When I looked into this a month or two ago, I concluded that there are
no easy answers. A shipping case or box hefty enough to really
protect the lute is extremely likely to incur oversize and possibly
also overweight charges. By the time you account for that cost both
ways, its nearly more effective to buy it a seat. But here is where it
matters where you are. I think the info I read resulting from Lynda's
experience are for Europe. It seems that there you can buy an
instrument a seat, and all that is required is that it fit in the seat
under the overhead bin, and be a window seat. In the US I believe that
the FAA rules are stricter. Flying with an instrument requires you to
get seats just behind a bulkhead. The one time I tried this about 5
years ago, United call center folk weren't clever enough to give me the
needed seat assignments. And now with the policy of Economy Plus, and
United's attempt to sell upgrades to those seats both at check in time
and even on the flight, I expect that you'd have to actually purchase 2
Economy Plus seats to actually make this work. Hence a little more
expense. I wish there were easy answers.
Suzanne
-------------- Original message from [email protected]:
--------------
> It's been several years since I've flown, and I'm wondering if
there's
> a safe way to travel with a lute by air. Do any airlines still
sell a
> seat for a musical instrument? Or is there a lute case available
> that's designed to withstand the abuse flight baggage may
encounter?
> (Having an extra instrument and shipping it ahead is one idea
that's
> occured to me, but someone willing to accept it is needed).
>
>
>
> Ned
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