A 200 year-old cello is cracked. Airlines say: not our fault

A 200 year-old cello is cracked. Airlines say: not our fault News norman lebrecht September 08, 2026 Message from the Darlington Quartet from western Australia: We arrived in Manchester to start our tour of the UK and Greece. To our horror, Jon's cello, which had been in the hold in a sturdy flight case, emerged with a huge crack down the back of the instrument. We went straight to @timtoftviolins in Staffordshire and they told us that the instrument had clearly received 'excessive handling' in transit and might take months to repair. This is heartbreaking news for any musician but especially for Jon, who has to play the Elgar cello concerto on Friday and a quartet concert on Sunday, this is incredibly stressful. So we want to thank Matt and everyone else at @timtoftviolins who were so kind to us and have loaned us a beautiful French cello – they were so generous to complete strangers, showing us around their gorgeous shop and Matt even gave us excellent lunch and English beer recommendations! We are so moved and grateful. Thank you also to everyone who rallied to help us with recommendations and offers of instrument loans – you've made a stressful time much easier. Qantas, which flew the cello to London, denies liability. Brtish Airways, which flew the Manchester leg, will not respond. The Quartet are now safely in Greece. The airlines just get away with it.