Finally, happy to hear from the Civil Aviation Minister's office. Hope to meet him next week and hope that something good can come out of this meeting.

It's not just about financial compensation for me but to try and bring a policy change in the way musical instruments are handled by airlines. My suggestion to the Minister---Allow musicians to carry their instrument all the way to the boarding gate where he/she can hand it over to the  airline staff to be loaded separately. The instrument should be handed over to the artist immediately as he/she disembarks the flight. This is what is done to parents traveling with infants and a perambulator. This minimises any damage to the instrument since very few people will be handling the instrument.

Any other valid suggestion?