ABC News(WASHINGTON) — A musician’s cello scored a free ride from an apologetic American Airlines after the carrier initially booted them from a plane because the crew deemed the stringed instrument a flight risk.

“Either I could voluntarily leave or I could be removed from the airplane,” passenger John Kaboff told ABC Washington, D.C., affiliate WJLA-TV. “I was mortified to have to be removed from a flight, like I just committed a crime.”

Kaboff, who founded the Kaboff Cello School in Vienna, Virginia, was flying Tuesday from Ronald Regan Washington National Airport to Chicago O’Hare International Airport with his cello.

He had bought an extra seat on the flight so he could get his cello to Chicago for work.

After boarding the plane with his cello in the seat next to him, Kaboff encountered a “minor” setback, he said.

A flight attendant reportedly told him that he had to get off the flight because his cello was a “risk.”

He said employees noted that it could not be strapped into the extra seat and it was touching the floor.

Kaboff told WJLA he had flown with the cello multiple times without incident, though adding that he experienced a similar incident a dozen years ago.

He did not respond to ABC News’s request for comment, but his Facebook post received thousands of views.

In the end, Kaboff and his cello made the next flight to Chicago. “The ground personnel and the gate agent said that someone’s making an error with this and apologized on behalf of the airline,” he told WJLA.

In a statement, American Airlines said, “We’re reviewing the issue internally and apologize to Mr. Kaboff for the inconvenience he experienced yesterday. Mr. Kaboff and his musical instrument were accommodated on the next flight to Chicago and our customer relations team has reached out to him directly.”

American Airlines also said it refunded Kaboff the $150 he paid for his cello’s seat.

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