Traveling With Your Bass Clarinet: Insider Tips!

I've been hearing nightmare stories lately about problems carrying bass clarinets on airplanes. And I've been getting emails like the one below (and many, many more like it) from anxious soon-to-be-travelers.

I am traveling to Europe this summer to attend a seminar, and I'm concerned about being allowed to bring the instrument onboard. What do you recommend?

Or this horror story:

I am in need of some MAJOR help. We've flown problem-free many times with the bass clarinet. Last week, coming home from Boston they required us to gate check… “we know that’s an instrument, there are tons of instruments on this flight… blah blah… it will carefully be carried to and from the gate and never be carried with the other luggage… blah blah”. Well, now the case is busted and instrument is damaged. Airline obviously doesn’t care.

Or this one, from a friend's post on Facebook: 

Well, f@&$! American is telling I either have to check my bass clarinet or I will not be allowed to board.

Ok, let's all take a breath. Here's how to navigate this whole ordeal.

I fly roughly 40 times a year with my bass clarinet. And I've flown on just about every type of aircraft that exists, from the regional CRJ airplanes to the big wide-body ones.

Here are some pictures I've taken of my (Bonna) case on those planes. The CRJ900 is the smallest plane in most airlines' fleets. It's the one where there is ONLY storage on one side of the plane. The Bonna case fits there too. 

Will your case fit?

If you have one of the following cases below, it will fit on 99% of commercial aircraft

• Selmer Privilege (2016-)
• Buffet Tosca
• Royal Global (all models)
• Backun Q Series
• BAM Hi-Tech
• Wiseman
• Marcus Bonna (both the compact and the double case)
• Reed & Squeak (the smallish one)

If you have one of the following cases below, it will fit in the "normal" sized aircraft like Airbus 319, 320, 321, Boeing 737, 757, 767, 787. It will likely NOT fit in the regional aircraft like the Embraer CRJ900

• Buffet Prestige
• Older Selmer cases
• BAM Trekking Case
• Backun Alpha
• Kessler/Jupiter/Amati Chinese "template" bass clarinets

Here are my insider tips from 35+ years of flying with my bass clarinet

Gate Agents have no power other than to refuse boarding. Ignore them.

• Before your flight boards, do NOT go up and alert the gate agent to your expensive, potentially-too-large bass clarinet. They don't care. Even if they're nice, they can't care, and they can't do anything for you. 
• If you're wearing your bass clarinet as a backpack, it looks bigger than it is. My advice: hang it on ONE shoulder — and make sure that shoulder is the one that is farthest away from the gate agent. This way, you're putting your body between the gate agent and the instrument, and they often don't even notice it.
  
• Gate agents do not have final say, but they CAN keep you from boarding. NEVER argue with a gate agent. (Ask me how I know this.)
• If the gate agent tells you you're going to have to gate check your instrument, SAY NOTHING and then take the bag tag. Just because you have the bag tag doesn't mean you're going to gate check your instrument. Just get on the plane as you normally would, because you're going to talk to the Flight Attendant.
  

Flight Attendants are helpers.

• Flight Attendants (FAs) on the aircraft want the make the boarding process go smoothly and quickly. They are actually judged and graded on how many on-time departures they are able to facilitate. If you are helpful, you will likely get what you need.
• If you are boarding late (or late-ish) for any reason, greet them graciously and ask for their help with your bass clarinet. Some of the options you can suggest are repositioning luggage in First Class (often FC passengers put coats and stuff like that up in the bin because they can.) I've had luck just asking for a FA's help rearranging their stuff.
• Most aircraft have closets in first class where the FAs hang first-class passengers' coats. Your case will fit. You can also offer that up to the FA as you board.
• Never go over the FA's head to the pilot. 

The pilot is the big boss: judge AND jury AND executioner.

• Never address a pilot directly; ask the lead flight attendant to introduce you if necessary.
• The pilot has the final say on anything that happens on their aircraft. If the pilot says "OK" then it's okay; if the pilot says "Nope" then it's nope. Simple as that. Be nice to pilots; never argue or you'll find yourself off the plane.
  
• The pilot is doing a LOT before the plane pushes back from the gate. Of course, this is the time when, if you're having a problem, you need them. If you show that you are aware of their workload, that can go a long way.
• Once I asked (and was given permission) to put my bass clarinet case IN THE COCKPIT. No, I'm not kidding. That probably was a fluke, but it was pretty cool of the pilot to let me do that.

Get on early and you won't have to deal with any of this!

• If there is no overhead room on the plane, NO ONE is getting their bag on, including you and your bass clarinet. So board early.
• Flying one airline — and having status — makes a HUGE difference, because a) you board earlier than others, and b) FAs tend to be nicer to you (if you're nice to them, of course). 
• Paying for Comfort Plus (Delta) or Main Cabin Extra (American) or Economy Plus (United) or whatever it's called on the other airlines, is a way to get on earlier. It might be worth the cost in terms of your peace-of-mind, because you board earlier

What if all else fails?

Ok, so you're in a position where you just can't bring your instrument on, despite all of the tips above. It happens. Here's what to do.  

• If you can, take the joints out of the case and put them in a backpack (if you have one). Even if you roll them in your coat and put them under the seat in front of you, it's better than riding in cargo. But if you can't do that...read on.
• Ask if there are pets on board. If so, there will be a compartment on the plane that is heated and pressurized. Ask if the instrument can ride in this compartment. 
• Ask if the instrument can be brought to you on the jet bridge by the staff unloading luggage. Sometimes this is possible, and it's preferable to having the instrument go through baggage claim. 
  
• Before you let the instrument out of your sight, repack it. You'll likely be doing this in the jet-bridge, so go off to the side just outside the aircraft door in the "circular" area where there's more room.
  
• If your instrument moves around in the case side-to-side, wedge something between the case and the tenon so that it stops sliding around. You can use your swab for this — or even ask the FA for cocktail napkins to wad up if you need more material to do this.
• If you have anything small and soft (think: socks, underwear, washcloths), place them over the main bass clarinet joints so that when the case is closed, there is pressure on the joints—you want to immobilize the joints as much as possible. Pressure on keys like the ones you press down on with your index/middle/ring fingers is fine. It's actually good to immobilize those with underwear or socks or your swab.
• Take out anything that is loose. Mouthpieces, neck, reeds, peg, cork grease. 
• Close the case, zip it up. Give it a little jiggle. You should hear nothing moving.
• When you arrive at your destination, if you've made a deal with the FA to get your instrument on the jet-bridge, remind them that you'd like to wait for that to be delivered. If that doesn't work out, then you'll have to pick it up in baggage claim.

What if there's damage?

If there is damage, just know that the airline has a contract of carriage that limits what they have to pay for. And trust me, it ain't going to be your case (the contract of carriage allows for "normal wear and tear" on luggage, which includes scrapes.)

Your instrument, if damaged, is usually easily repairable unless the case had a catastrophic failure, or someone ran over it with an airplane tug. Bent keys, adjustment issues are easy fixes (sometimes you can even do it yourself if it's just a bent long key like left-hand pinky keys.) But when in doubt, visit a tech. If you don't know one in the area you're visiting, contact me — I probably do.

If it's been in the cargo hold, don't play your instrument for 24 hours if at all possible.

If your instrument went into the regular cargo hold, it'll have gone from whatever temperature you took off from, to 50º degrees BELOW ZERO, to whatever temperature you arrived in...all in the course of your flight. It's been through a lot. Don't play it until it's room temperature inside and out. That usually takes a day. 

What tips do you have? 

These are just one dude's experiences from a lifetime of travel. If you have any tips please leave them in the comments below!

Fly safe!