[Dixielandjazz] Axes :) as carry-on luggage

[tcashwigg at aol.com]

Excellent advise Elazar my man.  who always thinks outside the box and 
three steps ahead of the government trained chimpanzees  in uniforms at 
the gates.


Obviously the majority of OKOm players are not frequent flyers and have 
not learned the issues that must be dealt with in every country and 
language, and who still rely upon the government issued documents to 
allow them to be good sheep and follow protocal and the rules no matter 
how stupid they might be.

when all of the above fails a few greenback usually works even though 
it is definitely against the law and rules to bribe  anyone.  In some 
countries they are called tips, and it is amazing what can be 
accomplished with just a few american dollars or whatever currency.

I once got 37 pieces of luggage aboard an airplane with fifteen 
passengers flying under different peoples names ( totally illegal) and 
no passports matched any tickets to a destination in Italy for a 
concert for fifty dollars cash, to a porter and a lot of fast talking  
to a new girl agent at the ticket counter.  The bottom line was that 
wee get on the flight and get to the destination to do the concert.   
Then the hard part to get back on the return flight the next morning 
and go back to the original destination and get on the tour bus for the 
rest of the tour.  Ya gotta thin on your feet and the run to make 
things happen and beat the system.

Cheers,

Tom Wiggins   ( The Fixer)

Who always earns his money :))

-----Original Message-----
From: jazzmin at actcom.net.il
To: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
Sent: Sat, 29 Jul 2006 10:20 PM
Subject: RE: [Dixielandjazz] Axes :) as carry-on luggage

   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


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