Flying on Italian Airways with full size accordion

[Ryan C Cihlar]

I'm taking the Accordion Craft Academy's Tier 1 class, I'm flying out to Castelfidardo next week from Minnesota, USA. I'm bringing a full size 41/120 perhaps 1940's-ish Excelsior NY accordion along to work on. I talked to Joey Petosa who said most artists he knows of use soft bags when flying, so I bought one. Looking online it appears there might be some leniency being that it's a musical instrument, but also that Italian Airways are strict with weights and measures. Has anyone flown with this airline, and what was your experience? Also, when taking Tier 1 class, is it worth it to stay and take Tier 2 as it starts shortly after? Thanks

 

[debra]

Common experience with airlines is that when you do not have a separate seat booked for your instrument the chances for being allowed to bring it on board are slim, unless you have a written statement from the airline that you can. Most airlines are now strict with weights and sizes and if your accordion does not fit in the standard box they use to measure the accordion (and no accordion really fits) it will not be allowed.
With Ryanair you can book a seat for your instrument. They fly from several European cities to Ancona (which is where you want to be). There are other airline that will let you book a seat for an instrument. JerryPH booked a seat for his Gola when he bought it (and that was a long trip from Frankfurt to Canada).
I would recommend taking Tier 1 and 2 together. It saves a long trip home in between. After Tier 2 you need to wait for Tier 3 and 4 (4 is named "advanced tuning" but I simply think of it as Tier 4) because you need time to gain experience repairing accordions.
In any case, do not bring expensive good accordions to the courses. Bring old junkers that need repair, because that's what you will be learning to do. (I did bring somewhat better accordions, but I traveled by car.)

 

[debra]

You might want to ask Edwin Erickson (from Canada) what he did for Tier1/2 as he brought a nice Borsini button accordion to work on. He's not on this forum but is on Facebook. (He is from Buck Lake in Alberta.)

 

[Giovanni]

Many years ago I had a long delay at a USA airport for a flight to Vegas .
I had the opportunity to watch the baggage handlers load the plane from the baggage trailers it was scary !!
Most were thrown off on to the the elevator and then went up to the cargo hold . Many hit the side of the elevator and then hit the ground !!
very hard !!!Some Accordion cases with stickers on saying musical instrument handle with care ............Suffered the same treatment !!
So do not expect any handler to treat your accordion with loving care !!
At the vegas Convention several of the accordions arrived damaged !!
I remember that wonderful Accordionist Peter Soave saying he always booked a seat for his accordion !!!
Paul's advice is also spot on !!.................take it and save a lot of Heartache

 

[Siegmund]

ACA will provide you an instrument if you don't want to travel internationally with your own. I opted for that when I took tiers 1 and 2. Taking both tiers together is a great idea --- the plane ticket is the most expensive part of the trip, and the long overseas flight the most miserable part of the trip.

I have heard of cases where you take the two halves of the accordion apart and each half becomes small enough to fit in an overhead bin. I've not seen one in real life, nor seen how an airline would react to you showing up with two carryons. You definitely do not want to check it.

If you do try to take the accordion flying, bear in mind that every boarding is a chance for something to go amiss; you might choose to take just one flight, your transatlantic nonstop, and do the rest of your within-USA or within-Europe travel by train or car, where if you can carry it, it goes.

 

[JerryPH]

There are a couple of different ways.

One way is to get a softbag that can split in half and carry each part of the accordion separately while in the plane. You will need to reach out to the airline directly to see if their overhead bins will carry those sizes. I own one of these cases that can split, and they are very cool... you can zip the 2 parts together and carry it like a standard accordion case or like an all out backpack.

Another way is that you might get the accordion on the plane with a case and they stick it in a closet somewhere.

If the accordion has VALUE, there is but ONE way to fly with that kind of accordion, and thats via the purchase of an extra ticket so that it sits on a seat beside you.

In all cases, you need to speak to the airlines to see if they accept your chosen method of carry on.

One option that is NOT a choice, under no circumstances should you check it in so the baggage handlers get the chance to bounce your accordion from the USA to Italy.

 

[petch]

I bought a second seat, no chance it was going to fit overhead

 

[Ryan C Cihlar]

ACA will provide you an instrument if you don't want to travel internationally with your own. I opted for that when I took tiers 1 and 2. Taking both tiers together is a great idea --- the plane ticket is the most expensive part of the trip, and the long overseas flight the most miserable part of the trip.

I have heard of cases where you take the two halves of the accordion apart and each half becomes small enough to fit in an overhead bin. I've not seen one in real life, nor seen how an airline would react to you showing up with two carryons. You definitely do not want to check it.

If you do try to take the accordion flying, bear in mind that every boarding is a chance for something to go amiss; you might choose to take just one flight, your transatlantic nonstop, and do the rest of your within-USA or within-Europe travel by train or car, where if you can carry it, it goes.

Thanks for your input, that's valuable advice. Is it worth the hassle to bring you own to the class from what you experienced? Do you really get a lot of labor $$ saved or is it just as good save the runaround and do it at home? It seems the accordion would have to be checked on the plane and that's a gamble not in good favor. I'm wondering if I should just do what you mentioned and use one of ACA's. One more question, I have very little accordion maintenance experience, I've never waxed or tuned anything. Would you still recommend taking both tiers in one swoop for a guy like me? Thanks again.

 

[debra]

Thanks for your input, that's valuable advice. Is it worth the hassle to bring you own to the class from what you experienced? Do you really get a lot of labor $$ saved or is it just as good save the runaround and do it at home? It seems the accordion would have to be checked on the plane and that's a gamble not in good favor. I'm wondering if I should just do what you mentioned and use one of ACA's. One more question, I have very little accordion maintenance experience, I've never waxed or tuned anything. Would you still recommend taking both tiers in one swoop for a guy like me? Thanks again.

