<p>We are in CT, my son is a freshman in Ohio. He's really missing his tuba, and will be home for winter break. He wants to fly back to Ohio with his Tuba, he'll be taking Southwest. Does anyone have any recent experience with this, it's in a hard case, but I'm really afraid of damage, as he also has to change planes.
I'd like to drive it out there early spring, as an excuse to visit! Has anyone flown, or used ground shipping??
The school will lend him one, but he, of course, he does not like the quality. He's not a music major.</p>
<p>I would contact UPS store or Fed Ex store and ask them how to ship a tuba safely. Ask them if the item can be insured for damage (or call your home insurance and add it to your policy.)</p>
<p>The UPS store by my home will do the actual packing for you.</p>
<p>Top musicians transport their stuff all the time, there must be a safe way.</p>
<p>Check out the music forum. But another idea, when musician D was shipping her guitars across country, I contacted a local instrument shop where they repair and ship instruments all over the world. They packed and shipped hers for a reasonable fee. Seek out someone who deals in your S’s particular instrument.</p>
<p>My S has flown several times on Southwest with a baritone sax. It was too big for luggage compartment and too fragile (even in a solid case) to check. We bought a ticket for it. They charge child’s fare or the lowest fare and it had it’s own boarding pass. The instrument has a window seat (the flight attendants never could seem to agree on whether it needed to be front row (usually) or another row. With a seat belt extender, he was able to strap it in securely with the seat belt. </p>
<p>I don’t know much about tubas, but if the case is sturdy, it could be checked. The body of S’s sax was bent when the case fell over (he even caught it with his foot before it hit the ground), so we were afraid to check it. </p>
<p>If you have to fly with an instrument, I think Southwest is best, because they are generally quite careful with baggage (no gorilla in a cage stuff). They’ve never lost my luggage, even with two connections, and the personnel are all quite helpful. </p>
<p>If you have a professional who knows how to pack a tuba, Fedex might be a good alternative. Although depending on what it costs to pack/ship/insure, a ticket on Southwest might actually be cheaper if you can buy it now.</p>
<p>We purchased a tuba for my son in California and flew up to Oregon with it. The tuba used frequent flier miles to purchase a seat and flew under the name “Tuba Musical Instrument.” It was in a soft case so it was less bulky than in a hard case. We had a crowd of puzzled security folks gather when we took it through. They initially wanted to put it through the x-ray machine, but of course it was too big. They finally scanned it with a handheld scanner. They reseated my son in a bulkhead seat to be next to his new “friend.” It was quite an adventure but the tuba made the trip just fine.</p>
<p>I have also shipped a tuba via FedEx. The challenge is to get a big enough box that is not too big for them to accept. That tuba was in a hard case with lots of packing material. Went across the country with no damage.</p>
<p>One other shipping method you might look at is Greyhound. I had a sousaphone shipped to us that way. Their tracking system is not the best, so I would not send a very valuable instrument that way. It took quite a while as packages have lower priority than passenger luggage and our box kept getting put aside. The advantage is that it is cheap compared to FedEx.</p>
<p>If you decide to go the shipping route, you may find it is similarly priced to buying that extra seat on the plane. DD shipped two instruments (an oboe and English horn) for their servicing to a place that is about a 2 hour drive from where she is. The cost…$250 (FedEx) and most of that was the $15,000 in insurance for the instruments. These are much lighter in weight and less bulky than a tuba. And you are shipping farther (CT to OH) so that will also add to the cost. </p>
<p>If I had known the cost BEFORE she shipped the things, I would have told her to rent a car and drive them and make a day trip out of it. Even being under 25, the cost for a daily car rental would NOT have been $250.</p>