Despite travelling many times on budget airlines (Ryanair, Aer Lingus etc) I have never had any bother bringing my pipes in a hard case on board as hand luggage. Last week, however, I had a terrible experience with Ryanair flying from Birmingham to London. At first they said there was no way I could go on board with the case because it was too big, and that I would have to leave it there. When they found out what was in the case they tried to say that musical instruments aren’t allowed in the cabin at all. After a long argument I boarded with my half set in a plastic Duty-Free bag and had to leave the case there in the airport. Has anyone else had any similiar experiences? What do you do? Checked on luggage gets absolutely thrown around…
I’ve heard of an option where you can carry your case to the plane where it is taken of you and you see it being put in the cargo hold ,then when you get off you collect your pipes from the cargo hold,so no throwing around by baggage handlers.
RORY
You don’t want to put your pipes in the hold. The temperature drops very quickly once the plane is in the air. That can cause reeds to collapse and wood/mounts to crack.
Take them on board with you or else take the train.
Ryanair has a new policy whereby you pay extra if you’re carrying a musical instrument. I haven’t flown Ryanair since, but it would only make sense[*] if you could carry the instrument on, having paid the extra fee, provided the case fits in the overhead.
DO NOT allow the pipes to go into the hold. Unless you don’t really like them and plan to replace them soon. Better not to travel.
The thing Rory is talking about is called “gate checking”, and it may make sense in some situations if your case is strong enough. However I am pretty sure that gate checking is only available for domestic flights in most countries. It’s not allowed, for security reasons, in lots of situations, so you should ask ahead if you are considering that as an option.
[*] of course there’s no guarantee that anything to do with Ryanair policy makes sense[/size]
Word on the street is that some rich guy is buying up all the good sets of pipes being sold on eBay and plans to recoup his investment by distributing them around North America, Europe, and Australia and offering them for hire to pipers from other places who need a set of pipes to play (for concerts or sessions) but don’t want to deal with the hassles of pipes-on-planes. I think the service was being billed as Hertz Rent-a-Pipe or something like that?
Oh wait, April 1st was LAST Wednesday, sorry, I’m a week behind…
What do well travelled pipers like Paddy Keenan,Liam O’Flynn or Paddy Moloney do ?
RORY
They don’t fly Ryanair for one.
For you fellow gringos, from the AFM site:
For years, professional and student musicians traveling by air have carried
musical instruments on board as carry-on baggage. In doing so, they have
often faced numerous uncertainties when using commercial passenger aircraft.
Many have been stopped at the last minute and refused boarding. Musicians
have been turned away from flights and those trying to make connecting
flights have often had to settle for greater inconveniences in order to complete
their journey. In some cases, musicians have had to make the choice between
stowing rare, expensive and often-irreplaceable musical instruments in the
cargo hold or having their travel plans interrupted, delayed and even
cancelled.
The Coalition in Support of Musical Instruments as Carry on Baggage led by
the American Federation of Musicians has petitioned the Congress to address
this issue. Section 135 of S. 1447, the Aviation and Transportation Security
Act of 2001 outlines the will of the United States House of Representatives
that the new Under Secretary of Transportation for Aviation Security develop
new regulations as a remedy to inconsistent treatment of musicians and their
instruments. This important provision of the act reads as follows: S. 1447
Aviation and Transportation Security Act of2001, Relating to Public Law 107-71
Page 41, Section 135 SENSE OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES It is a
sense of the House of Representatives that (1) the Under Secretary of
Transportation for Security should develop security procedures to allow
passengers transporting a musical instrument on a flight of an air carrier to
transport the instrument in the passenger cabin of the aircraft,
notwithstanding any size or other restriction on carry-on baggage but subject
to such other reasonable terms and conditions as may be established by the
Under Secretary or the air carrier, including imposing additional charges by the
air carrier.
Though this language does not give musicians the specific right to carry any
musical instrument onboard, it does provide the Coalition with the tools it
needs to encourage the Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) to develop a lasting solution through the federal
rulemaking process.
The AFM and the Coalition have forwarded relevant information to the FAA
rulemaking office to assist them in their deliberations. The agency is now
reviewing procedures that it will adopt. Whatever final rules are put into place
to facilitate the in-cabin transportation of musical instruments, these new
procedures will have to be observed by all musicians. It is anticipated that
each airline that agrees to transport musical instruments will have to comply
with these new security procedures as well.
Until these new regulations are in place, musicians are asked to work
cooperatively with ticket agents, airport security personnel, gate attendants
and flight crews to resolve any difficulties encountered with regard to the
transportation of musical instruments.
This information made possible through a collaboration of the American
Federation of Musicians; Department for Professional Employees -AFL-CIO;
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP); American
Symphony Orchestra League; MENC: The National Association for Music
Education; Recording Industry Association of America, and more than twenty
national members of the Coalition in Support of Musical Instruments as Carry-
On Baggage.
