Traveling with an instrument: advice needed

[Redwolf]

Hey all,

I'm going to Ireland next summer, and I'm following that wonderful experiences with a cruise of the Med and the Greek Isles, courtesy of my in-laws. I would love to take my Harpsicle (small, lightweight lap harp) with me, but I have some concerns:

1) While it's billed as "fitting in most airliners' overhead compartments or garment closets," I know that there are some airliners that won't be able to accommodate it in a "federally acceptable manner" (i.e, either in an overhead compartment, a garment closet, or fully under a seat).

2) The Harpsicle, even though it weighs around 4 pounds and can be carried in a case that fits easily on one's back, has dimensions that don't exactly match what most airlines seem to specify for carry-on luggage (it's a little longer here, a little wider there, being a fairly awkward shape. Well, what can I say...it's shaped like a harp!)

3) Some airlines, particularly on the short hop from Ireland to Rome, only allow one carry-on (I'd have two...the harp and a day pack I use in lieu of a purse when traveling. The day pack does fit under the seat)

I know that people do travel with musical instruments, and I'm wondering how you get around these seemingly insurmountable restrictions? I'd hate to go for more than four weeks without practicing, and I've seen people traveling with guitars and the like...some of these things larger overall than my Harpsicle. But I'd hate to get overseas, or even halfway across the country, and find myself in the position of having to either abandon my harp or figure out how to ship it safely.

Redwolf

[alurker]

I travel internationally by air a lot with a bulky banjo and despite a few close calls I have never yet had to put it in the hold. Airlines appear to have a policy of forcing passangers to put bulky fragile items in the hold so if you come clean, chances are that they will insist on following this policy.

I always conceal the instrument as well as possible when I am checking in. If I am being dropped off by someone, I get them to keep it until I am checked in. Sometimes I leave it within view away from the desk but with new security awareness this is hazardous if the queue is long and it's going to be there a while. Check-in is the most likely point for having the instrument taken from you. Security and customs have don't really seem to care significantly about luggage size - they leave it to the airline.

The second most likely place to have the instrument taken from you is at the boarding gate, when handing over your boarding pass. I find it best to board when the queue is at it's busiest and the hostesses are under the most pressure. Again conceal the instrument as best you can behind people and by carrying it low. Once you are on the plane, you are home free. It is obviously too much hassle to try to take it from you at this point. Most overhead compartments these days are big enough for my case. In some instances staff prefer to put it in other cabin stowage compartments.

Minimise or if possible eliminate other hand luggage. Travelling with an instrument can be a battle of wits. If you must have carry-on, use an over-one-shoulder backpack. If it comes to a confrontation over an instrument stay cool and polite but determined. Remember that once your other luggage is checked in it is 'in the system' and if you refuse to fly it causes the airline some considerable trouble to find it and take it off the flight. If airline staff get the impression that you might relent they will play hard ball. If you play hard ball there is a good chance they will relent.

My advice is to have a flight case or an otherwise sturdy and well padded case so that you have some peace of mind if you do end up in the precarious position of having to put it in the hold. There is no accounting for the actions of baggage handlers and airlines in my experience will not take responsibility for damaged luggage, not to mention irreplacable instruments.

I realise that the above seems over-the-top and complicated. After travelling like this for 20 years I thought that maybe I was being over-paranoid and on my most recent trip I deviated from my usual routine (to the point that my wife noticed that I was being very relaxed about concealment). I ended up very nearly paying the price as the check-in clerk called me back as I left the desk. Luckily we had had a bit of a conversation about Irish names for his soon-to-be daughter and he let me through on a promise I would hand it in at the boarding gate.

It turns out that subterfuge and paranoia are essential parts of travel with bulky instruments. Whistle and flute players don't know how easy they have it.

[djm]

Like gambling and stockmarket investments, don't put in more than you can afford to lose. Travelling with an instrument is a BIG risk. If you can't luck out with subterfuge as already suggested, and you end up with your harp in the hold, make sure you remove all tension from the strings, as the cargo hold is freezing cold. Make sure you carry your harp in a hard case, not soft, so it will stay safe(r) in the hold.

djm

[I.D.10-t]

Some people have been bypassing the system by using Fed-ex (or other groups) to deliver their luggage. Less theft, breaking, rummaging through your underwear, you can lock your case, and chances are your luggage will be at your hotel before you will be. About 1/3 of my trips on planes, my luggage has taken days to get to me, and there is only so many necessities that one can fit into carry on.

Anyway, it may be a worth consideration.

