Ryanair: flute as a carry on item

Hi!

I will be traveling with Ryanair two days from now, and I am wondering if there is a problem trying to get a keyless blackwood flute onboard the plane as a carry on item in its pistol case. I really don´t want to check it in as regular luggage.

Im a bit confused about their policy. The instrument fits the size regulations of normal hand luggage, but its also a instrument by definition.

Will I be forced to pay a musical instrument baggage charge (£30 each way per instrument) ?

I you´ve flown with Ryanair recently and know this, please let me know.

Best regards

If you are just putting it in a bag as carry on luggage with your other carry on luggage need they even know?

They will obviously see the 4 silver rings while it is x-rayed, and there is a small possibility that they want to check it out. So if they do, I want to know what happens.

There’s no problem at all- but you are only allowed one carry-on item, period. My advice would to put it into whatever bag you are carrying into the cabin. They may want to look at it but that’s not a problem. I’ve carried both flute and concertina inside a Rick Steeves bag with no problem.
Do not ever check a musical instrument as luggage!

I had of course planned on putting the pistol case inside a backpack because of their 1 item hand luggage policy. Im guessing it´s going to go smoothly as well, but it´s also good to know what they will do if they check it and realize that it is an instrument. Have your pistol case been checked before, cocus?

Thanks for the reply.

I have flown on numerous occasions with my flute (never Ryanair though). Airport security don’t care what the luggage policy of your carrier is. They will probably be intrigued by the barrel of your flute if it is lined with metal like mine is. So you open it up and show them, no big deal.

In Greece, recently, they asked me to play it.

As for the airline, they won’t even know you have a flute in your bag.

Thanks for clearifying further. I guess it will not be a problem then.

I went to Dublin to pick up my new Joe Foley bouzouki in February and rather than put the instrument in the hold and pay £30 extra and risk it being turned to matchwood before I’d even had much of a chance to play it I paid £5 online and got it a seat in the cabin with me and my wife. A few funny looks from the stewardess but that was the only problem.

Just be careful that you only take your carry on luggage and anything you buy will fit in it; they’ll charge you for a bottle of duty free in a plastic bag.

I have traveled several times with Ryanair, always carrying my flute in its case, and the case inside a larger bag that I used as cabin bag. No problem ever. Once a customs officer wanted to have a look at it and he asked: “Who made your flute? Was it Eamonn Cotter?”

Same as Claudine above. I have travelled many times on Ryanair and although I have to check in the banjo in the hold (€60), I always take the flute case in my hand luggage and have never had a problem with them.

Did anyone ever check in an instrument as regular luggage?

Did anything annoying happen to it or were you lucky?

"Did anyone ever check in an instrument as regular luggage?
Did anything annoying happen to it or were you lucky?" Henk Bos.

Yes, on the way back to Sweden flying Ryan Air from Stansted November 2001 they made us check in our fiddle & pipes. We were caught unawares as flying Ryan Air from Sweden to Stansted we were allowed to take the instruments in the cabin, no problems. I only had a small flimsy box for the pipes, a Williams set, as I thought I’d have them by my side everywhere I went. The airlines were extremely paranoid at the time. They claimed that the hairs on the bow or the fiddle strings could possibly be used to strangle a stewardess or a pilot. I don’t know what they imagined I’d do with the pipes, maybe threaten to play an air without bothering to tune up first. Anyway into the hold they went and we were sick with worry the whole flight, convinced that the instruments would be smashed or stolen.
We finally landed at Malmö airport, it was late at night and raining heavily. We ran into the arrivals building and made our way to baggage reclaim. The band started up and we waited anxiously for our instruments to come into view. Bag after bag came out, suitcases and baby buggies, no instruments. Then they came. We rushed to grab them, they were unharmed, nothing was missing or broken, We got the airport bus home. We were very lucky as the fiddle case and the light wood home made pipebox were absolutly not flightcases. I ordered a Rogge flightcase after that for the pipes. These last few years I put the pipes in a fiddle case and take them into the cabin. We don’t fly Ryan Air any more, too expensive with all their extra charges for everything, we use Easy Jet, Aer Lingus, Cimber Sterling or Norwegian

OK, Steamwilkes, great story, reads like a thriller 😉

You focus on ‘flight case or not’; don’t you think that the low air pressure or low temperature could do harm to instruments (especially stringed instruments)? Any one else on this topic?

