[Dixielandjazz] Airline Security

[Steve Barbone]

To all bands/musicians traveling internationally this word of advice. Call
your Airlines to see what is allowed and what is not.

Note the article below and even if a clarinetist like me who can carry on
the axe, take the reed cutting tools and/or liquids out of the case and pack
them in your checked baggage. Same with valve oil etc.

On my upcoming trip to play at the Red Sea Jazz Festival with Tom Wiggins
et. al, I would normally take 2 clarinets. Not this time. :-) VBG.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone


Tighter Security Is Jeopardizing Orchestra Tours

NY TIMES - By DANIEL J. WAKIN - August 15, 2006

Air travel for classical musicians has never been easy.

Those husky cellos need an extra ticket. Hey, security! Watch that priceless
Stradivarius. Double-reed players? They have long given up on carrying
aboard those valuable knives and shaping tools used to mold the cane that
transforms their breath into lyrical sounds.

And now, with new concerns about carry-on baggage in the wake of Britain¹s
reported terrorist plot, it has gotten tougher.

Strict regulations imposed last week forced the New York-based Orchestra of
St. Luke¹s to cancel a long-awaited tour of Britain over the weekend and
sent other ensembles with imminent trips, including the Philadelphia
Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony and the Minnesota Orchestra, scrambling
to cope with the new rules.

³I¹m heartbroken,² Marianne C. Lockwood, the president and executive
director of the St. Luke¹s orchestra, said yesterday. ³I don¹t think I¹ve
been through 72 more anguished hours in my life.² The orchestra was to have
left last Thursday for concerts at the Edinburgh International Festival and
the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in London, one of the major summer
music festivals.

All travelers in Britain had to adapt to the ban on carry-on items, which
was relaxed yesterday to allow one small carry-on. But not all travelers ply
their trade with highly personal artifacts made of centuries-old wood,
horsehair and precious metals that many musicians are loath to put in the
hold.

Its rules are of course in flux. The United States Transportation Security
Administration says on its Web site that musical instruments are generally
allowed in the cabin in addition to a carry-on bag and a personal item, but
it leaves size requirements and permission for the carry-on to the airlines.
In addition, it promises that security personnel will handle instruments
carefully. 

That is of little comfort to musicians, particularly string players, who
suffer constant anxiety over the threat of damage and fears that their
instruments will arbitrarily not be allowed in the cabin, even though
violins fit into most overhead bins.

The violin virtuoso and conductor Pinchas Zukerman said security officials
had even asked him to remove the strings of his 1742 Guarneri del Gèsu.
³I¹ve had unbelievable discussions at certain airports,² he said by
telephone while waiting at the Atlanta airport for a flight with his wife,
the cellist Amanda Forsyth. ³They want to stick their hands in my
instruments, and they say, ŒIt¹s my job.¹ ²

Cellists have it the worst, Ms. Forsyth said. ³We buy the seat with a cello,
and they treat us like second-class criminals.²

The new regulations have, for now, increased the complications.

The Bolshoi opera and ballet, which have been performing at the Royal Opera
House in London, will send their orchestra¹s instruments back to Moscow by
ferry and truck at the end of the week if the restrictions are not relaxed,
said Faith Wilson, a spokeswoman for the Bolshoi¹s promoter at the house,
Victor Hochhauser Presents. The Bolshoi orchestra¹s chief conductor,
Alexander Vedernikov, had been quoted as saying that the musicians¹ contract
requires them to keep their instruments with them.

³Clearly this is a very unusual situation,² Ms. Wilson said. ³I¹m sure there
are insurance issues, but I don¹t think anybody¹s ever had to cope with the
security restrictions that we¹re up against.²

The Minnesota Orchestra is due to leave on Sunday for a European tour that
also includes stops in Edinburgh and at the Proms. Like many major
orchestras, it packs its instruments in specially designed and padded
crates. 

The biggest ones, which hold harps and double basses, are six and a half
feet high and four feet wide. About 20 players in the 95-member ensemble
like to take their instruments or precious bows on board, but they will stow
them this time around, said a spokeswoman, Gwen Pappas. The trunks are
delivered straight to concert halls, so the instruments will not be
immediately available for players who want to practice at their hotels.

The Philadelphia Orchestra plays the Proms in early September. Its trunks
also have space for all the members¹ instruments, but it is working on
backup plans for about a dozen musicians who are going on to other jobs or
on vacation and not returning with the orchestra, said a spokeswoman,
Katherine Blodgett.

Those concerts, coming later, give the orchestras time to prepare. And these
are large, experienced touring groups that own the crates.

Not so the Orchestra of St. Luke¹s, a highly regarded ensemble that
nevertheless tours infrequently and saw the trip as a boost for its image.
It spent two years planning the trip and many months carefully polishing the
programs, which were to have been broadcast in the United States.

The trip had special significance for the orchestra¹s principal conductor,
Donald Runnicles, who is Scottish, and for its president, Ms. Lockwood, who
was born in England.

Ms. Lockwood described three days of phone calls, fueled by takeout Chinese
food, to find alternatives. The musicians had planned to carry their smaller
instruments by hand.

Charter planes were too expensive: about $300,000, which would have doubled
the cost of the tour. The orchestra scoured larger orchestras from
Philadelphia to Boston to borrow trunks. All were in use. St. Luke¹s
considered flying the musicians to Paris, having them take a train to London
and having the instruments trucked in, but there would not have been time to
make a Tuesday rehearsal.

Then someone from Edinburgh called Saturday to offer the loan of
instruments.

In the end, none of the efforts mattered. British Airways canceled the
flight that day at 5 p.m.