Flying Tenors, part deux

[gemini]

Some time back on the old forum, I'd posted a request asking to hear people's experiences when it came to flying with a tenor. Unfortunately, I really don't recall if I had any replies. I'm needing to take my KW EX 90 with me to STL this summer and am wanting to be prepared.

Also, if anyone has ever had the good fortune of being able to carry it on, I'd *really* like to hear about it. I'm a slave to my American Airlines Aadvantage acct, so I'm most likely going to be flying them this time as well. If worse comes to worse, I'd be willing to gate check it. But would much rather come up with some way to go carry on.

Tnx!

[Thomas]

I've had very little trouble at all lately,domestic or internationally using either an old SaxPak or Walt Johnson countoured cases-for the tenor but I'm pretty sure you won't get a standard box case on board.

[gary]

Since last summer I've made four flights with my tenor with absolutely no problem carrying it on board, and that is even after calling the airline ahead of time and being told no way. I have a Berkeley contoured case which is quite compact.

Oh, these were inter-European flights so I can't say anything about US domestic flights with a tenor case, but I was in the US in Dec/Jan on four flights and was amazed at the crap people were bringing onboard, unimpeded. Go for it, but have a back-up plan in case you are forced to put it in the cargo hold. Mine was getting a case, the Berkeley, that was made of fibre-glass and fairly sturdy.

[MikeS]

I have lived in Denmark for the past 2+ years and have always checked my tenor sax in an Anvil style case when traveling to the US--which I think is still the safest. However, last Christmas, with some trepidation, I took a chance and carried it on with absolutely no problems. On the way home, I had to fly from Dallas to Chicago on one leg, and the guy at the United check in counter in Dallas told me that their rule was that the length plus the width of the case (not the thickness, the width at the widest part) should measure no more than 14 inches. This should be OK for most sax cases.

[col]

British airways never let me carry my tenor on board on frequent flights from london to philly. i have a really solid hiscox case, and plenty of fragile stickers, and i've never had any problems. keep an eye out at the carousel though, because the heathrow baggage handlers carried my sax up to baggage reclaim, and left it in a corner for me. i had no idea they had done this and spent a frantic 45 minutes standing at the carousel waiting for my sax!

[MikeS]

Correction to my earlier post. It's 41 inches, not 14! I carried my tenor on in a Hiscox case, thinking that the worst case scenario would be a plane-side check-in, but as good as it is, I wouldn't want to trust the Hiscox as a check-in case on a regular basis. Oh, one more thing: be sure to use key clamps.

[sjonesjrmd]

I have travelled in the US since 9-11 with my soprano and my tenor in a rectangular case on delta and the only way I could carry them on was to buy a seat. Another player I know has no problem with united as a carryon but delta made him check his horn. I tried to get some info before travelling and was told to buy a ticket to make sure. SO on delta either buy at ticket or spend some money on a good case that you can check.

[alsdiego]

And we wonder why the world thinks sax players are different :D

Apparently, there are people in the world who would actually buy an airplane seat for their saxophone. After the initial shock at this, it dawned on me that, hey, it might be cheap depending on the situation. Ah, and the thought of my beloved '64 Super 20 alto SITTING RIGHT NEXT TO ME!! It's almost more than I can stand :lol:

Al

[dolphy]

I've flown post 9/11 on Jet Blue w/ a tenor in a Walt Johnson case. They were very accomidating about allowing me to carry it on.

Patrick

[gary]

Ya know... This topic resurfaces in different guises regularly and gets many responses, including mine. But I'm wondering if this, like other topics at times, is just another exercise in the hypothetic. Has anyone actually had their saxophones damaged in air travel?

I flew from the US several years ago and checked my Lady Face in its original, regular case. The only precautions I took were to pack the horn in bubble plastic, wrap a luggage belt around the case and put "Fragile" tape on the case. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the horn, or even the case, when I got here.

Anybody's horn actually suffer damage at the hands of baggage handlers?

[The Martin]

father of a friend of mine checked my friends Beucher BigB in.
It was in a Protec form case.... No special precautions because my friend asked to carry it on, not check it in..

And it was damaged, the bell was push in the body........
Glady it could be repared..

[Tharruff]

Gary,

YES is my answer to your question about damage to a horn by airlines handling.

The big band that I played in once traveled from Dayton, Ohio to Dallas, Texas on Delta airlines. I was NOT allowed to carry my 1940 B/A Tenor onto the airplane because I had a regular Selmer hard shell case and it was determined to be 'too big'. The other Tenor play WAS allowed to carry his on (Mark VI) as he had a gig bag type of a case.