[BigDavy]

Hi Redwolf

Why not make a slightly larger bag for it, that can take the harp and the contents of your day pack. then you have only one item of luggage

David

[Denny]

American Federation of Musicians

National Association for Music Education

Google

[Redwolf]

Hmmm...not sounding very promising, is it? I hate the thought of not being able to play for more than a month, but I don't want to lose my Harpsicle either. I wonder if I could find a way to rent a harp while I'm there?

Does anyone know if airlines flying to or from places other than the U.S. are more or less strict about this sort of thing? When I leave Ireland, I'll be flying to Rome, and then from Rome to California after our cruise.

Redwolf

[The Weekenders]

Oh, just leave it home. And, everytime you want to feel it in your hand, put a Guiness there. Just take a whistle or sumthin. Lighten your worries, girl.

Signed, the Weekender, who has dragged guitars to both India and Europe.

[missy]

we haven't flown overseas, but when flying in the US, we go the opposite route and plan on having to check the instruments.

For the dulcimers, we purchased hard shell rifle cases, and pulled out the egg shell foam and replaced it with new foam custom fitted. We have an aluminum case that will fit two dulcimers. We had one of the wheels broken off the aluminum case in flight, but the instruments were fine inside of it.
We always tell the people at the check in that they ARE musical instruments, so they don't get set on the tarmac in the sun, etc.

The only time we did strictly carry on was with one of harpmaker's travel dulcimers - but those are small little boxes so they fit nicely in the overhead...... HEY DAVE - YOU NEED TO MAKE RED A TRAVEL HARP!!!!

[MagicSailor]

Hi

There is no accounting for the actions of baggage handlers and airlines in my experience will not take responsibility for damaged luggage, not to mention irreplacable instruments.

Here's a little input from the other side of the fence. I spent 7 months working as a baggage handler for Ryanair in Dublin a few years ago living on my boat on the Liffey on the pontoons just upriver from the opening bridge. I'd say that the majority of damaged, delayed or lost baggage is the passenger's own fault.

So, here are some tips to help you ensure that your luggage arrives at your destination at the same time as you do, and in one piece:

1: Never check in a bag with an old tag from a previous flight on it.
We saw this a lot. Of course, the girls at checkin should have spotted it and removed the tag, but often they didn't. I always did if I spotted an old tag. Ryanair have the same flight numbers out of DUB every day. Tags can and will get ripped off as bags rub against each other on the belt. So if there are two tags on the bag and the new one gets ripped off, the bag is left with the old tag which may be from the flight before or after the one you're now on, only it was a week ago. So, the bag ends up on the wrong flight.

That flight gets delayed because the bag count is wrong. There's one bag too many. Might be a bomb or a bagful of cocaine or whatever. So the aircraft stays on the ground until the extra bag is found. It's not too difficult to identify because while the flight number may be right, the serial number is wrong. Your bag will probably be on the next flight to your destination. If the bag count still doesn't add up after the bags are recounted and checked, all the passengers have to come out and identify their bags. If a passenger doesn't identify it, it doesn't go back on the aircraft. Meanwhile your flight went out on time because nobody's going to hold a flight back because of a missing bag.

2: Always put a piece of paper with all your details including name, address at home and at destination, flight number, date etc. in each bag right on top of everything else. (Carry ons too just in case they insist you check it in.)
As already mentioned, tags sometimes get ripped off. If we got a bag with no tag, we would call the girls from lost and found and one of them would open the bag (with witnesses) to search for evidence of the identity of the passenger. If some identification was found, the bag would often make the flight with a new tag on it. If there was no identification, there was nothing we could do until the passenger reported the luggage missing.

3: Always tie your zippers together in the closed position (string is fine, the little padlocks tend to break) and never put anything in outside pockets with zippers or velcro flaps.
Zippers often open accidentally when bags rub against each other on the belt. Velcro flaps are almost guaranteed to open when the bags rub against each other or roll down the belt. I've seen all sorts of stuff come down the belt including cameras (What kind of idiot packs a fragile item like a camera in an outside pocket?), MP3 players and even wallets and once a passport (!) (Not sure how the passenger got on the flight without that.) There is usually no way to identify which bag it came from. There was a steady trickle of coins. One of my co workers got all his lunch money from the floor under a 90 degree bend in the belt.

If I saw an open zipper or velcro flap I would always close it, but of course something might already have been lost. The passenger would almost certainly assume it was stolen, but even if I was criminally inclined I would not steal in a location with closed circuit cameras all over the place and 4-5 co-workers around.

4: Pack everything in plastic bags inside your luggage.
The bags will be taken out to the stand some time before the baggage handlers start loading up the aircraft. If it rains they get wet. So you arrive in Paris which is much colder than where you left from and all your clothes are wet and your camera, phone and mp3 player are drowned.

