I've taken my alto lute on without problems, although it's been around four years since I last tried it and never on Southwest. You are dependent on the cooperation of the gate agent. If you hit an uncooperative gate agent or stew, they can insist that you gate check the instrument, and there's not much you can do about it. In my experience, they have been willing to cut musicians some slack and let slightly oversized stuff go on. However, airlines have been getting less and less friendly, so who knows these days. I'll find out in a few weeks when I fly back to Clevelend for LSA. Personally, I wouldn't take an instrument in a soft case unless it was definitely within the size limits. Even slight odds that the baggage gorillas will end up with it are too high for my taste.
Guy ----- Original Message ----- From: "Christopher Davies" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <cittern@cs.dartmouth.edu> Sent: Monday, June 02, 2008 9:56 AM Subject: [CITTERN] domestic US flight with instrument? Hello all, Any advice on the reality of bringing a Palmer sized orpharion in soft case as carry on? Southwest says by phone it's over the size limit (by maybe 10 inches), however I did fly to Europe recently with a similar sized instrument on United. And, any experience with checking a standard hard case? Thanks for your thoughts. Christopher Davies To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
