My 17 year old son will be flying to Connecticut to play in the All-Eastern Band in early March. I'm so worried that if he checks his sax that it might get lost, sort of defeating the purpose of the trip! Does anyone has experience with musical instruments and carry-on?

There are different sizes of saxophones, and the larger would probably be too big to meet the carry-on requirements. Professional musicians with valuable instruments just buy a seat for, for instance, Mr. Cello.

I would suggest you have your son go to the website of the airline he will be using and review the section on luggage, which may give pertinent information, including whether he will want to pay for extra valuation coverage.

Is it permissible to carry the case (an alto sax, so not the biggest one) to the door of the plane and let them take it there? If so, how do you get it through security, or don't they care at that point that something might be too big for the carry-on requirements?

I'll call the airlines next to ask these questions too, but just thought I might get an idea here so I can sound more knowledgeable on the phone!

Thanks clevelandbrown!

I looked at an ad for an alto sax bag, and the dimensions were 24.75 by 10.5 by 6.5. He will want to measure his.

I'm familiar with Continental, which restricts carry on size to 22 by 17.75 by 9.85. I've never seen any size checks at TSA, or, on Continental, at the gate, and if his case is close to legal, I would guess they would never catch it. If they did, he could try pleading how valuable it is and they might feel compassion. At worst, they would gate check it where he would leave it on the ramp, and pick it up on the ramp at arrival (one hopes). I've only gate checked a few times, and I don't like it, as you just get a handwritten receipt, but at the same time, it would have to be gate checked for each flight segment, so I think chances of its getting onto a wrong flight are remote.

I would check the web-sites (better, in my opinion, than calling and dealing with someone who knows ticketing but not luggage) of each airline he will be using, as I know some have different restrictions (Air France, for example, doesn't allow carryons unless you are in first class; at least that is what they told us as they forced us to gate check our rollers.

I assume he will also have a checked bag. I suggest he go through the sax case and remove anything that might panic TSA (valve oil, perhaps), and pack that in his checked bag. The TSA checkers don't have much discretion to pass something that is not on their approved list, even if you have a good explanation.

hi cleveland - finally getting back to you. I can't believe I didn't think of taking out anything that might be confiscated! Thanks for the tip. I atill have to call Southwest, but will be measuring tthe case first. Maybe the total dimensions will be under, as they are in your post. There is hope!

You might enjoy this story...my son played his sax at a wedding reception in France on his 14th b'day. He, my husband and I spent a week in that area and then my son and I went to Italy and Paris for a week while my husband returned home - escorting the sax. Once he arrived home, my son just HAD to call. I though "how sweet, he misses his dad", but no, he only wanted to hear that his dad didn't lose his saxophone!

Airlines are getting less and less accomodating to musicians, esp. guitarists. This gets discussed often in musicians' internet forums. I'd ask there...

Thanks Eric - I never thought of looking for that type of forum. If I can't find one, I'll be back!

My son travels frequently with his trombone - international and domestic - and has only had one instance where the airline insisted he check it (Delta). He expressed his "grave concern" over checking it and Delta put fragile tags all over it.

Trombine arrived just fine.

One more thing to worry about - I didn't think about damage...just about the airlines losing it!

And my son isn't worried about either! To be so young and care-free!