One should also be prepared to explain why there is a big nail in the lute's
neck.
Don't carry extra strings with you.
Be prepared to deal with great logical mysteries: For example they will
tell you that the plane is fully booked, so you cannot put your instrument
on a free seat, once you passed the counter people (worked in 99% of the cases
for me).
- "So, what can I do then?"
-"You have to buy an extra seat!"
:-)))
So, as it seems, the airplanes can be expanded somehow.
----- Original Message -----
From: <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>; "Nancy Carlin"
<[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, February 08, 2010 3:00 PM
Subject: [LUTE] Re: Flying with a lute
Nancy,
Yes, by no means bring up the matter to anyone if they don't ask you first! Even with
my swan neck or theorbo, I carry it up vertically against my body to make it look as small
and inconspicuous as possible whenever I'm in sight of gate personnel. (NOW who's laughing
at the guy with the "toy" theorbo!?)
Different airlines are funny about these things and there is a high degree of
inconsistency. You might have to be creative if you run up against someone who's not happy
about the colonoscopy they're having the next day. Always be courteous and respectful, but
you might have to tell 'em its an artifact from ancient Egypt or Napoleon's guitar or
something.
I always feel kind of silly doing these things, but then I remember that I'm a paying
customer just trying to get somewhere with my valuable and breakable instrument.
Chris
--- On Sun, 2/7/10, Nancy Carlin <[email protected]> wrote:
From: Nancy Carlin <[email protected]>
Subject: [LUTE] Re: Flying with a lute
To: [email protected], [email protected]
Date: Sunday, February 7, 2010, 6:36 PM
All of this depends
on what you can afford, and for those of us in the
US fitting into all the airline
regulations and price cuts. I flew
from the San Francisco area to New York
City with my orpharion, a few
weeks ago and because I was using my
United frequent flyer miles for
part of the flight, I was on 3 flights
both going and coming = 6
planes. Plus it was Winter weather,
so I had some delays and plane
changes. All the airlines are
charging for checked bags and have
weight limits. They do not charge
for carry-ons. On the way out I was
on United and they have a lot of new
rules - they will no longer do
gate checks for anything except wheel
chairs and strollers. I had the
most problem with a flight from Denver to
Chicago, where there was a
"rule book Johnny" at the gate. I ended
up asking her about the YouTube
videos with the Taylor guitar and she
seemed to think they were
entertaining but rules are rules. She
tagged my orpharion for a gate
check, but there was nobody to take it
when I got to the gate, so I
just walked onto the plane. The flight
attendant was happy to put it in
the first class coat closet.
My theory is that if you start asking
these people if you can carry an
instrument on, they will say no because
that is what they have been
told to do. It's also better
if you book the flight early, so you get
on the plane before all the overheads are
full. The instruments are
odd shaped and if the bin is full of
suitcases they are not going to
move them so your case will fit.
On the way back from NYC I was on
American and Alaska Airlines, where I
saw quite a few guitar and bass cases,
plus something like a French
horn, in the waiting area. There
were no questions about any of these
instruments going on the planes, and no
announcements about no
instruments as carry-ons. So it
might be well to avoid United until
they change their policies.
Nancy
Thanks for all the replies to
my question about flying with my
lute.
You've given my things to
consider. Since my instrument in its
light
weight case would undoubtedly
fit in overhead storage, it's
tempting to
ask to let me take it on board
with me when I'm at the gate. But
I'm
hesitant because what if I'm
told "no"? At that point it's too
late to
make alternative
arrangements. If airlines are still willing
to
sell
an extra seat for one's
instrument, this surely would be the
safest -
but most expensive - method.
Ned
--
To get on or off this list see
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Nancy Carlin Associates
P.O. Box 6499
Concord, CA 94524 USA
phone 925/686-5800 fax 925/680-2582
web site -
[2]www.nancycarlinassociates.com
Representing:
FROM WALES - Crasdant & Carreg
Lafar, FROM ENGLAND - Jez Lowe & Jez
Lowe & The Bad Pennies, FROM
SPAIN - La Musgana and now representing
EARLY MUSIC - The Venere Lute Quartet,
Paul Beier, The Good Pennyworths
& Morrongiello & Young
Administrator THE LUTE SOCIETY OF
AMERICA
web site - [3]http://LuteSocietyofAmerica.org
--
References
1. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
2. http://www.nancycarlinassociates.com/
3. http://lutesocietyofamerica.org/
To get on or off this list see list information at
http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
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