Flying with lutes

(This article first appeared in Lute News, 40, December 1996, and this online version is regularly updated. Last update July 2008.)

A necessary preface: November 2006.

For 10 years I have been sporadically updating this article with minor adjustments, and occasionally receiving an email with a question or a suggestion as a result of it. This situation changed abruptly when, for a period of 6 weeks during August and September 2006, musical instruments were banned from the cabins of all aircraft leaving the UK, following a major security alert. During this period countless instruments were damaged or destroyed by baggage handlers, still others were lost in transit, and many individuals and musical organizations suffered severe financial hardship as a result of lost work or massively increased travel costs. That experience has hammered home how reliant professional musicians are on air travel, and how vulnerable all musicians are when the rules of air travel change without warning. One of the main arguments employed in the fight to get instruments readmitted to aircraft cabins was the point that they are easily screened, and thus present no security threat. Please let's keep it that way: if you're flying with an instrument, first take everything out of its case that does not belong there - the bird's nest of old strings, the scissors or knives which would be confiscated anyway, and especially - mainly for wind or brass players - any large bottles of liquids or gels such as cork grease, slide lubricant or bore oil. Let's make it as simple as possible for the instruments to be screened, and hopefully in future the stresses of flying with instruments will only be the usual ones!

Airlines and lutes are uneasy companions and many lutenists dread flying with their instruments. The situation has become particularly difficult in recent years. The events of September 11th 2001 led to a worldwide tightening of airport security and widespread suspicion of any unusual luggage. The growth of budget airlines, with their often draconian restrictions and/or charges for both carry-on and checked baggage, has transformed musicians' travel in Europe. The situation changes all the time, and one never quite knows what one will meet at the airport, but the following is a compilation of tips and warnings from my own or my colleagues’ experiences. Please note that it is only advice based on past experiences. The author cannot be held responsible for any situations or responses which readers may encounter. The following advice is offered on the assumption that your instrument is in a hard case and is fully insured. An uncased lute or one in a soft bag is extremely unlikely to survive a flight in the luggage hold, and may suffer severe damage even if carried as hand luggage and put in an overhead locker. Insurance is not foolproof since lutes are not easily replaced, but if the worst happens at least your investment is not lost. Instruments insured on a household policy may not be covered when taken abroad, even if the instruments are separately listed under an all risks clause. It is always a good idea to check with your insurer before travelling. Also remember that climatic damage is usually not covered on any policy, so don’t leave your lute out in Mediterranean heat. The insurance company used by most British professional players is British Reserve Insurance Company Ltd, trading as Allianz Cornhill, Allianz Cornhill House, 6 Vale Avenue, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN1 1EH, tel. 0870 2400 303, fax 0870 1600 304.

Problems depend largely on the size of the instrument with which you intend to travel. Unless you’re very unlucky, a renaissance lute or similarly small instrument (e.g., baroque guitar, vihuela), will pass as hand luggage on most airlines most of the time, but it is sensible to check the website of the airline with which you intend to fly: many post specific guidelines on travelling with musical instruments. Since September 2006 hand luggage has largely been strictly limited to one item, with a small musical instrument being permitted as an additional item. In 2008 some airlines are now reducing this to one item only - i.e., the musical instrument and nothing else. Recommendations for the carriage of musical instruments are on the website of the Department for Transport; click here to read them, but note that these may change, and your airline may impose their own additional restrictions. The Transportation Security Administration in the US recognizes that stringed instruments are best transported as hand luggage, and allows - on paper - one moderate-sized instrument in addition to a carry-on bag. These are only recommendations, however, and the TSA point out that individual airlines may impose different restrictions. You can read the TSA's guidelines on transporting musical instruments here. If you’re flying out to do a concert it is NOT a good idea to put the music in your checked baggage. Unless you have bulky scores the actual music will usually fit in your lute case, under the body of the lute or flat on the soundboard under the strings. If you are using a folder you can extract the music itself and put it in your lute case, and put the folder in your checked bag.

There is little to be gained by checking in especially early on most airlines, but try to be at the boarding gate as soon as it opens: if you are among the first passengers to board the plane your lute can be the first item to go into an empty overhead locker. It can be extremely difficult to find somewhere to put a lute if you get on the plane when the lockers are already full. If your lute doesn’t fit in the locker try another one: the end locker is a row is often smaller than the rest. Sometimes the length of a lute pegbox can prevent the case entering the locker, often by a matter of millimetres. In such cases the problem is usually only with the lip of the locker, and this will often flex a little if you pull down on the base in the centre, which may gain you that crucial few millimetres. If your lute still won’t fit try the wardrobe; this is a long locker usually at the front of each seating section, where jackets may be hung. It is always large enough to take a lute. Under the seat in front of you is another possibility for a small-bodied instrument with a long pegbox: you will have to fit your feet around the pegbox, but that is preferable to consigning the lute to the hold.

