Flying with a Marcus Bonna Case?

[cochranme]

Going to be flying on Southwest in February and wondering if I could carry on my horn in the MB case. Anyone have experience with this? It’s the only case I own so I don’t have many options.

[euphisto]

Hi Martin,

I checked with the Horn Guys website and I saw this; "This case is designed as hand luggage. It's not designed for checked baggage service when flying." It might be a bit of a gamble to use it if it doesn't fit in overhead storage. It seems like the carry-on baggage size allowed continues to get smaller and smaller. I remember there used to be a coat closet at the front of the larger planes. If the crew was nice enough, they would allow musicians to put their instruments (euphonium, trombone, guitar, etc.) there. I'm not sure if it's possible to call ahead to see if using a coat closet - if there even is one - would be allowed. It's too bad no one rents flight cases.

I hope you're well.

Robert Pendergast

[davewerden]

I've never flown with my Adams, so I don't have much to offer. I know that I have seen euphoniums sustain damage from their standard cases, no matter what the brand.

Adams says their experience with the Bonna cases has been quite good (they sometimes go to shows with the horns as checked baggage). My own got a dented bell from falling out of a (high) car trunk inside the Bonna case. It had a Just Brass practice mute inside the bell at the time.

I assume the sterling silver bell is somewhat more fragile, and a .55 might be more easily dented than a .70. It's one of the reasons I considered trading for a .70 yellow brass Adams earlier this year, but the sound just wasn't quite as good so I stayed with my silver bell .60 horn.

Southwest is reputed to have generous overhead bins. You might want to pay for priority boarding and try to put it topside. If it doesn't fit, then you are all set to do 2 other things:
1. sweet talk the flight crew to find a closet space for your $10,000 instrument (I "round up" with the price to sound more impressive).
2. failing that, then you could gate check it, which saves some of the potential damage opportunities.

I would also ruin the nice lines of my case with some "FRAGILE" stickers!

[daruby]

I have travelled with both my Adams E3 and my Sterling on Southwest. BUT, BUT, I DO NOT USE THE BONNA case. I use my Cronkhite gig bag. The bell on my E3 (12+") is larger than the bell on my 300mm (11 5/8") Sterling and the fit on older Southwest 737s is very tight. Based on this, I am almost certain that the bell surround on the Bonna case will not fit in the Southwest overhead. I have seen at least two Adams bells that have been damaged when checked as baggage using the Bonna case.

So unless you want to use the Dave Werden "sweet talk" approach or want to run the risk it wouldn't fit, I would recommend a gig bag.

Doug

[John Morgan]

….Southwest is reputed to have generous overhead bins. You might want to pay for priority boarding and try to put it topside. If it doesn't fit, then you are all set to do 2 other things:
1. sweet talk the flight crew to find a closet space for your $10,000 instrument (I "round up" with the price to sound more impressive).
2. failing that, then you could gate check it, which saves some of the potential damage opportunities....

Well, if I was flying with my Adams, which I won't ever, I would tell them about my $10,000 Adams instrument, and I would be rounding down!!!

I will drive, sail by ship, ride a train, walk, run, hitch-hike, canoe, skateboard, roller-blade, low-crawl or be transported by Scotty before I will ever fly with my Adams.

[cochranme]

Thanks all for the responses. Looks like I might be opting at this point for a road trip from New Orleans to Cleveland.