[Trombone-l] Airlines

[Jeff Albert]

I have flown Southwest several times in the past few months, and haven't had
any trouble.  They have actually been the coolest of the airlines I have
dealt with.  One guy at the gate even looked at my red Eastman case and
asked if it was a champagne glass, which led to a comment about drinking out
of a trombone and a quick chuckle as I boarded.

Follow all the regular rules of being polite and not drawing attention to
the fact that you are carrying a trombone, but I wouldn't worry too much.

I think that TSA letter from the union is worth less than the paper you use
to print it.  If you get to the point of having to pull out that letter,
they have already decided to mess with you and it is too late.

Don't forget the war on moisture.  Be sure to have your water
bottle/lube/etc in a seperate zip lock bag, and out of the case to hand to
the TSA folks.  I have found that when they ask if I have any liquids to
declare, if I say yes and hand them the bag that exactly matches their
guidelines, then they assume that I have been paying attention and trying to
cooperate, and they become less uptight about the trombone and
laptop/ipod/phone of mine that they are about to scan.  Maybe that is just
wishful thinking on my part.

Jeff

On 3/26/07, Joseph Gershin <joedaman at unm.edu> wrote:
>
> I am going to be flying on Southwest Airlines with my
> trombone and am just trying not to check my trombone.  I
> have the BAM classic case so it's not that big.  I
> remember hearing about some sort of letter that you should
> bring with you ... don't remember it too well though.  Is
> there any Phone number I should call or something else
> before going?
>
> Joe Gershin
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