Faolrua

I'm going to be traveling to Ireland in about a month, and I'm trying to figure out if I can manage to carry on my small harp without having it tossed into the baggage hold. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find out much in terms of concrete information regarding overhead bin dimensions. All the Delta site says is instruments such as guitars are acceptable if they fit in storage.

The instrument in question is a Harpsicle...it its soft case, it's 33 inches long, about 22 inches wide (at its widest point...being a harp, it's a triangle), and about 7 inches deep. It weighs just a little over 4 pounds.

My planes are a 757-200 (SFO to JFK) and a 76W (which I don't recognize) on the outbound flight. Coming home, I've got an Airbus A330-200 between Dublin and Atlanta and a 767-300 between Atlanta and SFO.

I'm going to be there for a month, and I'd hate to be without an instrument for that length of time! I'm really hoping I can manage to carry it on board.

Any advice definitely appreciated!

WidgetKid

I'm going to say odds are that it probably won't fit. Standard suitcase dimensions are something on the order of 22 x 14 x 9 give or take. It would definitely take up an entire bin by itself which would not be appreciated by other passengers. Guitars are a whole different ball of wax as they are not very wide.

A 76W is a 767-300ER.

The ATL-SFO 763 is likely to still have the old overhead bins in which case a regular suitcase will have a hard time fitting in, let alone a harp.

My advice to you would be NOT to take your instrument with you. I don't know if you've traveled with it before, but let me tell you from personal experience travelling with instruments is not a pleasant ordeal. I do however understand your desire to have an instrument with you so if you are very adverse to checking it, have you considered renting one for the duration of your stay in Ireland?

BTW - Welcome to FlyerTalk!

ChurnBabyChurn

Not a chance.

You best bet is to pack it very, very securely, and check it. (I'm thinking 3 boxes, well packed, one inside the other inside the other, with your harp in the middle).

If you get to the gate, and it doesn't fit, it's bad news as what do you do? (Miss flight or check with minimal protection).

I'm thinking you could pack it rather easily so thats it's indestructible to 99.5% certainty (Even if they "rough it up", a box inside a box inside a box will be fine unless they just completely brutally crush the entire package).

Better to take matters into your own hands than play the lotto...


Of course, nothing is fullproof, so you always take a risk to transport anything///so you have to decide if it's worth the risk to transport it. (anything transported, anywhere in the world takes a risk....from a containership leaving China to the coffee you transport from the table to your mouth. The odds, of course, get worse when it leaves your posession).

dEagleS

First, welcome to FlyerTalk!

Second, the carry on dimension restrictions are 22x14x9".

I believe it will fit, considering 3 bags next to each other will fit 14x3 = 42". And the length, 22" will work as well.

The 767 have smaller bins, but I think the outside bins it will fit. There is a risk that there isn't any bin space, but if you can board early enough, and not carry on much other stuff, it probably will work. But again there is a risk it won't work, and you aggravate the others around you.

Here is what Delta says:
"What Instruments Can I Carry On?

Guitars and other smaller musical instruments, such as violins, will be accepted as your free carry-on baggage item on Delta and Delta Connection® carriers flights¹. These items must easily fit in the overhead bin or other approved storage location in the cabin, based on available space at the time of boarding. Musical instruments may be gate claimed at the discretion of the passenger and as a result of limited overhead space."

WidgetKid

OP lists the dimensions as 33 x 22 x 7 - so definitely not similar to a violin. While it might fit, I still think checking it is a better option. The three boxes idea is a good idea, but if you can find a hard case for your instrument that will work just as well. I've traveled with orchestras before where we check cellos and basses in addition to horns and tubas and other larger instruments and simply a hard case is enough to protect them. Just make sure if you do get a hard case it is well padded.

Also, one of the previous posters makes a good point that what happens if you get it through security and try to bring it on, but it doesn't end up fitting? Then you are stuck checking it in a soft case which is definitely a bad idea.

ChurnBabyChurn

Or, too, if you think the bag handlers are rough on packages, you could always ship it to your destination by UPS/Fedex. This way you could insure it (and, still do the triple box if it makes you happy).

