Flying with a Tuba

[MedicineMan]

A number of months ago I asked the forum about the best tuba flight case available, and was in essence told “there isn’t a flight case made that can’t be damaged.” I also asked about flying with a tuba in general and was told “don’t do it, just drive or borrow a horn at your destination.”

I respect those answers, and can understand where the posters were coming from. Unfortunately there are times when you don’t have an extra 2-3 days to drive each way and don’t know a soul at the destination. For those folks, I wanted to share a little about my son’s and my experience flying with a tuba.

Just a little background. The trip was Iowa -> New York City -> Miami (tuba was driven to Miami) -> NYC (also driven back) -> Iowa. The tuba is an Ursus that was being transported in the gig bag that came with it. We decided to fly American Airlines and purchased a ticket for the horn.

Regarding TSA/Security, in Omaha they were insistent on my son putting it through the scanner. We had talked about this at length before his trip and he respectfully insisted on a hand check. They held him up for about 15 minutes, but finally relented and did the hand check.

Once on the plane, all I could get out of my son (who was flying solo) was that situating the horn was “challenging” (more on that later). He got a few questions from the stewardesses, but they were fine with it once he produced the ticket. He made it to NYC with no issues and did his thing.

My wife and I went to see his final performance in NYC, and I was in charge of getting the horn home as my son was staying a couple of extra days.

My experience with the TSA in LaGuardia Airport was much smoother than what my son dealt with. I had to remove the horn from the gig bag and put the bag through the scanner. The TSA agent carefully moved the horn to the other side of the metal detector and gently handed it back to me to put back in the gig bag. No problems whatsoever. I have a feeling that they’re a little more used to that sort of thing at LaGuardia than in Omaha, hence the easier time.

When getting ready to board, I heard one gate agent whisper to the other that I’d have to check the horn. Felt my blood pressure rise, but simply said “nope” and produced the ticket for the horn. No other issues once I did that.

Once on, situating the tuba was tough. I had visions of it sitting nicely on the seat while I munched pretzels and drank a Coke, but this was not to be. Those of you familiar with the Ursus know that it’s pretty compact, but the bottom bow ended up being in one seat and then it was draped across my lap. So I was cuddled up to the bell for the 3.5 hour trip back to Omaha.

After all that traveling, upon getting home I noticed a tiny, shallow ping on the bell that my son had actually told me about before the trip home. It may or may not have happened during transport. That was the only damage noted. Not bad for all that traveling!

My take home points:

- Try to do a little research on which airlines seem to be more instrument friendly. Read their policies regarding instrument transport.

- TSA was fine, but be ready to politely insist on a hand check of the horn, even if you meet resistance.

- Think about the size of the tuba before going this route. There’s no way this could have worked with a 6/4 horn. Seats simply aren’t big enough.

- Be ready to produce your ticket for the tuba at any time, as there will almost certainly be questions from airline personnel.

Hopefully this is of help to some of you, but your mileage may vary!

[LeMark]

I travel a lot, and when I buy airline tickets, I have to produce a birthdate, ect for the 2nd passenger. How do you designate "inanimate object" when buying an extra ticket?

[Rick Denney]

Mark, you might be able to get around that stuff buying the ticket at the airline's service counter at the airport, if you have a cooperative counter agent and particularly if you have frequent-flyer privileges with that airline.

As for me, I'd put it in an Anvil case, buy full-coverage insurance for it (from a provider like Clarion), pay the oversize fees, and check it. I would design the blocking for the Anvil case to keep the bell rim in free air, supported by a round inflated ball wedged into the bell throat. That puts only tensile stress on the bell, rather than bending stress. I would provide at least 4" of soft, damping foam on all external dimensions. I would leave all valves and slides in free air, too, and support the instrument by the outer branches only.

I would photograph the tuba in its case, lid open, at the airport, right before closing it up and turning it over to the TSA inspector.

The insurance is for when that doesn't work.

My extensive experience with and observing TSA suggests that there is no reliable prediction of their willingness to cooperate with anything in particular, including their own stated policies, which nobody at any given airport may have even read. The regional airports are the worst in that regard--the less the power, the more vigorously the minor potentate hangs onto it.

Rick "the ability to buy a seat for the instrument is not at all assured" Denney

[LeMark]

The way airlines oversell seats, they are likely to bump a tuba to accommodate another passenger. That's one reason I'm building a suitcase euphonium. Remove the bell, make padding designed to protect it whatever happens, and it's not an expensive instrument to begin with.

[MedicineMan]

I travel a lot, and when I buy airline tickets, I have to produce a birthdate, ect for the 2nd passenger. How do you designate "inanimate object" when buying an extra ticket?

My wife, bless her heart, was the one that did the booking. She had to call the airline and let them know what the ticket was for, and then they went ahead and did the booking. I don’t know of any way that you can do it yourself online.

[MedicineMan]

Mark and Rick bring up some valid concerns, and these were things we thought about before we even booked. We just made a couple of ground rules that we agreed to:

1) The tuba does NOT go through the TSA scanner. It must be hand checked. If they want to try to be tough and make us wait a couple of hours, so be it.

2) The tuba does NOT ago on as checked luggage. If they want to give up my tuba seat, then we don’t take that flight. If this happens, rest assured that I will raise holy h*ll and the airline will need to figure it out.

I think the approach we took incurs the least chance of damage to the horn, but obviously there are things that can go wrong. Also, as I mentioned in my original post, this almost certainly won’t work with any tuba bigger than a 4/4.

On a side note, even the most indestructible flight case on the planet will do no good if some TSA jockey opens it up and doesn’t doesn’t get it closed up properly. I think that was Rick’s thought as well.

[Mary Ann]

On a side note, even the most indestructible flight case on the planet will do no good if some TSA jockey opens it up and doesn’t doesn’t get it closed up properly. I think that was Rick’s thought as well.

I remember reading years ago about this -- they took the tuba out, put it back in upside down, and forced the case closed. Airline said they were not responsible, period. I don't know how you would get around this.

I read about another one where the owner was watching. They took the tuba out, looked absolutely everywhere possible in it for whatever they were looking for, and completely missed a pocket knife in the gig bag.

I continue to wonder why they think normal people absolutely must be treated as criminals who are getting ready to blow up the plane.

[bloke]

just not worth the risk, unless the tuba is only worth about as much as the cost of a plane ticket - in which case, it’s certainly not worth it

high-profile professional player who was subbing in an even fancier orchestra than their own a few years ago:
I fly with my jillion-dollar tuba checked all the time without a scratch.
a few trips later:
WHAM !

buying a ticket for tuba:
The ticket is only as good as every single employee’s encountered willingness to honor that ticket.

I have no idea what professional European/Japanese-made tuba bells cost these hyperinflationary days… $2000…?? some of them even more…??

In my view, one that is has been creased and straightened is worth a few hundred bucks.