About 6 years ago, I sat next to a cello in the bulkhead seat on a southwest flight. The owner, oddly, chose to sit in the row behind his cello. He asked me to watch it for him. Apparently he bought a ticket for both himself and the cello, plus paid for the thing on SW where you get an earlier boarding position…for both he and his cello.
I would suggest that you sit next to your instrument. I thought it was very odd that this musician didn’t do so!
NYU shared they will notify applicants about live auditions no later than December 15.
I pity the poor cellists! A bulky and fragile instrument makes for such stressful travel! We used a flight case for daughter’s cello many years ago for a European flight/tour. Flight cases are available for rent at most larger string specialty stores. Worked well for her. Highly recommend that you take your bows as a carry-on. The flight case and the hard shell cello case inside will both be opened for inspection. We were able to observe this process to make sure all was put securely back in place, but have heard this is not always possible. Have heard stories of the bow just placed over the cello and thus damaged when the case was closed
That is a great idea to rent a flight case, and also appreciate the advice about the bow! Thanks!
You’re supposed to sit with the cello, but what happened with our flights is that the airline kept switching our (human) seats but not the cello seat - four times it happened and 20 minutes before boarding I was still trying to sort it out. The issue seems to be that not all the employees are trained in cello-matters!
@delynnel thank you for this helpful info! Since Dec 13 was a Monday last year, perhaps Rice will be in touch today!!
I couldn’t remember which flight was a problem so I checked Philly again and did see direct flights but so expensive! Ugh. You can fly to Philly a lot cheaper on Frontier but you have an overnight layover in like Denver. I think that is what I was remembering. Will just have to cough up the higher price if she needs to go there
@Pikachu_s_Mom good luck to your D as well! Maybe they will run into each other at Eastman. What other schools did she apply to? You don’t have to share if you don’t feel comfortable.
My son has flown with his cello several times. We use Southwest because there’s no charge for any particular seat and you do have to buy a seat for the cello (or check it, which we’d never never do). We book son’s seat and the second seat as son’s name with XS as middle initial. When he heads to the airport he checks his bag and gets a boarding pass for the cello. He speaks to the gate agent to let them know he has an instrument, and boards first with the folks in wheelchairs. He has to sit in the first bulkhead row and the cello goes next to the window. You remove the seat cushion, get a seatbelt extender from the flight attendant, and buckle that thing in. Wish I had a photo. It really only fits one way but it does fit. He’s only been given a hard time once—by a gate agent not a flight attendant, and usually gets lots of friendly comments and questions about what’s in that case.
If you get a flight case you’ll be checking the instrument. It will not fit in a seat with a flight case on it. I looked into one for my son and our local strings shops didn’t have one available to rent.
We have had the same experience as parentof2014grad. I was also told by a professional cellist who bought a flight case and checked his cello that the neck was broken when he got his cello back. That was enough of a story to convince us to always buy a seat for the cello and get its own boarding pass, etc as recommended above.
My son has also flown lots both domestically + overseas w/cello. IMO, flight cases are best when flying abroad and with an orchestra. They tend to handle the entire thing differently. More care, as you might imagine with loads of instruments.
We too will be flying from afar (CA), hopefully, for undergrad auditions this year. All of Parentsof2014grad’s comments are right on target. Read everything you can online about traveling with cello - including YouTube videos. I used to call airlines to book tickets for cello/kid travel - but that is a waste of many hours. Now, I book thru mainstream middlemen operations: Kayak, Travelocity etc. I book the cello as “Violincello YOURLASTNAME” and made up a gender and DOB. This past summer I had to make the DOB older than son in order to book a flight for someone traveling alone, under the age of 18 years. It worked! The son was a ward of the cello! Thanks, cello.
Also, getting to the gate early and talking to gate attendants to board early is a must. Sometimes they let you board, sometimes not. All ok. Keep that easy-going smile going as you board and immediately ask for that seatbelt extender. Act like you have done this before. And add that you have a seat for the instrument. Not all flight attendants want you to remove the seat - we have sometimes been told to lean it hard against the seat, and the cello is sort of suspended/held with the seatbelt. That works too. You do not have to be in bulkhead, but I have heard that you have to sit with the cello - how cheeky not to! And, the cello has to sit by the window. No other seat.
Finally, up in this conversation was something about to take cello or not - I am afraid you have to take your cello. For many reasons, but the most imp one is that your young musician is used to THAT cello and will be most comfortable with it. That is worth the few hundred bucks IMO. But yes, the entire operation is $$$ and picking where to actually go to audition is another topic. And one I hope we all have to struggle with. A wonderful problem, right?
Oh, it may be obvious but let me add that the seatbelt goes through the case handle - that is how it stays up. Otherwise it would slip off.
No problem. University of Michigan and New England Conservatory. I kinda hoped for more but that’s it, at the moment.
My S22 applied to only 3 music schools. It felt risky but I followed his lead as he was very specific about what he wanted in a program and it was hard to find other options.
It worked out-- he’s happy and thriving. Yours will too, I am sure!
Best of luck.
I feel for you cello parents. As a percussion parent, we have had our fair share of ‘interesting’ flight challenges. For auditions kid takes his own snare drum (and various other items including mallets, ‘aux’ percussion instruments like castanets, and surprisingly enough cello bows for vibraphone playing!). For airlines where he/we didn’t have status we nicely asked the gate agent to board early since the snare drum ONLY fit in the overhead, not under the seat. Most are very accommodating if you explain the situation.
Fun story of security agents not understanding musical instruments - kid almost missed his flight back from Berlin because the screening agents had to call the police to inspect kid’s triangle - who knew it was big enough to be considered a weapon?
Fabulous woman who runs a cello specialty shop once explained to us that the most important thing was the fit of the cello within its hard case. If the case is properly fitted to the cello, in theory, it should be ok. If one doesn’t have a BAM(my son does not) one would need to check that the hard case and flight case play well together(no pun intended).
@anotheroboemom Did your cellist normally carry her bows in a separate case? My son’s go inside his normal case.
We heard from University of Houston today. One audition secured!!
Normally my cellist packs her bow with her cello inside the regular hard case. I would say the safest spot for it. Except at airports where you might have inspection agents partially unpack and then not secure the bow correctly. And regarding the fit of the BAM case, I recall we brought her cello and case with us when we rented the BAM flight case and they customized the fit with various foam inserts.
@Pikachu_s_Mom 3 is good - the more auditions the more stress!