We pipers are fortunate that a full set can be dismantled and transported in a backpack if necessary!
Arrrrgh! That poor musician! You’re right, amckay–the last time the husband and I flew with pipes, we broke them down completely and they each fit in a briefcase. It’d be understandable if someone was trying to bring a bass on board, but I’ve seen people board the plane with full-sized REI backpacks–what’s the big deal about a violin case?
On a trip from USA to Ireland, I had my pipes put in a backpack, and they were explosive/drug tested, and I was given a patdown. Luckily got to still bring them up with me and didn’t have to check them into the hold.
Ireland to USA the X-ray operator complimented me with a “Nice pipes.”
Horrible business what happened to that violinist, but honestly my ‘worst nightmare’ would be my pipes suddenly being engulfed in flames whilst playing them.
The last time I went from from the USA to IRE the woman said, “Wadaheyisathaing?”
“Some old bagpipes,” I said. She just grunted.
Coming back home, the guy in Shannon said, " Who made your pipes?"
I said, “The Taylors.” and the guy shouted “Ho, noway! Joe, come ‘ere, guy’s got a fookkin’ Taylor set!”
When Gay McKeon was out here for the Piperlink tour, he had his Ó Bríain full set completely disassembled and crammed in the smallest case you could imagine. It looked like something you’d pack a concertina in, not a set of pipes. I still can’t believe he managed to get the whole damn thing in there… I still have yet to meet the famed piping aficionado manning the X-Ray machine at Shannon, but the last time I was there, one of the security guys near my gate asked me if I’d like to join him for some busking. (I politely declined.)
Dang it uillmann! You beat me to the Sons of Maxwell link!!!
It IS every musicians worst nightmare.
2 things:
Instrument insurance is worth every penny. My 10 most used pipes are fully covered with the cost of one gig. & I dont even fly to gigs. Well, once.
The AFM (American federation of musicians aka the ‘musicians union’) has made this issue their primary focus. I havent kept up on every detail, but I know the AFM has poured considerable resources into resolving this problem between musicians and the airlines.
I was going to ask if she had flown United but I see Uillman has beaten me to the punch!
my friend had his Takamine acoustic broken by an airline.
He ended up with a new shiny Taylor out of it: PLUS the Takamine was fixable, and so he now has two guitars.
US to UK with practice chanters, all it took was a couple bars of “Scotland the Brave” as a duet for the screener to be convinced. UK back to US, though…that took some time. “No, it’s a practice chanter. For the bagpipes. Bagpipes. Yes, we both play bagpipes. Delrin. No, it doesn’t need a bag. Really? I’m sorry you don’t like the pipes. No, it’s honestly something to practice bagpipe music…” Next time, I’ll tell 'em it’s a shawm. Maybe that’ll work. 
On preview, Northwest/Alaska’s been the worst. If you had a briefcase, they tried to stick it in a “sizer” to verify it was the allowed size, but they were letting people on with huge duffel bags and backpacks. They weren’t briefcases, you see, and didn’t have to conform to “proper briefcase dimensions”. And the silly briefcases still fit under the seat in spite of being an inch off.
When Tomas O’Cainnainn came over for a friend’s wedding he brought his set in a duffel bag – an exceptionally sporty-looking one at that! The contrast was really cute.
I think “how Gay McKeon packs his pipes” would make a grand NPU video topic. Maybe there’s a “Piper’s Choice” series in that! 
In late August I travelled from North Carolina to New York and brought my pipes. I was able to pack them on a carry on bag - but the bag wouldn’t fit in the overhead compartment so I had to let them put my bag under the plane where there was no pressurized cabin.
Luckily I took out all of the reeds and placed them in my shirt pocket so they would NOT get all wacky and warped when I tried to play in New York.
Has anyone had problems with their reeds when traveling if they had to check their bags in the belly of the plane ??? 
Each time I’ve gone O.S, bag and bellows go into the suitcase; chanter and drones get completely dismantled and stuffed into a postal tube roughly 16 inches long by 3 inches diameter, to carry into the cabin. Never been problem and customs have never wanted to look.
I usually take my pipes in a case I got for Northumbrian pipes which is just about the limit of the size of carry on* I can break down my uilleann pipes to fit this if need be. I always tell the security people what is coming through as I load it on the conveyor and it usually helps. However on one occasion I was putting my highland pipes through at Dulles and said to the young African American manning the scanner “It’s bagpipes”. I got an immediate "What did you say! and a stern expression so I repeated “It’s bagpipes”. He broke into a smile and replied “I thought you said crack pipes!”
Ian
- While I always make sure my case is the right size and don’t take other carry on so as not to push my luck I was gob-smacked by some of the bags people were taking on, and getting away with, when I fly to the Pipers Gathering this summer.
Back in the 80s in Hamilton, Ontario (of all places), an alert member of the public witnesssed a shady looking character stashing a fiddle case in a coin-op locker in the Hamilton train station. This being during the height of the IRA bombing campaign in London, and London being a mere 3,662 miles from Hamilton, the witness called the cops to report what she’d seen. The cops called the bomb squad, who arrived, sealed off the area, and then detonated the suspicious object in a small, controlled explosion. The violin was totally destroyed.
There’s a similar urban myth involving a trombone, the Metropole Hotel and the Cork Guinness Jazz Festival.
It could be a myth, I suppose, but if it is its one that made it into the paper. I can recall reading the story at the time.
I’ve been using a Reunion Blues trombone case for years. It easily fits into every overhead. No problemo.
The Cork story is certainly a myth. Don’t know about the Hamilton, On., story.
Well, it is myth, it wouldn’t be the first to make the papers.