TSA Musical Instrument Guidelines

[sturob]

I was just websurfing and thinking about an upcoming flight (on which I'll try to take a set of pipes). I found the US TSA (US Transportation Security Administration) web page regarding musical instruments and thought I'd share the link since I know the whole idea's been discussed before. Here's the link for a quick read.

A couple of points in this document I think are probably excellent advice. First, they reiterate that the ultimate authority to allow or to forbid an item from boarding the plane is the air carrier itself. In other words, even if you have that document (the link for which I can't find right now) allowing you to have your instrument as a carry-on (you know, that thing that was some kind of deal between a musicians' union and the TSA), nothing can force the airline to allow it on. It's still up to them.

They suggest you place instructions which are "very clear and understandable to someone with no musical background" on how to handle/repack the instrument in a prominent location within the case. They also mention that we'll be as "involved as possible" in the actual screening: you can stand right there and glare at them not to destroy your stuff, I guess. And, they warn that the "final resort" for instruments that can't be cleared by X-ray or physical inspection is a short concert.

As a point of (questionable) interest, I scanned the other documents on the transport of other items through security checkpoints. The musical instrument page is one of the longer ones, actually; much longer than the firearm page (probably because firearms must be checked). The most interesting document is that on "Air Transportation of the Deceased." It turns out that the TSA agents are not allowed to open a crematory container "out of respect for the deceased." Meaning, if they can't clear the ashes by means of an X-ray inspection, you can't bring them on the plane. Interesting.

Also, it turns out that there are a bunch of locks now made for which TSA has keys. We can again lock our luggage, but the TSA can open it without damaging the locks. Many of these locks have an indicator which changes color if the luggage has been opened with the TSA skeleton key.

Wow, such interesting information on the Internet. Just thought I'd share. Oh, yeah, and you don't know the restraint it took for me not to call post-cremation ashes "cremains."

Stuart

[PeterPiper]

My daughter flew from Toronto to Scotland three weeks ago and she was requested to open her violin case for inspection. They then asked her if she could play it and demanded a short concert. She obliged with some Cape Breton fiddling and just when all was going well, the supervisor came along and gave both attendants hell for hitting on her. Go figure.!!!!
All went well after that and the violin flew there and back as additional carryon.

[Jim McGuire]

It should have been mentioned earlier that if you are cute, you should have no issues with security. Uhh, never mind, I forgot, this is the uilleann piper list.

[sturob]

AND there's profiling.

I'm, well, hmm, I guess I kind of have a wholesome-American-boy look about me. I just flew from Toronto to Houston last week (on Canada Day, July 1). I had taken apart two sets of pipes and a couple of flutes and had them snugly tucked into the largest-allowable size of carryon bag (you know, the kind that looks like a pregnant briefcase, with wheels and a telescoping handle). The security agent at Pearson (Toronto), who was a Sikh (OK, so I'm stereotyping, but it was a man of Indian descent with the whole turban thing going and a beard), asked if he could inspect that carryon. I told him sure, and watched. He opened it, unwrapped the first layer of cloth, and pulled out the far endjoint of the bass drone. He held it up, looked at it, looked down the bore (perhaps he was checking for warping), and then looked at me quizzically. "What's this?" he asked. I told him it was just part of a bagpipe, and he said, "Oh, OK," put it carefully back into the bag and zipped up the bag. That's all.

So, I suppose you need to pack the explosives UNDER your pipes.

Stuart

[djm]

And some people would go so far as to say that Canada is a haven for terrorists!

I carried a laptop as well as my carry-on luggage to Raleigh, NC and back to Canada with nary a peek or a boo from either Canadian or US Customs or security, but when I took the exact same luggage through Montréal they were going to arrest me for having a pocket knife clipped to my key-ring. I've had it for years and taken it through airport security I don't know how many times, but suddenly I was a threat to national security.

I don't know how to feel about all the shenanigans that go on nowadays about security: if they tie me up for hours being thorough I would be p***d off, but if they don't check then I wonder about who else is getting on the plane with me. I don't where to draw the line with this stuff.

djm

[sturob]

It's funny that you say that because I feel EXACTLY the same way. If it takes me two seconds to get through security, I feel like, "Heck, they'll let ANYONE in!" If it takes forever and I get stripsearched and a colonoscopy, I feel violated.

OK, so there's some exaggeration there.

But you're right. I also haven't traveled on a BIG travel day in a long time (July 1, long weekend coming for Canada AND the US) . . . boy did THAT suck. It would have taken a lot longer had I not had a US passport, but the whole thing took for-EVER. And I'm not one to get to the airport on time.

At least I got bumped to first class. That's always fun and frivolous. Not worth paying for, probably, but DEFINITELY worth getting bumped into.

Stuart

[maw]

Wot... You don't get strip searched???

[Douglas]

I have never had a problem with my Highland Pipes as carry on luggage. Although I haven't had them on a plane since the September 11th attacks. They probably wouldn't want me play those in the airport, there would probably be a stampede out of the place.

But they always have my kids take off their shoes. Like I'm going to blow up my kids. If I strapped a bomb to anyone's shoes it would be my wife's (just kidding).

P.S. I love Cape Breton Fiddling