Edward Mast wrote: "...one person has said that he never has had a problem with being allowed to carry his instrument onto the plane with him, checking it in at the gate..."
Could anyone with experience elaborate on "checking it in at the gate"? Do you get to carry it on and try to find a place for it, or do you carry the instrument to the gate as though you will be putting it in the overheads, but instead give it to the people at the gate to deal with (like the do with strollers and wheelchairs)? Is the goal here to just reduce the amount of time it spends in the danger zone? Do they have a special, less-cramped space to put stuff in? Because it seems like once it leaves your sight, the same problems can occur. I almost always have a window seat from where I watch the luggage being loaded into the airplane via the conveyor belt... on my last trip I saw the guy toss a computer (clearly marked "fragile" & "handle with care") from the belt to the ground and I swore I'd never let my lute leave my sight. My convictions are often not backed up by my wallet, however. Speaking of things beyond my wallet, does anyone get hassled when buying a separate seat for their instrument? I remember seeing cellos a lot when I was a kid... nowadays I doubt you could fit a cello into the smaller seat spaces. - Michael To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
