Safest Way To Travel With Concertina

[JimLucas]

Then - at the check-in counter:

"What's that?"

- "A musical instrument, a concertina - you know, small accordion"

"Just a sec, I'll call"

...

"There's a man here with a sort of cubic box with metal corners... eh? Oh, OK, then"

"Nope - check it in"

I think the appropriate word is "arbitrary". As in:

... The person who could actually see and examine what you were carrying felt they didn't have enough information, yet the person who couldn't -- and who had been given (according to what you say) a description which contained no information about its contents or even its size -- felt that they did have enough information to make a decision. Unless, of course, it's really only about making arbitrary decisions and not about assessing and protecting against potential danger.

 

I am still puzzled at the focus on size.

And arbitrary is certainly the word for the limits on object dimensions, especially the new dimensions. In what way is security increased by allowing only thin (even thinner than before) objects? And why should it be necessary to reduce the smallest dimension more than the others (16 cm is 80% of 20 cm, 45 cm is 82% of 55 cm, and 35 cm is 87.5% of 40 cm)? Any otherwise-unremarkable liquid container could meet the new requirements as easily as the old ones, as could the device that blew up Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie. Why, indeed, should they need to be reduced at all? If the x-ray machines weren't able to perform properly under the old restrictions, then the requirements should have been changed long before some particular threat was discovered outside the airports.

 

- "Grrrr. OK - what if I place the instrument inside the suitcase and check in the empty case."

"Fine"

 

Which I did (as described above).

And yet, as you've described above, there seems to be no reason to expect that if some other "service" person had been on duty, they would have given the same answer.

 

Not safe, just arbitrary.

[Brian Peters]

I am merely (repeating myself) intrigued - and would love a good answer to this - by what the reaction would be to carrying it on board.

To remind you of my previous posts on this issue, I did carry my concertina - no case, no plastic bag, no nothing - on to a BA flight from Gatwick to Manchester, after having been told by security staff that the case was too big. No-one made any comment at all, except for the fellow on the X-ray belt, who just remarked, "Hey, a little squeezebox!" in the affectionate way he might have used for a small teddy bear.

 

Which reminds me that, during all the airport chaos - huge milling crowds everywhere, waiting in line and wondering what the hell was going on, one airport security official was taking the trouble to push his way through the scrum holding aloft a small cuddly toy, and shouting "Has anyone lost an elephant?". Eventually it was reclaimed by the grateful mother of a toddler. Nice to know that humanity survives even amidst such trying cirmcumstances.

 

Jim, I agree entirely that, if thicker items of carry-on can't be screened adequately (as is now being claimed), it's a mystery why this loophole was never closed before.

Brian

[geoffwright]

Not wanting to put ideas in their heads, but if I (hypothetically) wanted the maximum number of air-travellers to be killed, long queues with luggage at the check-in would be an ideal situation.

How can these latest restrictions aid "security" or combat terrorism off planes?

[polkabeast]

I always get asked about what's inside of the peculiar sextagonal case at the airport. I probably look a little suspect. The security guards always delight in seeing a concertina.

[Stephen Chambers]

Can I safely assume ... that you encountered no problem with the concertina (and case) as carry-on items at Shannon? I will be flying there in October and want to be prepared.

Alan,

 

I had to fly to England a couple of weeks ago, and my experience was that you could take normal-sized hand luggage out of Ireland, so no problems at this end. The problems were all at the British airports, so I finished up buying a new trolley-case in TK Maxx to bring my things back in as hold luggage. (Got a great deal on an Eminent one!)

[Leo]

If you must check your concertina as baggage, it might be a good idea to check personal instrument insurance to see if it applies when the instrument is out of my hands at the mercy of baggage handlers. Some found out the hard way it doesn't, so it's worth a mention.

 

The airlines have limits on undeclared value. It's possible to up the value with the carrier, but you have to declare it, and pay more for insurance but every carrier is different. Multiple aircraft/airline changes enroute make each leg of a trip cumbersome to sort out who gets paid the added value premiums. The airlines position would be something like: "I don't know it's value, so I'm not going to pay".

 

Some recent not so good insurance examples:

 

Possible Personal Insurance Limits Invalid:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2349459,00.html

 

Horror Story Airline Undeclared Limits:

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/s...32e&k=87115

 

Thanks

Leo

Edited September 10, 2006 by Leo

[David Barnert]

From today's New York Times:

 

Musicians Protest Baggage Rules

 

Luggage regulations imposed in the aftermath of an alleged bomb plot against trans-Atlantic airliners have prompted new protests from musicians. In a letter to The Times of London on Friday, Colin Davis, the principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, was joined by the cellists Julian Lloyd Webber and Ralph Kirschbaum in declaring that terrorists must not be allowed to threaten Britain's place in the artistic world. Referring to rules that limit carry-on baggage, the letter said, "It is now effectively impossible for musicians to travel by air, since there is no way that priceless 18th-century violins, or cellos, for example, can ever travel without unacceptable risk in the hold of an aircraft." A spokesman for Britain's transport department said it was sympathetic, "but to be able to get the process through consistently, we have to ask everyone to bear with us." In a speech at the Royal Albert Hall at the Last Night of the Proms on Saturday, Mark Elder, a guest conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, said, "The time has come really to put an end to this unfairness." Otherwise, he joked, next year audiences may find themselves listening to "Concerto for Laptop and Orchestra."

[Leo]

Heathrow a concertina specifically intended to pass easily through even the most stringent airport security checkpoints.

From an interesting thread I just found.

Still Think it'll work?

 

Thanks

Leo

Edited September 13, 2006 by Leo

[Woody]

UK planning to relax hand-luggage restrictions. For more see this article from Auntie.

 

- W

[Leo]

UK planning to relax hand-luggage restrictions. For more see this article from Auntie.

 

- W

 

 

Yippee!! Hopefully it will come true and some sanity return.

 

Thanks

Leo

[Woody]

....some sanity return.

I said they're changing the rules, not changing the fabric of Space-Time

[JimLucas]

UK planning to relax hand-luggage restrictions. For more see this article from Auntie.

Larger bags will be allowed along with some liquids - such as toiletries, including toothpaste.

Oh, noooo! NOT TOOTHPASTE?!!

[Woody]

Oh, noooo! NOT TOOTHPASTE?!!

 

http://www.mi6.co.uk/sections/q-branch/den...toothpaste.php3

[PeterT]

Oh, noooo! NOT TOOTHPASTE?!!

 

http://www.mi6.co.uk/sections/q-branch/den...toothpaste.php3

Guess I'll need to be careful to pick up the correct brand in the supermarket.

[Leo]

Relief for travel and instruments in London:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2368747,00.html

 

Now maybe back to topic that started: "Safest Way"??? And that would be now: Carry it on.

Things change quickly. Maybe next week it will be different as circumstances change.

Thanks

Leo

Edited September 22, 2006 by Leo