Upon arriving in Dallas and opening my case at the hotel (should have done it at the airport...) I found that the thumbrest had been pushed ointo the body and the alt F# keyguard broken off. Obviously, the case had been dropped hard from a quite a distance.

When I went to LEAVE Dallas (they still wouldn't let me carry on for the return flight) I went to their office first to file a claim for the damage that happened earlier and they tried to deny it saying that I should have reported it as soon as I arrived !!! There was no evidence of damage to the case, so I just didn't think that mine had been rough handled at the time.

But read on...the Baritone player had obvious damage to his case upon arrival and opened it to find a key broken off. (the operating lever for the side C key) and one of the trombone cases was absolutely crushed. Delta wound up renting a horn for the trombone player to play for the gig in Dallas as his horn was completely unplayable...and then BOUGHT him a new horn upon arriving back in Ohio.

They paid for the repairs to my horn and the Bari guy's.

But that was not the what I wanted. I wanted my horn to travel safely with me...not to have to be handled by someone else...damaged...then fixed for free.

So there is a real life story of a band...an airplane...and 3 damaged horns.

[gary]

Bummer, Tharruff. Were all the cases the stock, rectangular cases or were there any more custom cases like the Johnsons, etc?

[Tharruff]

Gary,

All the cases were plain-Jane stock cases. My case was newer...a Mark VII style case.

But the airlines gorillas were apparently able to 'overwhelm' them.

[Dr G]

Ya know... This topic resurfaces in different guises regularly and gets many responses, including mine. But I'm wondering if this, like other topics at times, is just another exercise in the hypothetic. Has anyone actually had their saxophones damaged in air travel?

Anybody's horn actually suffer damage at the hands of baggage handlers?

Yep. Several years ago I flew through Los Angeles and was stuck on the plane as they started to unload the cargo to transfer to the connecting flight. I watched as the guy in the bay tossed my tenor to the person below - only the person turned away at the wrong moment and the horn whacked the tarmac. Toast. Totaled. Gone.

They reimbursed my rental fees and bought me a new horn. I subsequently flew with an Anvil case for my Balanced Action. Something about the bright blue Anvil case seems to be a lot luckier.

[gary]

Oh, man, Dr. G. Don't be mad at me but I just had to laugh out loud at your first paragraph. Man, how helpless can you get? And disgusted, no doubt.

How did you get them to pay, and was it also in a standard case? I read here some time back that airlines would only give full compensation for artilcles in ATA cases.

[Dr G]

Oh, man, Dr. G. Don't be mad at me but I just had to laugh out loud at your first paragraph. Man, how helpless can you get? And disgusted, no doubt.

How did you get them to pay, and was it also in a standard case? I read here some time back that airlines would only give full compensation for artilcles in ATA cases.

Hey, I don't blame you for laughing. That's cool. It's in the past and it's paid for.

Yes, it was in a standard case. I was traveling with a big band and our manager handled it. We were lucky that I was the only one on the flight that took a hit. Maybe my horn hitting the ground woke up the handlers enough to save the rest of the horns. I really didn't think it was malicious, just real unfortunate.

[jazzyblackbarry]

Ya know... This topic resurfaces in different guises regularly and gets many responses, including mine. But I'm wondering if this, like other topics at times, is just another exercise in the hypothetic. Has anyone actually had their saxophones damaged in air travel?

I flew from the US several years ago and checked my Lady Face in its original, regular case. The only precautions I took were to pack the horn in bubble plastic, wrap a luggage belt around the case and put "Fragile" tape on the case. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the horn, or even the case, when I got here.

Anybody's horn actually suffer damage at the hands of baggage handlers?




yes my bari got some of the keys out of positions and some dents on the keys.....we where 50 musicians going to valencia .not only saxophone players but.things where missing ,the tuba cases was really in bad shape,the tuba bell was really bad to

[NissanMarkVII]

Ya know... This topic resurfaces in different guises regularly and gets many responses, including mine. But I'm wondering if this, like other topics at times, is just another exercise in the hypothetic. Has anyone actually had their saxophones damaged in air travel?

I flew from the US several years ago and checked my Lady Face in its original, regular case. The only precautions I took were to pack the horn in bubble plastic, wrap a luggage belt around the case and put "Fragile" tape on the case. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the horn, or even the case, when I got here.

Anybody's horn actually suffer damage at the hands of baggage handlers?

I have! Flight from MN to Guam, 2 layovers, 3 planes, 13 hours later. Case was dinged on the edges, and the sax has in complete need of re-alignment! Every stack key was out, and bell keys weren't much better! Nothing major, just every key had a micro-leak that it didn't have before the flight!