Alitalia absolved by Myrna Herzog. Exclusive interview

Do you remember Myrna Herzog and her instrument destroyed after a flight with Alitalia? In this interview Myrna tells us the truth.

Most of the travelers are afraid of losing their luggage or in some cases of finding it destroyed. Something really awful happened to you with Alitalia. Can you please tell us your feelings when you arrived at your destination and found your beloved instrument destroyed. What was the first thing you did after that moment?
When I saw my instrument, at first I felt like I was going to faint. I felt physically ill. I felt like I was going to fall. But immediately next, since in my nature I am a proactive person, I tried to do something useful. This was trying to record what was happening, and immediately photographing, when the instrument was still in the place it was handed to me, which was on the oversize/fragile items sector.

Was Alitalia able to hep in that moment of emergency? What did they do? How did you manage in leaving the airport without your instrument?
Alitalia was not reachable at that moment of emergency, the team of the the Lost & Found sector was in charge of it. They were also impacted with what they saw, and tried to help. I had to report the accident, they gave me the form to fill in and I left the airport with my instrument, I felt like I was inside a nightmare, a bad dream and I only wanted to wake up soon.

You told us that in the end Alitalia helped you and it is still helping repairing your instrument. What did they promise you?
After a period of discussions, in which I was asked to provide a certificate of the “pedigree” of my instrument, Alitalia behaved with great fairness, and has already reimbursed me for all the material damage to the instrument (now undergoing a very long, complicated and expensive repair), bow and case.
I have no further claims against the airline, they did all they could to compensate me from the losses caused by the accident, which I believe was not intentional.

After this bad experience will you travel again with Alitalia? Will you still travel with your instrument in this way or will you pay the extra as it was suggested by Alitalia?
First of all, let me clarify: Alitalia never suggested me to buy an extra seat. I asked to take the instrument in the cabin, and they said that even if I had wanted to purchase an extra seat, it would have been impossible, because the plane was totally full. And they said to me not to worry, the instrument would have been taken by hand. As in the past (and I have more than 40 years of career) this has happened many times, and as I had no concerts waiting for this particular instrument (which had stayed 8 years in Brasil with my family), I trusted them. I am sure that no one could not foresee what was going to happen.

Now, I heard from Alitalia that they are revising their policy regarding musical instruments, which is a very important news for us musicians. There is no reason why our big instruments cannot be treated as wheel-chairs and baby trolleys, delivered and retrieved by hand at the door of plane. If the policy is revised, I see no reason not to give them the instrument at the door.

On the other hand, I am still recovering from the accident – and still wondering how my instrument will sound after repair; so at the moment I don’t trust anyone.

Regarding Alitalia, I hold no grudges against the company. Accidents and mistakes are part of life, because we are human, fallible, and airlines are made of people. Confronted with the accident, Alitalia did the right thing, which was to repair as much as possible the damage it unwillingly inflicted. It did it on its own, and not as the result of a court ruling. So Alitalia must be appreciated by the fairness of its action, and also for its will to review its policy. So, I will certainly keep flying with Alitalia, as I always did.

I must add that the distress from the accident did not diminish in any way my enormous admiration for Italy, which is maybe the most important country in the world in the history of culture. Right now I am preparing to conduct another Italian 17th century oratorio, La Caduta dell’ Angeli, with great enthusiasm.

And Luthier Shlomo Moyal is doing a wonderful restoration on the broken Lewis viol while I am planning its come-back on stages in February 2019. Then Giomar Garcia Sthel (Germany) and I will play a full program on the twin Lewis viols. We will commemorate the viol’s rebirth like a phoenix, together with 20 years of my Ensemble PHOENIX. Then I will hopefully be able to say: All’s Well That Ends Well.

Thank you so much Myrna for this interview and for your time!

Remember that if you have problems with your luggage and your flight you can always contact Flycare.

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