Flying with a uke on Air New Zealand?

wickedwahine11

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I have a question for my Aussie and Kiwi UU friends (or anyone who has traveled Air New Zealand). Has anyone here flown with a tenor sized uke onboard Air New Zealand and been able to use it as a carryon? I'm looking to buy a one way flight from Auckland to Sydney and I'm not sure about being able to carry it onboard Fit Airlines or Virgin Blue's flights. Air New Zealand seems a little bit less restrictive with their checked regulations than the other two do, so I'm hoping I'm okay but there is nothing on their page about it.

My other flights to and from Sydney are all onboard Hawaiian Airlines, where I know I won't have a problem. I have also flown with it on Delta, Southwest and other airlines with no issue but never Air New Zealand.

So has anyone taken a tenor uke onboard as a carryon on Air New Zealand before?:anyone:
 
Recently went from honolulu to auckland with air new zealand and carried on two ukes. Tenor and a soprano. Nobody said a word.

BTW, air new zealand was easily the best airline I have ever flown. Good on ya kiwis.
 
I flew on a small Embraer plane with mine and while it did not fit into the overhead compartment, they put it in the closet in front.

My best recommendation is to call the airline and ask them directly.
 
Back in April I flew from Sydney to Auckland with Air New Zealand with my uke case counted as carry on luggage, the return flight was with Jetstar and there was no problems there either.
 
I travel all around the world carrying one of my ukes, never had a problem with bringing it on board, flight attendants always find room.
 
I flew to NZ from the States in Feb and returned in April. Flew Virgin Australia and Virgin Blue and put my concert in the overhead with no problems. Oh and Delta is fine with that too, I've flown them several times with a uke, although mine are sopranos or concerts in soft cases rather than tenors. cheers, g2
 
I have a question for my Aussie and Kiwi UU friends (or anyone who has traveled Air New Zealand). Has anyone here flown with a tenor sized uke onboard Air New Zealand and been able to use it as a carryon? I'm looking to buy a one way flight from Auckland to Sydney and I'm not sure about being able to carry it onboard Fit Airlines or Virgin Blue's flights. Air New Zealand seems a little bit less restrictive with their checked regulations than the other two do, so I'm hoping I'm okay but there is nothing on their page about it.

My other flights to and from Sydney are all onboard Hawaiian Airlines, where I know I won't have a problem. I have also flown with it on Delta, Southwest and other airlines with no issue but never Air New Zealand.

So has anyone taken a tenor uke onboard as a carryon on Air New Zealand before?:anyone:

You should be fine. It'll fit into the overhead locker easily, and Air NZ has a great reputation for customer service for a reason. I've done it several times on domestic flights and a couple of times on international, no probs.

The only gotcha is that you're at the random mercy of NZ and Aussie customs, because both countries tend to be quite anal about wood-based products, flora and fauna etc entering the country. NZ slapped some random celebrity with a $200 fine for bringing an apple with her, for example. 99.9% of the time they're fine - the wood in a stringed instrument is for all intents benign, but you might just get that random knucklehead who's thicker than two planks. I had an 'incident' when I was in Melbourne for a stopover on my way back from Belgium, the local cops showed up, I talked common sense with them, they accosted the rent-a-guard for wasting their time and I was sent on my merry way. You probably won't have such a problem in Sydney though :)

Hope that helps?
 
In New Zealand it is the Biosecurity agents that examine biological materials entering the country. I suspect that musical instruments are a rare source of species invasions but NZ is full of invasive species that certainly have contributed to the decimation of one of the world's unique fauna's. Certainly it is a biological tragedy that a fauna that evolved without mammalian predators is now almost gone because of the introduction of rats, stoats, cats, Australian brush-tailed possums, etc. Oh and let's not forget the grazing effects of 40+ million sheep. There are many invasive plants that have out-competed native species and one only has to drive from Christchurch to Dunedin on SR1 to see a landscape covered with exotic plants and nary a native, in addition to European goldfinches and green finches. So please don't scoff at the efforts of Oz and NZ to keep pest species out. Do the inspectors seem a little overzealous, yes they do, but they're only trying to save an ever declining unique flora and fauna. Invasive species are one of the leading natural resource management problems here in the States too. In California alone there are more invasive fish species than natives! End of sermon. Gary Grossman, Professor of Animal Ecology, University of Georgia
 
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