The most important thing is music [S. Worthen

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I was waiting at a gate to board a plane yesterday. There were older people, people with infants, people with toddlers, people with high-status airline loyalty cards.

The first boarding announcement invited everyone with a musical instrument to come forward to be boarded first.

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There are 10 comments on this entry. (Reply.)

Which airline? Of course it might have been that they had a symphony orchestra travelling on that flight and knew it.

I am very lucky in this respect in that I play an instrument that will fit in a normal-sized carry on bag. But I still fret like mad when I fly with it.

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Which airline?

Yeah, this is what I want to know! When I fly with mine I usually just don't bring it up, and it has generally been treated as a kind of agreed-on invisible "extra" carry-on.

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BA - I suspect you do not usually travel with another 15+ musicians though.

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I was flying with BA. Yes, they knew they had a group of musicians - there were at least 15 of them, not a whole symphony, at least, not visibly.

I travel with my flute - which is extremely portable - but almost never with my harp, which is effectively a suitcase-sized package in its own right. I have checked it in as well-packaged luggage a couple of times in its life.

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It's worth noting that some instruments actually require a separate seat ticket all of their own -- double-bass, sousaphone, and similar spring to mind, because they're too delicate to entrust to the baggage handlers in the hold and too bulky for the overhead luggage bins.

Getting a double-bass into an airliner seat and strapped down safely is probably a challenge at least as severe as getting a fractious toddler sorted out, but the musician can be expected to do it fairly rapidly and competently. So, best to get it out of the way before anything else, especially if there's an orchestra coming aboard.

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All of these were small enough to fit into an overhead locker, at least the ones which came through the gate we were going through. They were on a scale of violas and tenor saxes at most.

I can imagine it must be challenging to travel with a double-bass! I'm always impressed when I see them being carted around on the Underground.

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