Someone please save me from losing my mind. My trombone playing son must be in Philly for an audition. Planning to fly (afraid the car won’t make it) in March from Cincinnati via Frontier. Already regretting the decision. I have spent 2 days on the chat feature trying to figure out how to buy a “seat” (ticket? seat? I don’t know). Every agent gives me different information!! I purchased my ticket and my son’s ticket per a chat agent’s request who told me to get back on the chat once I had done so to add a seat for the trombone. I did and now all the agents tell me I can’t purchase one that I will have to pay to check it. There is NO WAY I am checking his instrument! I found the policy for fragile and special baggage and now they are telling me they don’t have to honor it. I know cellos have to purchase seats… HOW??? I have also emailed and sent facebook messages. HELP! If you have purchased a seat/ticket for the instrument, how did you do it??
THANK YOU!
I think @libbyshims has experience with traveling with tubas and @sillinessforBschools with cellos.
I think you need to talk to a person. When you buy the ticket it has to be clear that the tuba isn’t a person , so the name on the ticket will be something like Trombone FamilyName or CBBG (for cabin baggage) Family Name. You will need to be able to secure the trombone in a seat, unless it is small enough that it would be allowed as your carry on. If they won’t let you carry it on, you may at least be able to gate check it. Trombones are smaller than cellos, and I don’t know if they would mind the underbelly of a plane the way wooden instruments do.
From a website:
Before calling, have a look online and know which flight you want to book and the airfare, you will gain time & money…
Inform the Representative that you would have a
“Special Service Request” for an extraseat for your cello as Cabine Baggage"
Hi! It is frustrating for sure. We have found the easiest way to do it is to purchase the tickets for the ‘live humans’ at the same time you purchase the ticket for the instrument. We have added tubas to our reservations after the fact and it is a pain as they will receive their own reservation number. When you call (we fly United from Houston), let them know you need to purchase x amount of regular passenger seats as well as an extra seat for the instrument. You will be paying full fare which stinks. If you can speak to a live agent as opposed to a chat that might help? Otherwise, you may have to cancel the reservation and book all 3 at once. I am so sorry for the hassle it is a pain for sure.
Ours was called extraseatcshimbashi / extraseatbshimbashi
After my son’s experience flying with a cello a few months ago, I’d avoid flying with the trombone at any cost. It took me 3 days of being on hold (not continuously) before I got someone from the airline who seemed to know what they were doing and booked the instrument. When my son got to the airport, the reservation for the cello hadn’t been inputted properly. It took them an hour to fix at the check-in desk. By the time my son got through security, his flight had taken off. He got rescheduled for a couple of hours later. He should have been boarded before infants etc, but they didn’t call him. The gate agents were shocked and dismayed when they saw the cello (even though it was booked properly). The flight ended up being delayed 30 minutes as they found someone to buckle in his cello. It was a traumatic experience all around.
Frontier has no phone and no live person to talk to 
The trombone can not be checked per our instructor and every other person we talk to. It has to go on the plane and depending on what size plane may not fit in the overhead. Everything I read says buying the seat is the only way to guarantee it is on the plane.
Thanks for the info about not putting the trombone in my name!
This is exactly what I am worried about! The only good thing is that I would be with him…
Ack - we all feel your pain. I have found that actually talking to people is the worst way to go. I did it for years, but no more. It takes hours and heartache and most of the agents have never booked a flight for a, in our case, cello in the first place and you are put on hold, forever. In the future, book thru a third party and all at the same time, so you are sitting with your instrument. And yes, we book “Violincello LASTNAME.” We have a birthdate and gender (tho now you can make it an X if so desired). I use the same info every single time so the computer knows “him.” Yes, I would certainly call now. You have to. And because we are off season, as libbyshims notes, even canceling and rebooking might be easiest if there is not a seat nearby. But there might be? An agent can help with that. Good luck.
Good info about traveling on a plane with a trombone. Of course, if the trombone case fits in the overhead, you can take it as your carry on, plus a student-sized backpack as your personal item.
I have that site bookmarked for sure! The trombone laying on the ground after falling off the conveyor belt is the stuff of my nightmares
THANK YOU!! I am working on cancelling the original reservation so I can rebook using this method. Luckily, since we don’t fly until March there isn’t even a seat sold yet except mine.
All I can say is I hope my kid goes to a school in driving distance. Thank you everyone for the good information and I will let you know how it goes…
Just flew for an audition this past weekend…there were no less than 15 various instruments on our plane. Both large and small…LOL. My son had his guitar in his hard shell case and was forced to gate check it. We usually wing it at the gate and it’s 50/50…some let us carry on and some gate check it. On this flight they had about half the people check their instruments and let the others on to use the overhead. Someone flying on our plane had a trombone in the overhead and made it on scot free. I will say after doing this numerous times, they are very gentle with the instruments at gate check and we have never had an issue. Good luck
This is all such great info. Thanks to everyone on this thread! My daughter plays cello and we will be facing this in the future too. She has flown with a school cello that was in a hard case in checked baggage, but wouldn’t trust her own cello to the cargo hold.
Her cello teacher told her that sometimes it’s easier to go to a music store at your destination and select a nice cello there to “evaluate” for a week!
My kid flatly refused to gate check her many thousand dollar instrument. She was told, on a small plane, that they couldn’t accommodate her computer bag AND her instrument….so she checked the computer.
The musicians union dealt with this issue and actually issued a letter regarding this. My son always carried a copy with him.
@compmom any idea about this?
Holy moly! 15? I guess this wouldn’t be a case of strength in numbers 
. Where was the audition if you don’t mind me asking? Our private instructor says gate checking is plan B if it comes to that….
I was also on a flight last week with a ton of young people carrying instruments. Must be that time of year!
I hope you get it figured out! I wouldn’t trust the airlines with anything of value.
If it weren’t for a huge audition, he would LOVE to “evaluate” a new trombone. That’s a great idea!
An airline destroyed my sister’s guitar once. Wouldn’t check an instrument I cared about.
We book my son’s cello as “son’sname XS lastname” and use his birthdate if necessary. XS as the middle name, for extra seat. Then when he checks in at the airport and checks his suitcase he lets them know he has an instrument and they give him a boarding pass for it. Then he tells the gate agent and boards first with the elderly folks in wheelchairs. Asks the flight attendant for a seatbelt extender. He knows how to secure it in a window seat himself at this point but the flight attendants usually also know how. He has only flown Southwest with the cello. It’s just easier to handle seating assignment (or lack thereof) with them.