I'm sorry to say that the latest on carrying hand-baggage on flights to/from Britain is that violins appear to be a no-no.
Tom has been carrying his violin into the cabin as hand-luggage for 25 years. Yesterday we hung on for about ten minutes to get through to the airline on which we are meant to fly to France next month, listening to pre-recorded platitudinous messages about their wonderful customer service. Finally Tom was told by some idiot of a rep that he can put his violin in the hold. He explained that he can't: it's liable to be smashed by those shott-putting bag handlers, being 150 years old and worth a five-figure sum. 'In that case you can afford to buy another ticket for it,' said the rep, who evidently hadn't listened to the platitudinous messages about their wonderful customer service.
Another call to the same company, answered by a different rep, produced the information that the new regulations about the size of hand-luggage have been in place since 1 August. A visit to the website produced, after much searching, a kind of afterthought suggesting that they've been in place since 1 July. Nobody mentioned this when we bought our tickets to France. We have the distinct impression that the airline is using the current crisis to cash in.
We're supposed to fly to Nice for a week's long-awaited holiday, then to Nantes for the St Nazaire Festival (hence Tom's need for his violin), then home from Nantes. We may have to ditch the whole plan and drive across northern France to St N instead, thanks to the airline, which by the way is refusing to offer a refund even though this situation is their fault, not ours.
Apparently orchestras on tour should be OK because they have organisational clout and proper equipment. It's the individual violinist, travelling between small chamber music festivals, who is basically up s**t creek without a fiddle.
BUT even as I write, conflicting information is still emanating from every orifice of the airline in question: the latest this morning is that the 'new' regulations about hang-luggage size are the same as the 'old' ones and that the airline can be 'flexible'. Confusing, but promising. So, no panics yet, please...
UPDATE: 12 noon. I think Tom has got it sorted, though I'll only believe it when we are actually on that plane. There's no problem with the French internal flight from Nice to Nantes - the rep we spoke to there seemed to think that Britain and the US have gone completely bonkers, and she may be right. Advice in the meantime: check with the airline before you travel, be polite and persuasive and try to get something in writing about taking the fiddle aboard. A forum on Violinist.com earlier this year about problems on a particular US airline saw several ladies advocating tears as a suitable last resort!
9 comments:
So the airline was happy to take the violin on board, provided that it had its own seat. This is completely illogical. By allowing it in the cabin, the airline is acknowledging that it poses no security risk. But it is using security regulations to justify the need for it to have its own seat. Using the crisis to maximise revenue?
Thank God I play the piano.
Another Jonathan
So the airline was happy to take the violin on board, provided that it had its own seat. This is completely illogical. By allowing it in the cabin, the airline is acknowledging that it poses no security risk. But it is using security regulations to justify the need for it to have its own seat. Using the crisis to maximise revenue?
Thank God I play the piano.
Another Jonathan
Our thoughts precisely! Though things are looking better now and as yet I haven't heard of a violinist being forced to pay for a seat for his/her fiddle...let's hope it stays that way....
If I travel with my viola, it comes with me in the cabin - no negotiation on that. After the recent panic (and how real it was, goodness only knows) the Orchestra of St Luke's from the US had to cancel its UK tour which was due to start on 13 August, and they did not have enough time to sort something out (there are orchestral crates - but they could not find one, and each piece in it has to be identified with name, serial number, date of birth etc). A London viola player I know has travelled overland to Spain where he is teaching in a summer course. An Italian period instrument orchestra travelling to Vancouver for a concert on 14 August was not allowed to take its instruments on the plane; they had to borrow period instruments over there, including 2 violas d'amore of which there are none too many in Vancouver.
Violins are usually easy, and you'd be surprised at the number of violas which travel under the name of 'violin'. Airport people understand 'violin'. There is a story of a cellist who, when asked what his instrument is, says 'a flute' and he has got away with it at times.
I am not convinced if orchestras on tour will be ok, but maybe now things are calming down a bit. Minnesota is due to be in Edinburgh on 24th, and there is the Pittsburgh orchestra....
Those of us who are our own instrument (singers) are perhaps more fortunate in this regard.
Although I must say this is arguably the *only* time that you might get me to say it's better to be one's own instrument considering cabin pressure and proximity to others' colds, germs, noise, etc. rather than being able to carry on one's instrument, safely cocooned in a hard shell case.
My "instrument" is always with me, always an automatic "carry on", I guess!
You forgot to name the airline.
If you dont want this nonsense to continue forever and ever, we have to name and shame these people into bahaving correctly.
That means, when you recount this story, you name the airline, and the person you spoke to. You then CANCEL your ticket and say why. You then tell everyone you know.
These absurd regulations, whcih are designed only to spread hysteria must be fought with the most powerful tool you have available to you; the pound in your pocket. When these airlines start to realize that people are not wiling to accept this pathetic nonsense, they will do everything in thier power to get everytyhing back to normal, as Ryan Air are doing.
Our lives and way of life are being deliberately dismantled. The question is, what are you going to do about it? It has already reached the stage where ordinary people are being disrupted and mistreated. This isnt about regulations brought in that 'only affect terrorists' this is about all of us now, and our culture.
Take a stand. Take a stand now, before it is too late.
Why, it's only BA, the World's Favourite Airline. We don't WANT to cancel our tickets. We want to have our holiday. If we turn up at check-in and they won't let the fiddle on, then we'll create the stink. Taking a stand is necessary, but I rather despair of anybody ever actually listening. I fear we can yell & yell and YELL, but if petty officials can use the situation to flex their little amounts of power and get extra money out of people at the same time, then they're not likely to listen.
As for the recent event where a plane load of Brits on a package hol on the Costa Del Drunks were able to force two harmless Muslims off their aircraft because they didn't like their beards and leather jackets, this is the most disgusting incident of all.
jessica music is the ocean that heals the mind so ilike everything about music and all people who luv music wheter it be eaqstren or western , though each music has its own compassion , style so its good to see people like u who find time to spent for music.
yours freind of music
Clearly they have never heard of the idea of going into debt (what makes a professional's violin so different from a house or car is beyond my ability to grasp) or having a loaner instrument. My friend had a very expensive cello cracked and they gave her that same stupid line about being able to afford a seat. Problem was, it did not belong to her; it was being lent to her by a sponsor precisely because she can't afford something like that. While *they* could possibly afford it, their relationship does not include paying for all her travel!
Post a Comment