[DISCUSSION] – Flying with a musical instrument.

So I will be flying in the following days and I was trying to find a way to get my instrument safely and securely with me. At this point let me clarify that safely and securely means: getting it as carry on baggage in a by-the-book way (I know many people employ dubious tactics to get their instruments on board) and avoiding the cargo hold at all costs. Besides occasionally careless airport personnel the hold is not suitable for instruments even in the toughest cases. The abrupt changes in temperature, humidity and atmospheric pressure in the hold are detrimental for musical instruments especially handmade and old ones.

So I found out in the airline’s website (European flight, big carrier part of one of the major groups) that I can book a second ticket for the instrument. Problem is, not online; have to call their call center. First time I called the employee hung up on me after the first minute, second time immediately, third time I managed to actually communicate. The employee told me I have to cancel my ticket and book two from the call center. I told him that my ticket is non refundable and he told me sorry for the inconvenience… So I’m trying to go by the book and actually pay extra money but they are making it as hard as they can for that to happen. The only airline I know of that lets you book an item seat online is RyanAir but unfortunately doesn’t fly where I want to go.

My point with this post is that there should be an easy way booking an extra seat (or any kind of in-the-cabin room) for equipment, online when purchasing your normal ticket. Apart from musicians and other kinds of professionals that need that and are willing to pay for such a service there are a lot of people that need medical equipment with them that cannot risk that being thrown in the cargo hold; they usually end up not traveling because of that. I hope that this post will achieve some kind of popularity and eventually reach the people making decisions in airlines resulting in better services of this kind since there is both ethical and market incentive for that to happen.

Edit: The airline in question(European flight, big carrier part of one of the major groups) is Brussels Airlines.