Jump to content

concertina up in the air


Recommended Posts

  • Replies 49
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

... I think I am going to by a kangaroo pouch jacket.. B)

But are you sure you could get a bouzouki into it? :unsure:

 

Not sure, to make it fit, I think it should be an XXXL kangaroo jumper with more than one pouch.

 

But flying to Riga last week, the bouzouki fitted in the locker. I flew Baltic Air and they allowed me to take the hard cased bouzouki and the concertina both as hand luggage. If I understood well, they do not allow to check in expensive materials such as musical instruments and laptops.

 

Isn´t it true that there has always been a convention that it is allowed to take instruments with you as hand luggage? If it was too large, a stewardess brings it safely to the luggage compartments, without extra charges. Sometimes I wonder if Ryan air is not breaking rules when charging 30 euro´s for taking an instrument with you on the plane like they do these days.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Isn´t it true that there has always been a convention that it is allowed to take instruments with you as hand luggage?

I don't know about a "convention" as such, but things were certainly much more relaxed with regard to hand luggage before 9/11 - I remember bringing back a Martin guitar, a Vega banjo and my leather brief-case, all as hand luggage on a flight from the US one time (though the plane was half-empty). But since 9/11 it's become much more difficult. :(

 

If it was too large, a stewardess brings it safely to the luggage compartments, without extra charges.

Maybe, but then an orangutan drags it out at the other end, kicks it around the tarmac a bit, let's it fall off the top of the baggage cart & runs it over on the way to the terminal, then throws it onto the carousel along with all the rest of the baggage... :o

 

Sometimes I wonder if Ryan air is not breaking rules when charging 30 euro´s for taking an instrument with you on the plane like they do these days.

Is that what they do? I've never taken anything with me that wouldn't fit into hand luggage - but, if you've paid for it, at least you should then be guaranteed to have room for it on the plane, even if the flight is full.

Edited by Stephen Chambers
Link to comment
Share on other sites

... I think I am going to by a kangaroo pouch jacket.. B)

But are you sure you could get a bouzouki into it? :unsure:

 

...But flying to Riga last week, the bouzouki fitted in the locker. I flew Baltic Air and they allowed me to take the hard cased bouzouki and the concertina both as hand luggage. If I understood well, they do not allow to check in expensive materials such as musical instruments and laptops...

That would be good if all airlines did that.

 

I read somewhere, that when traveling with a concertina, you should pack it in its case in bubble-wrap or something soft and thick.

 

Cheers,

Patrick

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cargo pants come in handy, too.

 

Last time I flew, I had two instruments as carry-on, one as the instrument officially allowed by the airline, and one as my "personal item". I didn't want to risk taking an additional bag for my other belongings. So all my pockets were stuffed with essentials such as MD recorder, microphone, spare batteries, charger... I kept forgetting bits and pieces at the security check and was beeped back several times at each check. :lol:

But nobody even cared and I could easily have taken another bag. They all let me even board early to have enough time and place to find a safe place for my instruments in the overhead bins.

 

 

Only one guy at the gate tried to be a jerk and insisted that the little wheeled carrier I used for my accordion case counted as my "personal item" and that I couldn't take the box in addition to the fiddle and the carrier. But after I recommended him for his great sense of humor, he realized that he'd probably couldn't push that argument too far. If he had, I'd just given him the carrier as a very personal present. :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

John,

 

Sadly, passengers are now advised not to lock your suitcases on US flights, due to Transportation Security Administration screening of every checked bag.

 

Look for locks that identify the use of a "TSA-recognized locking mechanism." Only locks that state this use of a TSA-recognized locking mechanism are recommended for use in locking your baggage. For more information, please visit the TSA Web site at www.tsa.gov.[/indent]

 

My lock was of the recognised type, i.e. a type that the security check people could open I believe with a key. I got the lock and case only 3 weeks ago. The problem in this instance was that they removed it and did not put it back when they finished. Also, the zips were just left unfastened. that is just shoddy.

 

Any my rant is over, and I am almost over the jet lag.

 

regards

 

john

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My lock was of the recognised type, i.e. a type that the security check people could open I believe with a key. I got the lock and case only 3 weeks ago.

John,

 

That is shoddy then! I can only say that I've had no problems myself, on recent US trips, with no locks on my suitcases.

 

For revenge I'd suggest buying one of these T-shirts, like I did in Seattle:

 

HomelandSecurity.jpg

 

Only, I wouldn't recommend wearing it to go through a US airport... :rolleyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 weeks later...

I came across an interesting story yesterday and thought this musician had finally reached the end point of frustration and did something about it.

http://www.davecarrollmusic.com/story/united-breaks-guitars

 

The first song with almost 120,000 views and almost 1,000 comments the first day.

 

I can't wait for the second and third in the series, however I'm not sure it will get that far. United finally called him and it will be interesting to see how it plays out.

 

Reminds me of the Tom Paxton song about Republic Airlines years ago when they broke his guitar.

 

I guess the moral of the story is don't pl$$ off a folk singer with access to the internet. United's damage control department must be on overtime on this one.

 

Thanks

Leo

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I recently shipped a concertina from Canada to someone in England. I insured it through UPS, so the guy who packed it needed to make sure the concertina was well protected, not for me or the buyer, but for their own insurance company. I didn't have a hard case, so he packed the concertina in a box, with lot of filling stuff... and packed the box in another box, also with lot of filling stuff... the concertina in perfect condition, but the first box was dented and half destroyed, thanks to the second box, the concertina was OK. But yeah, you can expect handlers to disregard any "fragile" sign and throw your instruments around as if they were boxes of toilet paper.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

...But yeah, you can expect handlers to disregard any "fragile" sign and throw your instruments around as if they were boxes of toilet paper.