5: Pack anything fragile inside multiple layers of clothing or towels.
The conveyor belts can be quite rough with bags. Sometimes I've seen bags on castors come down the belt at around Mach 3 and slam into the bag that was just coming up to the wall before the last 90 degree bend. (The bend is there to protect workers from speeding bags.) It also happens quite often that bags fall off the trolleys on the way out to the aircraft. Often the least experienced staff is loading the trolleys and those who drive them out sometimes have to cope with bumps in the road etc. The road is of course the responsibility of the airport, not the airline.

This is one of the few cases where a lost or delayed bag is the airline's fault. (Or the company that handles the baggage for the airline.) The driver wasn't keeping half an eye astern and never spotted the dropped bag. In most cases it would be spotted by another driver who would check his lists to see where that aircraft was parked and drop the bag off. However, we were expressly forbidden from touching another airline's bags except for moving them to the side of the road. I would always place them so the tag could be clearly seen from any passing vehicle.

6: Employ some common sense!
Don't check in extremely fragile stuff like unprotected TV sets or guitars with no case (I've seen it!). Don't check in buckets of paint! I don't know why the staff at the other end had allowed it, but I once had an aircraft come in with a bucket of yellow paint in the hold. The low pressure at altitude had caused the bucket to open and half the bags on the flight were yellow. The hold was a mess too. Why does anyone bring a bucket of paint to Dublin?

7: If you check in a fragile item make sure the staff know.
It will be handled apart from the other baggage. In many cases it will be carried in the cab of the vehicle and it will be loaded onto the aircraft last.

Well, that's all I can think of for now.

OK, I'm not saying that there aren't some real idiots working as baggage handlers and even some criminals, but what I said at the beginning stands. In most cases things get damaged or lost because the passenger wasn't taking basic precautions. If I was flying with a harp, I would make sure it had a good strong box, take then tension off the strings and make sure to let the checkin staff know that it was VERY fragile and VERY valuable. If it really is valuable, I'd insure it too.

If you're still worried, consider going by sailboat instead. Much more pleasant and you can play your harp while you're sailing.

Regards,

Owen Morgan

Yacht Magic
Anchored in the lagoon, St Maarten

My new blog.
Click here for my latest reported position. (Use the satellite view.)

[Redwolf]

It IS a travel harp, actually. The Harpsicle is designed to fit into the overhead bins of "most" airliners, and weighs around four pounds. The problem is, it exceeds the stated measurements of most of the airlines I've researched...not overall, necessarily, but it is maybe an inch or two longer here or an inch or two wider there. It will fit into the overhead bins of MOST big jets, but there's no way it will fit into the bins of some of the smaller commuter planes. And the airlines are so pissy lately...even if it WOULD fit into an overhead bin, if it doesn't fit within that little rectangular thing they have at the check-in counter, you're SOL.

There's only small you can make a harp and still have a playable instrument, I'm afraid.

So on to the next question...does anyone know of a place from which I can rent a harp in northern Clare? I think that Oideas Gael may have some rental harps for when I'm in Donegal.

Redwolf

[avanutria]

Are you going to be taking any smaller commuter planes?

Also remember that most airlines will allow you to take a musical instrument in addition to your carryon. There's a letter certifying this floating around on the internet somewhere, but I can't find it. Martin always carries a copy of it when he flies with his fiddle.

[mukade]

Which airline are you flying?

British Airways may have some dodgy business practices, but they have always been good with musical instruments.

http://tinyurl.com/2k8vrh

Mukade

[Redwolf]

I don't know yet which airline(s) I'll be taking. Probably depends on who has the best deal. Because I'll be flying "open jaw" (i.e., I'm flying to Ireland from the U.S., then to Rome from Ireland, and then Rome back to the U.S.), price is going to be a big factor, and there may be multiple airlines involved (my father-in-law is helping me by finding possible itineraries). I don't know what kinds of planes they fly from Ireland to the continent, but it's a fair bet that at least some of my journey within the U.S. will be on 737s or smaller (one of the legs on one of the itineraries is San Jose to Las Vegas, which would almost certainly be a small commuter jet or turboprop).

I'd considered packing it up in its original box with lots of padding, detuning it and just checking it, but then I'd have to drag that box everywhere, and I'd be over my baggage limit returning from Rome (I'm only bringing one small suitcase to Ireland, but Tony's bringing along a larger suitcase for me when he meets me in Rome, as there are things I'll need for the cruise that I won't need in Ireland).

If worse comes to worse, I certainly won't be music-deprived, as I always have a whistle on me. I'd love to take the 'sicle, though, if I can find a way to do it without risking the instrument.

Redwolf

[avanutria]

Maybe write Liam and ask his advice?