tcook052

http://www.aircanada.com/en/news/150925.html

We are happy to introduce a few enhancements to our carry-on baggage policy that will be of great interest to you if you travel with a musical instrument.

In addition to our current policy that ensures items which meet our carry-on size requirements * can be brought on board and stored in the overhead bins or under the seat in front of you, we now offer a 50% discount off any fare, including the lowest available one, to customers who would like to purchase a seat to accommodate their musical instrument in the same cabin that they are booked in.

And if you’re traveling with a musical instrument as carry-on, you will now be invited to board the plane during pre-boarding in advance of general boarding so you’ll have a little more time to store your precious possession in an overhead bin close to your seat. If you need help with this, our flight attendants will be happy to assist.

We take every care when transporting all of our customers’ belongings. But please remember that, because of their fragile nature, musical instruments should always be properly packaged in a rigid and/or hard shell container . This is especially important in the event that your musical instrument needs to be checked at the gate if it is not possible to accommodate it on board because of passenger loads, aircraft limitations or insufficient storage space.

Read our complete policy on travelling with a musical instrument.

* String instruments (e.g. guitars, violins and violas) can be carried on board - even if their dimensions slightly exceed our carry-on size limits.

Jasper2009

Interesting. Does anyone happen to know whether one pays YQ and taxes/fees for the seat occupied by the instrument?

If the total fare is just 50% of the base fare, I may be tempted to book a separate seat to accommodate my precious triangle.

superangrypenguin

Can my trumpet earn AQM/AQS?

OttawaMark

Wonder what would happen if this is the case and I booked a seat for my violin and for some strange reason my violin was unable to accompany me on the flight. Would I lose the second seat or would I end up with two seats for the price of 1.5 seats?

tcook052

http://www.newswire.ca/news-releases...529500111.html

MONTREAL, Sept. 25, 2015 /CNW Telbec/ - Air Canada today announced it has added Symphony Nova Scotia and the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra to its roster of Canadian symphony orchestras it supports from coast to coast. The airline also announced today new industry-leading policies offering special care for carry-on musical instruments, the latest in a series of measures designed to ease its customers' travel experience.

"We are delighted to announce our partnership with Symphony Nova Scotia and the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, making Air Canada the Official Airline of nine of the country's leading symphony orchestras coast to coast," said Craig Landry, Air Canada's Vice President, Marketing who is speaking at today's Symphony Nova Scotia's Symphony Week concert at Halifax's Stanfield International Airport. "As a proud Canadian brand, we believe in supporting these pre-eminent arts organizations to help enrich and engage audiences across this country. Through our role as Official Airline, we are honoured to help promote the best of Canadian orchestra performances worldwide by supporting international tours with our global reach."

In addition to Symphony Nova Scotia and the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Air Canada is proud to be Official Airline to: Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, as well as supporting the new generation of talent at the National Youth Orchestra of Canada.

"We are also pleased to introduce industry-leading enhancements for all our customers travelling with carry-on instruments, including pre-boarding benefits and a generous discount when purchasing an additional seat for their instrument," concluded Mr. Landry.

Effective today, customers may purchase a seat at a 50 per cent discount off any published fare, including the lowest Tango fares, to accommodate their musical instrument. More information about this industry-leading initiative is here.

Also effective today, all customers travelling with instruments as carry-on on Air Canada, Air Canada Express and Air Canada rouge flights have the opportunity to pre-board ahead of general boarding to ensure their instruments may be conveniently and securely stowed close by.

These initiatives follow other recent enhancements by Air Canada such as Boarding by Zone and Bringing the Right Carry On Baggage Onboard introduced to provide customers with a smoother and more efficient travel experience.

mikeymikd

Also effective today, all customers travelling with instruments as carry-on on Air Canada, Air Canada Express and Air Canada rouge flights have the opportunity to pre-board ahead of general boarding to ensure their instruments may be conveniently and securely stowed close by.

So if I swap my briefcase with a violin case I'll get Zone 2.5 boarding?

winnipegrev

I can imagine the announcement now:

"Those passengers with children under the age of 5, passengers requiring extra assistance or those with musical instruments can board now"

Silly

WR Cage

Is this zone 2.5 or zone 0?

If its zone 0, what carry-on compliant musical instrument is easiest to learn? I might suddenly curer my bum leg that gets me through zone 2.5.

Mauricio23

Certain children may qualify as musical instruments.

superangrypenguin

It took them over a year to get zonal boarding right. I'm pretty sure this silly policy will never take off in real life. GA's would be so confused if it was brought up.

canadiancow

It sounds like 2.5

cperciva

As a violinist, the pre-board part here is hugely important. I've always (eventually) found overhead bin space, but I've always been worried about it; knowing that a $20k violin will get into the overhead bin before all the $50 suitcases even board takes a lot of the stress away.

biglinguist

Family members and I sometimes travel with guitars, so I'm very happy to see this. But I'm betting maybe one GA in a hundred will know about the rule allowing guitars as carry-on even if they exceed the carry-on dimensions.

As to the concern about people using instrument cases as giant carry-on luggage... maybe they'll make you open the case and play a tune? "Oh my God! Somebody has replaced my guitar with socks!"

cperciva

I don't think you'd actually get any more socks onto the plane that way. Instrument cases are the wrong shape for the standard carry-on requirements, but the total volume is still about the same.

biglinguist

Good point. Maybe cow and his friends could fit snowboards in them, though.