They're not all like that, of course, but it only takes a few... especially since I've never heard of any handler being punished for being careless or even deliberately abusing the items they handled.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I recently shipped a concertina from Canada to someone in England. I insured it through UPS, so the guy who packed it needed to make sure the concertina was well protected, not for me or the buyer, but for their own insurance company. I didn't have a hard case, so he packed the concertina in a box, with lot of filling stuff... and packed the box in another box, also with lot of filling stuff... the concertina in perfect condition, but the first box was dented and half destroyed, thanks to the second box, the concertina was OK. But yeah, you can expect handlers to disregard any "fragile" sign and throw your instruments around as if they were boxes of toilet paper.

 

 

As someone who once shipped fine china and crystal for a living, as well as having worked in a few other warehouses, and having several family members who are or were drivers, I suspect physics has far more to do with the damage then warehousers mishandling the goods. No matter how careful something is handled or placed, accidents happen. I suspect someone in a four wheeler cutting off a truck on the freeway has far more to do with crushed and damaged packages then intentional mishandling. Likewise, turbulence, weather and other natural forces can also cause damage. Not too say human error doesn't come into play as well, after all, I know I have put a forklift tine through a bag of grass seed a time or two. The majority of people that I have known or worked with in the shipping business have been professionals.

 

Alan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I recently shipped a concertina from Canada to someone in England. I insured it through UPS, so the guy who packed it needed to make sure the concertina was well protected, not for me or the buyer, but for their own insurance company. I didn't have a hard case, so he packed the concertina in a box, with lot of filling stuff... and packed the box in another box, also with lot of filling stuff... the concertina in perfect condition, but the first box was dented and half destroyed, thanks to the second box, the concertina was OK. But yeah, you can expect handlers to disregard any "fragile" sign and throw your instruments around as if they were boxes of toilet paper.

 

Wen taking an instruemnt with me on the plane, a trick that once helped me was to pack fragile things surrounded by lots of clothes in a huge case with total weight just beneith the 20 kilos allowed for a check-in item. Such a case is too lumpy and too heavy for the luggage gorillas to throw it around or to use it as a rugby ball.

 

There is more risk to have it shipped by mail overseas. Different instruments I ordered far from home arrived in parts at my door after rough handling (I remember broken banjo necks, reed puzzles in stead of proper accordions), and I sometimes noticed that a package had been opened by custom desk terrorists, not putting it back as it had been shipped. I think double boxing like you did is the minimal requirement to avoid this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I came across an interesting story yesterday and thought this musician had finally reached the end point of frustration and did something about it.

http://www.davecarrollmusic.com/story/united-breaks-guitars

Good for him, it's about time somebody did that.

 

The first song with almost 120,000 views and almost 1,000 comments the first day.

It seems to be getting so many plays, and comments that the YouTube system can't cope with it properly - the "views" counter keeps getting stuck (it was stuck at 148,325 for a while, and now at 168,700), whilst many of the 2,214 comments (including mine) aren't displaying.

 

Meanwhile, the story has been broadcast by CNN, and if you Google United breaks guitars, you already get 1,490,000 hits. This guy's really stirred up some bad publicity for United Airlines in particular, and the airline industry in general.

 

And well-deserved it is too... :rolleyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

if you Google United breaks guitars, you already get 1,490,000 hits.

To be fair, you should really google it with quotes, otherwise you get every document which has those three words anywhere in it. This gets about 40,000 hits: "United Breaks Guitars"

That's true if you only want hits on the exact three words of the song title, in that exact order, but plenty of people are discussing the topic using different wordings/spellings - so you wouldn't get hits on (e.g.) Not going United--They break Guitars, United Airlines breaks instruments, United Airlines Breaks Guitars or United Brakes Guitars.

 

I guess you can never know the absolute number of 100% relevant hits, which must lay somewhere in between the two figures, but the song/YouTube clip has certainly generated a huge amount of interest in the last couple of days...

Edited by Stephen Chambers
Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are a lot of myths about instruments in aeroplanes, including those who believe the reduction in pressure might cause a fiddle to explode!

 

one time i was in a hotel room, and i opened the window: instantly all of my friend's fiddle strings flew off. so yeah... part of me believes that instruments are susceptible to humidity and pressure changes!

 

i never leave my concertina anywhere in public, and it always remains in my sight. i do not make exceptions for airlines or trains. if i was in an airplane, i would go to the bathroom without my concertina, but only because no one can get off midflight. i am not even interested in considering the baggage handling methodologies or environmental conditions of an airplane: once the idea of considering leaving my hand made instrument out of my sight for several hours comes to my mind i immediately reject the concept. luckily i have never had an airline official disagree with me.

 

when i went to detroit a few months ago, i brought two concertinas, a flute, and a large duffle bag all as carry ons. i stuffed the flute into the carry on so as to make it look like i had less volume. no one protested, and no one ever has. as long as you got your stuff together, dont take up a lot of time, and act like you know what you're doing, the flight attendants dont bother you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's not just the baggage handlers on the tarmac you need to worry about. Behind the scenes, the automated luggage handling systems send your bags along conveyor belts and down some steep chutes. Apart from the impact to your own bag when it hits the bottom, you then get somebody else's overweight bag on top of it.

 

The problem is, with the current security restrictions it's very difficult to get away with carrying on much hand luggage. Furthermore, checkin is usually handled by the airport rather than the airline itself, so you can't be certain that the bags you carried on to one flight will be accepted on the return.

 

At least with concertinas we can usually be confident that they will fit within the carry-on regulations, even if we have to be creative about the rest of our luggage.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...