There’s another 3 pages of that, if anyone wants to read it.
I’ve only ever once encountered a problem with carrying pipes on a plane (and in this case I had to buy a $90 duffle bag in the airport, which was the most worthwhile $90 I’ve ever spent in my life since on that particular trip, the airline lost my luggage and it wandered around Europe by itself for about five days before we were reunited). What I do now is always carry a big jacket with me, regardless of temperature. In the event the airline made a fuss about the pipes, I could wrap them in the jacket and carry them on board. I also have a smaller softer case (I think it may have originally been for a mountain dulcimer) that I use for Ryanair flights, which appears less imposing than my normal shotgun-style hard case.
A mate of mine uses a smallish Highland bagpipe case and says he’s never run into trouble.
Call the airline ahead of time. They each have measurement restrictions for carry ons. It is being more aggressively inforced, because checking bags is now generating revenues. I did this, but if you are flying on more than one airline, buy a case equal to the size of the smallest allowed and if the company has the size info posted on their web site, bring it with you as well. In business or first class, they won’t question you, but on a full flight in coach, you may wish to board early and be prepared to show them the size info website pages.
Neil
I’ve had problems with Ryanair - the flying school bus. Nothing with instruments though. I think for any complicated travel (ie multiple airlines) you might want to look into the smallest possible case which would mean pulling the drones and regs etc. You could probably get everything into a small rolling suitcase thing . You could always fill your pipes case with clothes and check that and then swap everything once you get to your destination so you’re not always taking your pipes apart.
Just a thought.
-Patrick
That wouldn’t be the coat I gave ye a while back would it ?Glad it came in useful 
Uilliam
We usually have luck getting the flight attendants to put our fiddle & viola cases in the little closet near the plane’s entry door, but I never count on it. Last trip I followed tommykleen’s advice about removing the reed and carrying it on in an Altoids tin in my purse and then I gate-checked my practice set and that worked OK.
I thought in the future maybe I’d carry the chanter on but gate check the bag & bellows & case. Guess it would be different when I have drones to consider, but there you are.
I kinda like the coat idea, though 
I’m amazed when I fly anymore at all the regular suitcase-type luggage people try to carry on, and most of them are just doing it for the convenience. But until more room opens up in the overhead compartments I think it’s going to be tough for people who really do need to carry fragile items.
Sorry about your case, Alhazred. That’s expensive!
Many professional musicians will actually purchase a seat for their instrument. I don’t know if pipers can afford to do that, but many guitarists do.
djm
It would probably be more simple all round to give your seat to the pipes and bed yourself down in the overhead bin.
I had a soft case made that holds my concertina, flute and full set of pipes…that MATCHES the carry on Length-Width/total number of inche. I’ve never had an issue.
I carry also a knapsack that’d hold my pipes IF I had to take everything apart in to bits. the tina’d/flute’d go into it too. precarious? YES! splinters and buttons? NO!
I met someone recently who did check their pipes-a US flight- ('was q/k set) because of they were disallowed to bring them on the aircraft. The set is history now.
at the st. louy tionol, i saw loads of pipers whose cases don’t fit the airline specs. of course, not all of them flew in… Personally, i don’t like to test fate, which is why i went to the Airline’s website that I most frequently use, got the size specs, and went to the case maker.
Now, we can get into why i chose a soft case over a hard case. (i do own 1 hard case for the 3 instruments too. HEAVY!
- Easy to lug through the airport
- When traveling I’m usually holding them most of the time, so there’s no chance of them getting crunched into splinters ( that would be a hard hit) w/o me getting crunched too.
- Mailability; should i have to put it in the “bag sizer.” I can make it fit! btw-something new I heard upon flying last week: the stewards now repeating over and over the bag # and size limitations ofver the PA. Indeed that got me a wee bit nervous.
- Not so expensive
- etc. you get the idea
Probably more comfortable, too!
I saw these while lugging my Protec case o’ Pipes & Junk around Newark airport and still haven’t ruled them out; they’re pretty cool (especially when available in Pepto-Bismol pink!):
There’s another even smaller one, but at 13" it’s pretty tiny.
One of my flutes was cracked when a large gentleman lost his balance and fell onto me and the flute in its soft case so I’m a bit chary of those (large gentlemen AND soft cases!).
I can also recommend crying your way into being allowed to carry pipes on board. Probably only works for female pipers, though, but you never know. Not very dignified (and not making any great steps for feminism, either) but sure beats the risk of checking the pipes!
Thats because no one wi any sense will talk to a guitarist let alone sit next to one…
Uilliam
Nah, it’s because guitars are better company than most people I know. They don’t drool on your sleeve and try to steal your peanuts.