American Airlines offloaded a musician on a Miami to Chicago flight and the reason will shock you! It so transpired that she was carrying large musical instrument. Saying the instrument was too big for the aircraft, the airline proceeded to offload the woman despite the fact that she had already purchased a seat for the instrument. And the offending object? None other than a cello! The incident occurred on American Airlines flight 2457 from Miami to Chicago Thursday, August 2. 

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DePaul University music student Jingjing Hu had flown to Miami from Chicago for a music festival. Hu had been earlier assured that the cello would be allowed on the plane, Jay Tang, her husband said in a Facebook page. He claimed that they had been promised that their cello would be allowed to fly on an American Airlines plane on both her departing and returning flight. Hu said she always buy an extra ticket for the cello, Business Insider reported.

She said that the cello is worth $30,000. Hu's first leg of the trip appeared to be not problematic. However, when she boarded her flight from Miami back to Chicago, right before takeoff a flight attendant told Hu that her instrument was too big and the aircraft was too small.  Federal regulations allow musicians if they purchase an additional seat to carry instruments such as cellos in the cabin, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. 

"A passenger on flight 2457 from Miami to Chicago was traveling with her cello. Unfortunately, there was a miscommunication about whether the cello she was traveling with met the requirements to fit onboard the particular aircraft she was flying, a Boeing 737," an American Airlines spokesperson said in a statement.   "We rebooked our passenger on a flight the next morning on a larger aircraft, a Boeing 767. We provided her a hotel and meal accommodations for the inconvenience. We apologise for the misunderstanding and customer relations has reached out to her."

 After being escorted off the plane, Hu was surrounded by three police officers while trying to find a new flight, Jay Tang wrote on his post. American Airlines offered her to purchase either first class or business class tickets out of pocket and after staying a night at Holiday Inn, Hu arrived back home in Chicago, he wrote.