Sharon Corr has slammed Ryanair for its response after she claimed she was refused boarding on a flight to Dublin because she was travelling with her violin.
The chart-topping Corrs musician, 54, said she was left ‘humiliated’, ‘angry’ and ‘crying’ by the situation as she failed to get home to rehearse for an upcoming tour.
She performs in the world-famous Irish pop rock outfit with her sisters Andrea and Caroline and brother Jim, which they founded together in 1990 and have gone on as a group to sell 40million albums worldwide.
Breathless hitmaker Sharon, who moved to live in Madrid, Spain, with her two teenage children in 2018, revealed on Instagram on Sunday that she had been booked on a flight to her ‘home turf’ but was instead forced to return home after collecting her already-checked-in luggage.
‘Today I was booked on a @ryanair flight. I got up at 6 in the morning. I was not allowed on the flight because I had my violin. I was in the airport for 7 hours,’ the pop star wrote on Instagram.
She continued: ‘I had to return home after searching for my checked in bags. Humiliated, angry then crying as only a good woman can do.’
Explaining her anger, Sharon added: ‘Why was I going to Dublin? My home turf, to rehearse, to go on tour! I’m beyond disappointed.’
‘Michael O’Leary shame one [sic] you,’ she finished off her message, namechecking the airline’s CEO.
Ryanair states on its website that passengers can ‘carry any music equipment onboard as long as it fits within Cabin Bag allowance’.
‘For smaller music equipment like guitars or violins that exceed your cabin baggage dimensions, you can opt to pay an extra seat fare for it. To do this, you must purchase an extra flight ticket and seat,’ it continues.
‘If your equipment does not fit in your Cabin Bag allowance and you do not wish to purchase an extra seat, you can choose to check it in against payment of a fee.’
A spokesperson for the airline claimed that the Irish violinist’s instrument exceeded the cabin baggage dimension.
‘This passenger was not refused travel from Madrid to Dublin,’ they shared with MailOnline, citing Sharon’s original flight date of Sunday June 30.
‘This passenger’s violin exceeded the cabin bag dimensions permitted for her flight, and therefore was required to pay a standard gate baggage fee to place it in the hold of the aircraft.’
They added: ‘This passenger refused to pay the standard fee and instead chose not to travel on this flight.’
However, Sharon, who had one of her first major international hits with The Corrs with Runaway, took to social media again on Monday to strongly refute Ryanair’s version of events.
‘Tisk, tisk @ryanair,’ the What Can I Do singer and musician wrote on her Instagram Story before quoting the airline’s claim that she had ‘refused to pay the standard fee and instead chose not to travel on this flight’, which she slammed as ‘not factual’.
‘I offered to buy a seat for my violin and was refused!’ Sharon claimed.
‘You cannot place a violin in the hold as obviously it is a fragile instrument. I was refused by them to travel,’ the star maintained.
The Corrs are set to play a string of UK and European dates over the next two weeks, including a show at Westonbirt Arboretum in Gloucestershire on Saturday before they support Glastonbury 2024 headliner Shania Twain as special guests for her BST Hyde Park date on Sunday in London.
They are also embarking on their 2024 UK and Ireland Talk on Corners tour in November, named after their second and breakthrough album from 1997.
The Corrs previously won best international group at the 1999 Brit Awards, while two of their hits, Breathless and Rebel Heart, have been nominated for Grammys.
They went on extended hiatus in 2006, taking time out to raise families and pursue solo ventures, before reuniting in 2015 and releasing their sixth and then seventh studio albums, White Light and 2017’s Jupiter Calling.
Since 2022 they’ve been touring the world together again.
Sharon was previously married to barrister Gavin Bonnar from 2001 before they separated in 2019.
The former couple share son Cal, 18, and daughter Flori, 16.
Aside from her global success with The Corrs, Sharon has also released three solo albums and appeared as a coach on the first and second seasons of talent show The Voice of Ireland in 2012 and 2013.
Metro.co.uk has contacted Ryanair for further comment.
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