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Re: Cabin baggage ban hits musicians
horrible, horrible times.
traveling for a musician was already a nightmare, and now it is
worse. i worry more about flying with the cello than i do about the
performance on the other end.
as for the repeaters...i never put them in the hold. i always put
them in my carry-on with my laptop. i think it is more likely that i
can find a replacement cello than replacement repeaters!! (how weird
is that! the cello is about 20 times more valuable)
maybe one outcome of the ban on cabin baggage will be that hold
baggage is treated better. in any other business such mistreatment of
property would not be considered acceptable. but now if people have
no choice but to check fragile and expensive items? the airlines
themselves recommend that you carry on anything valuable.
i used to buy an extra seat for the cello, but after Sept 11,
sometimes i would be denied boarding by ignorant staff. i started
putting it in the hold inside a flight case and insisted on gate-
checking it. without fail, i would be yelled at by TSA during
screening. "you can't bring that through here". at one airport they
unpacked the cello and left it naked on a metal table (not letting me
anywhere near it) while crowds of people jostled past in the security
line. they wanted to run it this way through the xray machine. my
tearful entreaties had an effect and they ended up with one person
holding it upside down while 2 others searched inside with
flashlights. the endpin and bows were removed and i was told to check
them into my baggage. i replied they are too long to fit in my
suitcase, and a TSA person said "well you should of thought of that
before". that the cello was going in the hold and not the cabin made
not the slightest difference. if it wasn't so stressful it would be
comical.
gate checking in that instance caused me to miss my flight, so now i
check it at the ticket desk. the flight case is very good, but being
so enormous, it must be hand inspected by the TSA (leaving their
little calling card inside). i always ask nicely if i can be present,
mostly to verifying that they repack if properly. if not repacked
exactly right, the cello might not survive the baggage handling. on a
recent flight the TSA closed the case, but never strapped in the
cello inside. amazingly, other than the soundpost falling out and
the bridge knocked out of place, it was fine. and if i have a
connection to make when coming from overseas (say london to philly
to seattle). because of the hand inspection, the cello never makes it
to the connecting flight. when possible, i always try to get to my
destination a day earlier, so that i have time to wait for the poor
cello to arrive, or get any repairs done.
sometimes the stress is too much, and i think "i can't handle this
any more!!", but what is the alternative???
i try to remind myself, "oh but thanks to all this inconvenience, i'm
safer now". but, on that journey where the inspection caused me to
miss my flight...i realized, while waiting for the next plane, that i
still had my LEATHERMAN in my purse.
aargh.
On Aug 12, 2006, at 5:59 AM, Costas Andreou wrote:
> Hello everyone. Here is a BBC article about musicians' problems
> because of
> the new cabin baggage ban on planes.
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4784225.stm?ls
>
> Costas Andreou
>
> http://www.costasandreou.com
> contact@costasandreou.com
>