cell phone video.
The footage was uploaded to YouTube and has since gone viral.
The flight crew apologized for the “inconvenience,” but said that FAA regulations would not allow them to board without checking the instruments.
When the musicians tried to take another flight they were told again that they could not with their violins. De Pue and Kendall checked FAA rules and cited the FAA Modernization and Reform Act, which allowed them to board the plane with their instruments in tow.