When a group of young musicians wouldn’t check-in their Stradivarius violins, staff reportedly refused to let them board.

In a letter published on Slipped Disc,t he artistic director of the Switzerland-based LGT Young Soloists Alexander Gilman said: “Singapore Airlines did not let us on the plane because they wanted us to check[-in] our instruments… They wanted to force us to check[-in] violins with the suitcases.”

Gilman says he explained the high value of the instruments to Singapore Airlines staff: “I told them we had Stradivarius and extremely expensive violins. Their answer was they don’t care, it is our policy.

“They did not let us on board only because of violins and violas, even though we told them that we are speaking about millions of euros that will be destroyed. Their answer was they don’t care and that this is Singapore Airlines policy.”

According to the blog, Lufthansa stepped in after a four-hour stand-off and flew the ensemble back to Zurich.