Airline loses comedy duo's custom-made instruments

Comedy German band Die Roten Punkte have been left in pickle on the opening night of their Edinburgh Fringe run after British Airways lost all their musical instruments.

The duo, consisting of brother and sister Otto and Astrid Rot, travelled with the airline from Winnipeg to Edinburgh on July 30 – but their custom-made drums and electric guitars did not made it on to their connecting flight from Toronto.

And they still have not been traced ahead of their first performance of their new show Eurosmash! at the Underbelly Cowgate tonight.

Drummer Astrid Rot initially contacted Toronto Airport's duty manager Andy Joseph.

He found the instruments and supervised them being put on a plane to London, but British Airways have now told her they do not know whether they arrived at Heathrow Airport.

She said: 'He (Joseph) personally went with his little legs and found our instrument and put them on the plane to London. But now we've heard nothing for another 36 hours.

'Why can't they get here from London? I could have walked there and got back with them by now. How can I rock out and make noises with no drums?'

Otto said they have borrowed instruments for tonight's gig, but d or lent to them in order to get ready for opening night on Thursday, but their instruments have been custom-made for their performance.

'We are determined for the show to go on.'

They have posted a video on their Facebook page pleading with anyone at Heathrow Airport to search for their lost equipment.

Yesterday BA suffered a systems crash that affected check-in and luggage systems at both Heathrow and Gatwick airports - the seventh major IT problem the airline has suffered this year.

This is the third time Die Roten Punkte – in reality Australians Clare Bartholomew and Daniel Tobias – have performed at the Edinburgh Fringe, after being nominated for the Time Out and Soho Theatre's 'Best Cabaret' award for their last run in 2013.

A British Airways spokesman said: '​We ​have been in contact with our customers to apologise, and our teams are doing everything they can to reunite them with their instruments as quickly as possible.​​'

Published: 3 Aug 2017