Budget airlines with free (unnumbered) seating require a different approach. Here it is advisable to check in as early as possible to get a boarding card with a low number, or check-in online and pay extra for priority boarding, so that you are in the first wave of passengers to board the plane. These airlines generally permit very little hand luggage, and even small instruments such as violins and trumpets have been refused. Seats on these airlines are often so absurdly cheap that the simplest solution is usually to buy a seat for each lute, however small. If you have an instrument seat, you should point out to the ground crew that you are legally required to put it in a window seat; you might then be allowed to pre-board with the accompanied children, etc. Paradoxically, you may not be allowed to put an instrument in its seat, because most of them are too small to be safely strapped in, but buying the extra seat permits you to take it on the plane. I have, on occasion, travelled with one small and one medium lute taped together and strapped into one seat. The resultant bundle was a nuisance to carry around, but the airline made no fuss.

Since September 11th 2001, regulations on what is permitted in hand luggage have been greatly tightened and are rigidly enforced. Scissors are not permitted, so if you habitually keep some in your string box make sure that you put them in your checked baggage prior to check-in. But if you carry a cigarette lighter for burning frets, note that this has to travel in your hand baggage. Some airlines even make a fuss about strings, and I have had my spare strings confiscated (by Ryanair) - on the grounds that they could be used to strangle someone! There is nothing you can do about the strings actually on the instrument, (the airline staff are unlikely to be interested in the potential difficulty which the confiscation of your strings could make for you at your concert), except be prepared to argue politely that they are so firmly fixed in place that you could not possibly remove them in flight. This is actually true, because you wouldn’t want to draw attention to your lute in such a way during the flight... But spare strings are best removed from your instrument case and put in your checked baggage. If you are flying with more than one instrument it can be a real nuisance trying to sort out the bird's nest of spare strings and packets in your suitcase when you arrive at your destination. I solved this by putting each lute's spare strings into little bags, which are labelled or colour coded for easy identification. The bags go into my suitcase, and are easily re-united with the instruments on arrival.

Large lutes such as theorbos and archlutes present different problems. If you can afford it (or if the organization for which you are playing can be persuaded to pay), buy a seat for the instrument. Even this apparently foolproof expedient can cause havoc because rules for the carriage of instruments vary and seem in any case to be entirely dependent on the whim of the individual with whom you deal. Stories of bizarre interpretations of these rules are rife in the profession. More worryingly, many airlines have now imposed length restrictions on instruments which can be carried in seats, and these exclude many archlutes and theorbos. Check with your airline. Luthier David Van Edwards now offers a large Italian folding theorbo which dismantles to cello-size, which has solved my theorbo transport problems, and many of my professional colleagues have ordered similar instruments. Others have bought flight cases (see below for some manufacturers). If you have a moderately-sized theorbo or archlute which physically fits in an airline seat, it is still possible to book a cello seat for it but I suggest that you don't flaunt the instrument at check-in. Try to book your seats with an agent used to dealing with musicians. In Britain most professionals use Specialised Travel. For flight purposes call your instrument a cello. This is important, since anything else may cause problems, and many airlines only sell instrument seats for cellos. I have not yet had any problem with my odd-looking cello, though there’s always a first time! If you are booking tickets online you can book an instrument seat by writing either ‘Cello’ or ‘EXSTCBBG’ (Extra Seat Cabin Baggage) in the space where you would put a first name, and your own surname in the surname space. Strictly speaking there should be no airport tax on an instrument seat, but this is charged automatically if you book online; however, you will usually pay much more for your seats anyway if you call the airline and book in person, so it is usually cheaper to pay the tax.

Allow plenty of extra time to check in with an instrument seat, because check-in staff turnover seems to be very fast, and the person with whom you deal will probably not have done an instrument check-in before. Ask for a window seat for the instrument. This is actually a legal requirement for safety reasons, but many check-in staff seem unaware of this. Procedures vary: sometimes you will be given two boarding cards, sometimes you will be given only one, with two seat numbers written on it. If you are given one card, ask the check-in attendant to write the instrument's seat number as well as your own on your boarding pass, otherwise it may cause problems further along the line. Board early to minimise inconvenience to other passengers. Some airlines will pre-board you anyway, and others will allow you in the first wave of passengers needing assistance, etc. Put your theorbo straight into its seat, check if the seatbelt fits around it, and if not ask the cabin staff for a seatbelt extension. Fit this through the case handle, around the case, and pull it reasonably tight. British Airways has a policy of roping in instruments according to a diagram in their flight manuals. This diagram is designed for a cello, which is tied head-down in the seat; it is hopelessly ineffectual for a theorbo. Try and persuade the crew to put the instrument’s body in the foot space, facing backwards (i.e., soundboard facing into the seat). Make sure that you check-in early with BA as the roping-in takes ages. You may have to slide the instrument in sideways and/or lift it over the back of the seat, to get it into position. On many planes you can gain a bit more room by pulling the seat cushion up; they are usually only held in place with velcro. If there is insufficient headroom for your theorbo (an increasingly common problem as spaces between rows get ever smaller) you may have to slope the instrument sideways and put up with it leaning against you.

