Instruments on a plane

[Lazaro Vega]

http://www.afm.org/carryon

[Free For All]

Flying sucks more than ever. My trombone is too big to carry on many of the smaller planes I have to use these days, so I have been checking it, which I hate to do. I put the gig bag into a hard golf club case (the gig bag is wrapped in bubble wrap and I pack clothes on either end to fill the extra space). I do have to pay an extra fee, but so far (probably 50 or 60 flights) there has been no damage. Whenever possible I try to be present when they inspect it since sometimes they want to unpack it and I want to be sure they repack it correctly. Of course I'd prefer to carry it on. Sometimes I wish I played the flute.

The inconsistency of the creation and enforcement of carry-on policies is definitely a source of frustration. Hopefully this petition will help bring some change- I'd be thrilled to see the AF of M grow a pair.

And the title of this thread made we wonder if Samuel L. Jackson might be a candidate for a spokesperson.

[Shrdlu]

Even a soprano sax (in case) is too large as carry-on luggage.

[marcello]

I don't think I know a single bassist who will fly with his instrument, these days.

[Free For All]

I don't think I know a single bassist who will fly with his instrument, these days.

How about married ones?

[marcello]

I don't think I know a single bassist who will fly with his instrument, these days.

How about married ones?

Especially those!

[Brad]

So how do bassists get to gigs then if they can't fly. I would think driving would be prohibitive in terms of time and cost.

[Free For All]

They make arrangements to have a borrowed or rented bass brought to the venue. This is pretty common practice, and of course the downside is that sometime the quality of the instrument can be inferior. Most bassists that do this have specifics outlined in the contract, or they know of trusted sources in the area. It sounds like a bit of a crap shoot, but when one owns an instrument worth as much as a good bass, it's not an option to put it in the hands of the airline.