(I ship a LOT with UPS/FEDEX--$10,000 or so a month--and have never seen a single package that would not have survived a proper triple-boxing).

cmd320

It MAY fit on the 752, 76W, and 332, but no way will it ever fit on the domestic 763... And if for some reason that 76W is swapped with a non refurbished 767-300ER, then it will not fit there either. Will you be traveling in the first/biz cabin or economy? May have better luck if traveling in a premium cabin.

blackbeard

Occasionally airlines seem to have a problem with musical instruments. Tom Paxton had a problem with Republic Airlines and wrote a song about it including the line “You should be the next to go the way of Braniff!” what happened to Republic?
http://www.mydfz.com/Paxton/lyrics/tyra.htm
More recently Dave Carroll had problems with United and wrote a song called United breaks guitars which was quite a hit on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo
Pack well.

jgxtrav1

Ship it (or leave it at home)!

Otherwise there's a very good chance you will have to gate check it and then who knows what might happen to it!

NWAFA

I had a passenger in TPE once who wanted to board with his tractor tire. Also a friend said she had someone want to board with a washing machine.

Faolrua

Thanks for all the replies, even if they're rather discouraging.

This instrument is considerably smaller than most acoustic guitars, though certainly larger than a violin. It's definitely shorter in length (measuring the harp from base to shoulder and the guitar from base to the top of the headstock), and shallower in depth by a couple of inches). I'm guessing the limiting factor is the width at the top of the harp?

I had read the info on the Delta website already, and that's what made everything so very confusing...on the one hand they're saying guitars can be carried on "if they fit," but from what you all are saying here, it doesn't seem possible that any guitar COULD conceivably fit, other than, maybe, a very small solid-body electric.

Sadly, they don't make hard cases for folk harps (unless you have one custom-made, and that's prohibitively expensive)...they vary too much, both in size and shape, to make that practical.

I'm afraid renting where I'm going isn't really feasible. I'm going to be spending most of the time in a very rural, fairly remote, location, and the rest of the time either staying in hostels or traveling. That's the appeal of this particular instrument, actually...it is extremely light (about four pounds), and small enough to fit under a bed. It's designed for travel, which makes the apparent fact that I won't actually be able to travel with it extremely frustrating! (the main reason I bought this particular harp was because of the line on the maker's website stating that "it will fit in the overhead compartment or garment closet of most aircraft.")

I had thought about the option of boxing it up and checking it, but then I'm left with the problem of what to do with the box when I arrive in Dublin (and then what to do in terms of re-boxing it for the trip home, since the box would have to be customized for the instrument). There's the same problem with shipping it.

On the upside, the only other hand luggage I will have is a smallish Baggalini (about the size of a medium-sized purse), which easily fits under the seat.

I have thought about wrapping the instrument in bubble wrap (it would be a tight fit inside the case, but I think I could make it work) and slapping "fragile" stickers all over it, in the hopes that it can survive being gate checked.

This is the instrument in question, by the way. There's a picture on the site of someone holding one, which might give a better idea of its dimensions:

http://harpsicleharps.com/

Once again, thanks for all the input!

ryanm

Equally OT, but while we're at it: a while back I saw some pax trying to check ziploc baggies of blood. Not sure what animal it came from.

skchin

Maybe they'll store it in the closet.

StayingHomeIsBetter

Sorry, I have to be a bit sour here... but why do folks with musical instruments feel they should be immune to the rules that apply to all others?

Faolrua

I'm not sure where you're getting that from my post. I'm simply trying to get information on traveling with my instrument, which I originally purchased AS a travel instrument based on the maker's assertion that it would "fit in the overhead bin or garment closet of most airliners. I'm certainly not asking for an exception to be made for me.

FWIW, while this is not the case with me, many musicians are flying with instruments they need to do the job they're flying someplace to do. Given the fragile nature of most musical instruments, and the airlines' reputation for mishandling them, it's not surprising that you find many musicians trying to work out a way to take their instruments into the cabin with them.

Given the huge, overstuffed "carry-on" bags I've seen travelers try to cram into the overhead bins to avoid having to pay to check a bag, I'm not sure musicians are the problem here in any case. If there were a reasonably safe way for me to ship my instrument in the baggage hold without having to worry about storing or ditching the packaging in Dublin and retrieving it or re-creating it when I'm ready to come home, I would do so. Would that more people who are only shipping clothing and toiletries for a week's stay would have the same attitude...maybe we'd see more space in the bins, as we used to back before the airlines started charging fees for checked bags. But I'm in Dublin for all of two days coming and going, and staying in a hostel, which does not offer long-term storage, so that's not really an option in my case.