If you can’t afford a seat for your theorbo, put large clear notices on the case saying ‘Hand Load Only’, in English and if possible in the language of the country to which you are flying. I recommend that you also pad the inside of the case with bubble-wrap pieces at any vulnerable points, e.g., all around the upper head, around the lower pegs, and especially around the endpin or strap attachment on the endclasp. (Try to pad around this, not over it: the idea is that in the event of an impact on the end of the case, this padding will keep any pressure away from the endpin. A bang on the endpin can break the joint between the soundboard and the ribs, at exactly the point where the string tension pulls: needless to say, it can be disastrous.) At check-in try and ascertain whether the flight is full or not. Explain that the instrument is very fragile, that it may jam the conveyor belt, and therefore needs to be hand-carried (by you) to the gate. Usually this causes no problem. It will receive a baggage tag which eliminates any further queries until you reach the gate. If there are empty seats, explain that your instrument requires hand loading and that it would be much easier to put it into a spare seat. Sometimes this works. If it doesn’t, either you or an attendant will carry it to the plane. If someone takes it away, explain that it MUST go in the heated hold (there always is one, for animals), and ask for the number of that hold. If you take it yourself it’s always worth one last try to get it into the plane; ask the cabin crew where best to put it, and if you’re very lucky a sympathetic crew member might just put it in the wardrobe, or a spare seat. If it goes in the hold again insist on the heated hold and get its number. Just before landing explain to the cabin crew that you have a fragile instrument in hold X, and that you need to unload it by hand. Sometimes they will bring it to you. Some airports, including London Heathrow, have a policy of not allowing passengers to wander around on the tarmac under any circumstances, especially since September 11th, so try and persuade the cabin crew to fetch it. It’s not part of their job, but they’re often nice people, they’re sometimes musicians and it’s always worth asking. At least one world-class lute maker used to fly full-time as cabin crew!

If you can’t collect your instrument at the plane, then you are into the realm of damage limitation. Loading facilities vary from one airport to another, but usually involve conveyor belts and baggage handlers whose job is to move a large number of heavy items from A to B as fast as possible. Always wait for your instrument at the point where the baggage emerges onto the belt. You may be able to save it at least part of the fall on a carousel system. As soon as you get it, inspect it and immediately report any damage to the airline and to your insurers. At Heathrow you can request hand-unloading of fragile items: these are then transported from the plane on a separate truck from the suitcases, and left unattended in the baggage hall, where you (or anyone else!) can collect them. In such cases all you can do is run from the plane, get through customs and passport control as fast as possible, and try and beat the baggage truck to the hall. Again, inspect the instrument for damage immediately.

One trick used by many American players (for whom every single concert usually involves a flight) is to wrap their lute case in layers of bubble wrap for transportation in the hold. This insulates it from both knocks and climatic extremes, and weighs almost nothing. The disadvantage is that if you want to re-use the bubble wrap on the return journey you have to bale it up and carry it around with you. I am grateful to Daniel Swenberg for his tip of making a hinged, reusable bubblewrap shell for the body, and a separate cap for the end of the lute, all a little over-sized as the bubblewrap seems to shrink with taping. This would save a lot of hassle if you fly often with the same lute. Some casemakers now offer heavy duty padded bags which will fit over a hard case, and offer similar but more long term protection, and are easier to transport since they incorporate handles and straps. One British firm which will make these is Kingham MTM (Made to Measure) Cases Ltd. Hard flight cases are also an option: the best I have seen are made by Jiri Bednar in the Czech Republic: these are fully shaped cases in a limited range of body sizes (but with variable neck lengths), which are then padded to suit the individual instrument. They weigh very little more than a conventional case, and you would not need an additional case for everyday use. A colleague demonstrated the toughness of these flight cases by standing on the soundboard area, with the lute inside! Many other firms will make rectangular flight crates to order, though these are usually expensive and cumbersome. The weight and bulk of these crates means that it is usually only possible to check them in without incurring excess baggage charges if you are travelling with an ensemble on a group check-in, (and note that recent health and safety regulations mean that the maximum permitted weight of an item of baggage on flights from the UK is 32kg, so if you order a flight case, check with the maker that its weight including the instrument will not exceed this). Magazines serving the rock music world invariably carry adverts for firms which make flight cases. Such cases are least inconvenient if they are made to take the instrument in its regular case, then you don’t have to haul the flight case around with you if you are staying in one place.

Finally, travelling with lutes (or other instruments) never gets easier, but if players pool information and pass on tips, many friends and colleagues may benefit from them, and many instruments may be saved from damage. If you have any tips of your own to share, or if you have run into difficulties not addressed on this page, please the details. I am especially keen to hear about airlines which are particularly good or bad at dealing with musical instruments. I will happily credit your contribution or protect your anonymity, whichever you prefer.

Bon voyage!

© Lynda Sayce, 2005