“They will obviously see the 4 silver rings while it is x-rayed, and there is a small possibility that they want to check it out. So if they do, I want to know what happens.” Abraxas

I just returned from a trip with 5 whistles (1 wood with silver rings, 4 metal). Had them in my carry-on bag in artist’s tubular plastic paintbrush cases. The most attention they got was a puzzled look from the guy at the x-ray machine, and an understanding nod when I said “whistles” and mimed playing one. I went through security in Denver, Boston, and Dublin.

As for the airlines (United and Aer Lingus), they didn’t see ’em, didn’t care what was in the bag as long as it was the right size to stow.

You focus on ‘flight case or not’; don’t you think that the low air pressure or low temperature could do harm to instruments (especially stringed instruments)? Any one else on this topic?" Henk Bos.

“Except in special aircraft, the hold of an aircraft is usually not pressurized, and the pressure is the same as the atmospheric pressure outside the aircraft -The passenger compartment, as I recall, is usually pressurized to about 6 to 8 thousand feet.” from Wikianswers.

then I read this at
:
http://www.airgunbbs.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-186459.html

“Cargo holds are pressurised. An aircraft is essentially just a cylinder with a flat deck inside to bolt the seats etc on. Pressurizing just the upper part would be difficult and also place great strain on the fuselage by creating a pressure differential (about 9psi) within it.”

Which seems logical, so I don´t think there´s anything to worry about. When you pick up yer bags from the conveyor belt they aren´t cold. Getting your instrument damaged or stolen is probably more likely if it´s checked in. I also have a flight case for my socks just in case

And remember pets travel in the hold, so I doubt it gets that cold or anything.

Ryanair are utter utter b@st@rds. They are total false economy, especially for musicians. Personally I would recommend only ever putting instruments you can afford to lose in the hold. The group I play with have had lots of damage over the years, including two separate keyboards on the same trip in separate heavy duty metal flight cases. I would definitely stick your flute in your hand luggage if I were you, and never book Ryanair again.

Also, if you watch the baggage being unloaded you can often see baggage handlers spotting cases with fragile stickers and tossing them with glee onto the trailer.

Ryanair are utter utter b@st@rds




I will second that. Gombeen men, the whole lot of them.

LOL, Flute! No worries.
Check this out, my mate got his electric double bass on as ‘carry on’ the other day! Honest to god, mind, he is huge so it probably looked smaller. Dont know what airline.
I travel a lot, Ryanair often enough and rarely have problems, I always have at least 1 instrument carry on and normally several. I took a guitar on for years as ‘carry on’ everywhere I went.

I travel all of the time with my flute, whistles, & banjo, and I’ve never had a problem in the US, except the time TSA flagged me for a capo, and they’d never seen one before.

(I’ve had my string kit confiscated before - screwdrivers, string winders, tuner, picks, batteries, extra strings, side cutters - but that only happened once, now I check it).

My recommendation would be, since your flute is a keyless, for this trip find a nice padded soft case and leave the pistol case at home. You’ll have a less suspicious object and it will take up a lot less room in your carry on.

Good luck!

I had my violin case searched once - an electronic tuner was stuck to a lump of rosin in the top pocket, and I think they thought it was some sort of electronically-triggered plastic explosive

bona fide musicians are allowed to take instruments in the cabin if they are not “large” instruments.
If the instrument in its case, is smaller than the baggage size restriction, you have to put it in your hand luggage.
If the instrument in its case is larger that the size regulation, you are allowed to take it as an extra piece of hand luggage.
These are DfT regulations, not recomendations, and cannot be over-ruled by Ryanair as long as it isn’t classed as a “large” instrument.

Are these DfT regulations documented anywhere, geoff?

Air pressure differentials are only an issue with closed containers. Since a flute, fiddle, guitar and just about all musical instruments are open resonating chambers, the change in pressure is a moot point.

Most passenger cabins are pressurized during ascent and are maintained at a pressure equivalent to 8 thousand feet MSL (mean sea level) until they begin their descent into the arrival airfield. At that time the cabin is gradually depressurized until it matches the ambient air pressure at the destination.

Ryanair out the window, but Easy Jet is marginally better (despite our vocalists guitar & case getting slightly damaged on a recent return from Paris _ though it worked for the next gig)

the best is Aer Lingus, and if booked well in advance competes (within reason) well on price, and makes for an overall nicer experiance up in the clouds thing travelling with musical instruments