ACA will provide you with an instrument to work on. Especially when you are traveling from very far it may not be worth the cost of bringing your own instrument unless it is such a small one that it will fit in the overhead bin and be allowed there.
But if you have an instrument of decent quality that requires some work it does pay to bring it and learn how to repair your own accordion.
I happened to have two accordions that really needed work and one with a small problem so I just put all of them in my car and learned to fix all of them.

 

[Dingo40]

If the accordion has VALUE, there is but ONE way to fly with that kind of accordion, and thats via the purchase of an extra ticket so that it sits on a seat beside you.

Your dollar at work:

 

[Jaime_Dergut]

There are a couple of different ways.

One way is to get a softbag that can split in half and carry each part of the accordion separately while in the plane. You will need to reach out to the airline directly to see if their overhead bins will carry those sizes. I own one of these cases that can split, and they are very cool... you can zip the 2 parts together and carry it like a standard accordion case or like an all out backpack.

How convenient do you thing that softbag is?

The only ones I know are being sold by Petosa and Liberty bellows:

Petosa bag

Liberty Bellows bag

They are kind of expensive, but certainly not as expensive as a second seat, or a broken accordion.

 

[Ventura]

yeah next week, you have to take it with you

ideally, from far away, an accordion that needs repaired anyway..
heck, just ship it ahead of time

once there, purchase suitable and awesome stuff from Italiacinte
to bring it back in.. they doubtless know what is allowed on an
Italian airline, but if space is a problem one can remove bellows
and reed blocks and store them in the hard-shell luggage between
your clothes, making the treble/bass sections smaller for a carry on
of suitable size

re-assemble at leisure

 

[JerryPH]

Very convenient as long as you retain control/ownership and they don't leave your sight.

The good ones are not cheap, but then if you have a good accordion, why would you place it in a $50 backpack (which in the case of IF someone is bringing a scratch accordion to Italy to be worked on, might well be an option). I paid $250CDN for mine and at first felt it was over-paying, but the first time I used it, I love it.

Mine was purchased through Keith Anderson accordion sales and repair in Burlington Ontario.

 

[JerryPH]

once there, purchase suitable and awesome stuff from Italiacinte
to bring it back in.. they doubtless know what is allowed on an
Italian airline,

I had bad dealings with Italcinte, so I doubt that they will even talk to him if he shows up speaking in English (I tried over the phone and email, they hung up on me and responded in Italian referring me to some dealer that DID NOT even deal with Italcinte straps when I asked for help).

They also also won't know what the local airlines restrictions are, that is where one needs to simply reach out to the airlines directly... they know their restrictions and will be able to help.

 

[JerryPH]

Your dollar at work:

It would not be the first time... tons of videos on YouTube, sadly. After looking at these videos, I'd never permit them to even touch a junk accordion of mine!!

 

[Ventura]

i been there

i done that

they do

things are very different in person.. companies that
deal through distributors and dealers worldwide
have publicly facing protocols and limitations that,
as you know from Hohner, relax the rules in person
and depending on your approach

there were decades in the USA when Hohner America
(HMS, then HSS) were not even allowed to acknowledge
the Gola line, either for sale or for parts. Period.

 

[Giovanni]

Your dollar at work:

If you believe that you will believe anything !!! it will not be put right !!!.....its still going on every where at all airports .
if you are a baggage handler doing that job all day long ..............the novelty of taking good care passenger's cases would soon wear off .
Targets and time's to unload planes will be the deciding factor !!!......I'm sorry to say ..............
I'm just someone who has witnessed with my own eyes !!!

 

[Thomas N]

You guys have me interested in this class!!!! My wife has been begging me to go to Castelfidardo and take an accordion repair class. She wants to stay a couple weeks and see a part of Italy that isn't Rome, Naples, Venice, Florence or Sorrento. We did that this year and it was incredible, but my wife wanted to see the quieter side of the country next year.

I'm just about to spend $1000 on a complete tuning of my Excelsior 960 (amongst other small repairs). And I'd love to take my 930 along as it needs TONS of work, is a little smaller and I wouldn't need to be too concerned about traveling with it.

I went online and read their descriptions about Tier 1 and Tier 2. I'll search this forum now and hopefully can find some recommendations. I'd learn a lot, my wife would be very happy and I'd come home with a working 930 and should be able to transfer that knowledge over into fixing my 960!

To keep the thread on-topic: We'd purchase three seats and both would welcome the 930 in the middle seat separating the two of us.

 

[Ryan C Cihlar]

Thanks for the input everyone. I've decided to not bring an accordion along to avoid potential airline hassle, checked baggage and lugging extra gear. I did find that a short scale (16") box would fit within the airline requirements, however my plan is to go light and have room in my bags to bring back accordion repair items. The class director said we'd be stopping at a supplier called Carini on one of the days, it's a place I've heard and read about on this site in the past but I don't know what it actually is. For someone who has absolutely no tools whatsoever, any suggestions on what to bring home? I'm thinking: wax, leathers, bellow gasket line, some kinda tools....?

 

[debra]

...
I'm just about to spend $1000 on a complete tuning of my Excelsior 960 (amongst other small repairs). And I'd love to take my 930 along as it needs TONS of work, is a little smaller and I wouldn't need to be too concerned about traveling with it.
...

That sounds like a rather extreme amount of money for a tuning job, unless the "other small repairs" are substantial.
Taking accordion repair courses is a very good idea, but don't expect that you can do an expert tuning job after Tier 1 and 2. There is still more to learn about tuning, especially dealing with the very high notes (although your 960 does not have the highest notes). And setting up a repair workshop is also a significant undertaking. You need to stock up on tools and parts because most stuff is not readily available at hardware stores.