[Dixielandjazz] Axes :) as carry-on luggage

[Ministry of Jazz]

Shalom Jazz Fans,

Since moving to Israel I have traveled a lot all over the world with a
variety of instruments including banjo, trombone and tuba. My tenor banjo
and trombone both fit in overhead storage bins. The tuba obviously must be
checked. I only remember having to check an instrument that physically could
be carried on once. That was on flights within Australia on Qantas, who
claimed that there is a federal law against carrying any instrument on board
the flight.

In those cases, and any other where I've encountered resistance to the idea
of carrying my ax on board, I always talk it up with the check-in agent and
a manager if it gets that far. I take it to the point of agreeing that I can
carry the instrument to the gate and let the gate people decide. Then if it
must be checked, it gets hand loaded into the baggage after the other bags
are already loaded, and I insist they mark it fragile. It comes out with the
other baggage, or sometimes is hand-carried to the baggage claim area, but I
don't think that's as dangerous as the loading process.

RULE #1 when traveling with anything unusual that requires special attention
or handling is: CHECK IN EARLY!. Get there 4 hours before the flight, before
they've had a chance to run into problems with anyone else and get in a bad
mood; before the cabin and baggage compartments are full with other people's
stuff. Also, BOARD EARLY.

Anyone you have to negotiate with, don't raise your voice; smile; tell them
a story about where you're going or coming from, why you need the
instrument(s), why the instrument is valuable to you; tell them you always
fly that airline because they are flexible with your bringing instruments on
the flights, anything that might help. (Granted, it might be harder since
9/11 than it was before.) I have encountered check-in agents or managers who
are musicians, or who otherwise identify with my stories (like the Jewish
agent when I flew from Israel to Miami to play banjo and bone at my nephew's
bar mitzvah, who let me carry both on board).

Sometimes you just plain get lucky. When I moved to Israel from LA, I
brought banjo and bone AND 2 large suitcases AND a carry-on bag. The flight
was packed full, and they sternly announced that only 1 carry-on bag would
be permitted per person, and only up to the officially allowed size. I
talked my way past the check-in people, who warned me that they'd take both
instruments from me when I board. All warnings were repeated at the gate,
but I persisted up to the door of the plane. When I was on the jetway about
15 people away from the door, someone ahead of me got into a fierce argument
with gate agents about needing a medicine bag in addition to her carry-on
bag and purse. The argument dragged on, and eventually they rushed the rest
of us past her and boarded us. I was carrying about 3 times the amount that
they were arguing about.

Another time en route to a computer exhibition in Germany, my sister and her
husband and I had checked in all we could, and still had heavy coats, laptop
computers, and small boxes of sales brochures. The gate agent looked at my
sister's luggage dolly and said, "That's too much to carry on the plane."
Not intending to be a wise-guy (really), I just spontaneously chimed in,
"Yes, but there are 3 of us traveling." She thought for a second, then
repeated, "Three of you traveling?" We said "Yes", and she let all 3 of us
on, each one with as much stuff as my sister had.

I believe I've set the record for the number of instruments transported on
one commercial flight without paying excess baggage charges. I flew to
Prague once to buy instruments, including a used Sousaphone. After finding
the Sousaphone, I brought it to the ticket office of Czech Air downtown to
get permission to bring it back with me -- checked in of course. I packed it
in a box from a large TV set. It was definitely oversized, but not
overweight. When I got to the airport, I focused on the Sousa, which I had
permission for. But I also had a trombone, a banjo, 4 trumpets, and a viola
case. I only had a small flight bag for my regular luggage. I strapped
instruments together to try to make them count as one piece, and put as many
small instruments as possible into a duffel bag and a suitcase. It was my
3rd trip to Prague, my 3rd tuba on Czech Air, and I kept telling them I only
fly Czech Air because they have let me bring large instruments on the
flights. In the end, they took everything without any extra charges.  I
carried on the banjo, and checked everything else.

Finally, never, never call your instrument an "ax" while traveling.

Best regards,

Elazar Brandt
Dr. Jazz Dixieland Band
Tekiya Trumpet Ensemble
Jerusalem, Israel
www.israel.net/ministry-of-jazz
+972-2-679-2537