easyjet goes "musician friendly"

Uilleann Pipes
1

I thought the item below would be of interest to pipers choosing an airline to travel with this summer. I think maybe the other airlines will follow suit if they start loosing business, after all musicians traveling with their instruments are a sizable customer base that know how to use publicity. I travel with another budget airline reasonably regularly with my pipes and I will be making inquiries as to whether they will be making amendments to their size limits for musical instruments

Brian Howard
www.howardmusic.co.uk




http://www.travel-lists.co.uk/headline.html#macc

13/01/11 easyJet goes ‘musician friendly’

Student music quartet with instruments easyJet is trumpeting its new musician-friendly hand baggage policy, saying it is one of the best within the airline industry.

Over recent months the airline has been in dialogue with the Incorporated Society of Musicians as to how best accommodate musicians and their instruments on their aircraft. As a result, musical instruments up to 30 x117 x 38cm in size, allowing them to comfortably fit within the overhead lockers, will be accepted for carriage in the cabin.

The size limits for the single standard piece of hand luggage that each passenger can take on board are 56 x 45 x 25cms. So this special exemption allows for instruments such as guitar, violin, viola, piccolo, flute, clarinet, bugle and trumpet to be carried in the cabin. Larger instruments such as cellos can also be accepted in the cabin by special arrangement.

Dana Dunne, easyJet’s Chief Commercial Officer said: “We are proud to support Europe’s rich musical heritage, and recognise that many professional musicians fly to festivals and concerts all over Europe. We value their business.”

2

Thanks for the heeds up Brian that is really useful tae know. :wink:
Uilliam

3

I am always very very suspicious of any kind of positive announcement from an airline. There nasty gits the lot of them, and that among many other reasons is why i dont fly anymore - no hand luggige limits on the ferries, and the food is better :smiley:

i also noticed that the article didnt mention Uilleann pipes… and im pritty sure most aireline check-in-crew may not recognise them as a musical instrument, so that may be a gotcha.

… i am always tempted to claim, when questioned, that i am into steampunk and that my pipes are a replica of a Victorian kidney dialysis machine.

4

:thumbsup: I didn’t even know what Steampunk was until my wife mentioned it to me about a year ago. Uilleann pipes are so Steampunk it is unbelievable. For those who don’t know, check this out:

So, if you thought you were unfashionable, now you can hold your heads high knowing that if you own a set of uilleann pipes you fit right into the Steampunk sub-culture!

5

OK maybe I’d better revise ma post in the light o Chris’s revelations and say.." that is really not useful to know thanks but I’ll walk."
Uilliam

6

thats the spirit! :thumbsup: