[musical_airman]

Sorry, dude. I'm a professional musician. Ever seen someone's livelihood destroyed by a baggage handler? I have. There are some musical instruments that are not replaceable. I know a cellist who had an instrument that was worth over $100,000 dollars- and it arrived at her destination destroyed. It was a serious blow to her finances and her career that she is still recovering from to this day (that's with the insurance policy, as well) and that was eight years ago. Hell, I've had three thousand dollars of damage done to my trumpets in flight before. So remember- this can actually cause someone a significant problem. I don't care if you're a plumber, a carpenter, and electrician, or a musician- you can't do the job without the right tools.

"Ohh boo friggin hooo being an "artistic type' is soooo hard wah wah wah."

Also remember, a professional ballplayer is considered to be fantastic if get gets a hit every third try. Musicians have to be perfect. You miss once, you get fired. Just imagine what your favorite band would sound like if they missed two thirds of the notes!!!

I have worked too hard for my entire life in the effort to achieve perfection solely for other peoples enjoyment for your comment to go unanswered.

[Doctor Stochastic]

FR has its share of anti-art conservatives too.

[CatoRenasci]

Amen! My daughter (at Northwestern) won't check her any of her trumpets, either. When you find a particularly good instrument - even horns still in production - you can't just buy a new one and be the same. One of the CSO's irreplacable York tubas was almost completely destroyed in travel (I think it was in an excellent flight case) and after the most careful restoration is reportedly still not right. A friend had her particularly fine Alexander horn destroyed ... she couldn't afford a new one and the repairs while making the horn play, dont' come close to making it right. Of course, bass players and tuba players have long had to buy a second seat if they don't want to check the horns, and even the best flight cases are only a half solution.

It seems to me they could make an exception for bona fide musicians. It's not that hard to x-ray a tuba or bass, after all.

[Liberty Valance]

Good post.

[Comstock1]

While I agree on the need for musicians to be able to keep an eye on their instruments, the baseball analogy is a little thin. It's not like someone is throwing a bow at you and you have to hit it with your cello.

Of course, I wouldn't mind seeing Shaquille O'Neal bodycheck a musician or two.

[Oberon]

Just imagine what your favorite band would sound like if they missed two thirds of the notes!!!

The Ramones?

=]

[from occupied ga]

Sorry, dude. I'm a professional musician. Ever seen someone's livelihood destroyed by a baggage handler? I have

I gotta say, I'm with you on this one. Musical instruments are valuable and fragile. Leaving out the abusive handling that checked baggage gets, airlines lose about 1% of checked luggage to start with. They find about 90% later, but there is a certain finite and not too low probability that you'll never see your checked luggage again.