takeing your uke on the plane

keithy351

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g'day guys, since i travel around alot for work and studying reasons, i always take my uke with me, the concert fits right in my back pack no worries, how would you go takeing a tenor uke, in a case on the plane with ya, i would have it stashed in my backpack again, but will proberly me sticking out a bit, would they kick up s**?? also whats the best way to travel with it, put it in a case then wrap the case in bubble wrap????
 
i take my tenor uke when i travel all the time. i have a case for it and i just bring it with me. i get no problems with it, people always smile at me.

no need for buble wrap if its with you as a carry on. SHOOTS do what i do, ive played on the plane a few times.
 
You're allowed one carry-on bag and one personal item...the uke in its case qualifies as a personal item (as long as it fits in the overhead bin) so you can just carry it separately.
 
another question on top of this...

with the cabin being pressurized, is it ok then to have it carried on, or is it advisable to loosen the strings to avoid over tension on the neck like it would in the cargo hold?

geez i never thought of that. i havent had any problems coming from Hawaii to Cali or from TN to Cali. but i think it would be best to loosen the strings down 2 steps JUST in case. i think i shall start doing that now.

Maybe your zipper was down.

dag nabit Deach, i thought i saw you with a huge grin my last flight! it was down huh?
 
I think your uke should be just fine, as long as you carry it on with you, as others have said. This was discussed in a thread a while back and the general concensus was to avoid checking it as baggage at all costs!
 
I brought a concert uke with me recently from Jersey to Joburg, South Africa.

There shouldn't be any need to tune down, unless you have wound strings.



P.S. - The Stewardesses asked me to play for them, so I wen;t back tot he galley a few times during the flight (18hours haha) and entertained them. We had a good time :)
 
While I probably wouldnt bring a tenor on a plane with no case, I've found that there are no problems fitting a tenor case in the overhead bins.

As long as your uke is in a case, you'll be fine. They will want you to send it through the x-ray machine but it's all good.

My case is a little too long to fit in the box thing they have for spatial reference around the airports but that wasn't a problem with me the one time I've flown with my uke.
 
with the cabin being pressurized, is it ok then to have it carried on, or is it advisable to loosen the strings to avoid over tension on the neck like it would in the cargo hold?
Both the cabin and the cargo hold are pressurized (to 8,000 feet) and heated (although the cargo hold is usually slightly cooler than the cabin, depending on whether or not animals are being transported). If anyone can explain to me the physics that dictates how that kind of pressure change is going to have any effect on uke or guitar strings I'd love to hear it. If anything, it would seem to me that having the strings detuned for the length of the flight is going to do more damage to the neck than any change in air pressure. On the other hand, if you're forced to check a guitar then loosening the strings does take tension off the top and make it more resistant to rough handling. (You'd also want to make sure the neck and headstock are well-padded in that case.)
 
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...If anything, it would seem to me that having the strings detuned for the length of the flight is going to do more damage to the neck than any change in air pressure.

Why would detuning do damage to a neck? Every uke I've bought was sent to me detuned. I don't understand your statement.
 
Both the cabin and the cargo hold are pressurized (to 8,000 feet) and heated (although the cargo hold is usually slightly cooler than the cabin, depending on whether or not animals are being transported). If anyone can explain to me the physics that dictates how that kind of pressure change is going to have any effect on guitar strings I'd love to hear it. If anything, it would seem to me that having the strings detuned for the length of the flight is going to do more damage to the neck than any change in air pressure.

i personally didnt have a prob when i brought my ukulele home as carry on. but there was a thread here a while back about horror stories involving headstocks snapping off of the neck midflight on guitars checked in as luggage because they "didnt loosen the strings first". honestly, i dont know how far to take that, but i would rather err on the side of safety. but now you open up a new outlook on it... so which is it? which is safer? who has the answer? this sucks.
 
Trick has about 13K in frequent flyer miles (Pono koa concert) in 2008 and Stud (Pono Tenor Mahogany) has 27K frequent flyer miles in 2008. Nary a problem one with travelling with them. They tuck into the overhead bins easily enough but more often than not the flight staff is really nice about asking if we want to tuck them up in the flight crew cabinets.

They even resulted in us making a friend of a flight crew member who invited us to her ranch near Kailua. All because she knew about ukes and we spent a 6 hr flight chatting over the uke world and the instruments.
 
g'day guys, since i travel around alot for work and studying reasons, i always take my uke with me, the concert fits right in my back pack no worries, how would you go takeing a tenor uke, in a case on the plane with ya, i would have it stashed in my backpack again, but will proberly me sticking out a bit, would they kick up s**?? also whats the best way to travel with it, put it in a case then wrap the case in bubble wrap????

I just got back from a round trip with my tenor uke (London to Boston and back) with no problems at all. I kept it in the case and brought it as carry on in addition to another bag I had and it wasn't an issue. I stored it in the first class cabin cupboard thing as you get on the plane and as I got off the stewardess had it out ready for me (and my uke).

The only concern I had was at security in Boston. The guy was very interested in my case and did various tests on it, then tested the tuner and asked what it was for, then asked about the humidifiers. He then took out my uke and was wandering about with it in his hand, I could have killed him!

I can't see the pressure of the cabin having any effect on the strings or the wood for that amount of time. Mine seems ok anyway.
 
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Why would detuning do damage to a neck? Every uke I've bought was sent to me detuned. I don't understand your statement.

as far as an ukulele goes, its hard to say, but on a guitar with a truss rod that has been tensioned against the tight pull of steel strings, i can see where that might be a problem, unless you loosen the truss rod as well, and re-setup upon landing and settling in.
 
Why would detuning do damage to a neck? Every uke I've bought was sent to me detuned. I don't understand your statement.
I should have specified that it's a potential issue with guitars (for the reason NukeDOC mentions), not so much ukes.
 
Both the cabin and the cargo hold are pressurized (to 8,000 feet) and heated (although the cargo hold is usually slightly cooler than the cabin, depending on whether or not animals are being transported). If anyone can explain to me the physics that dictates how that kind of pressure change is going to have any effect on uke or guitar strings I'd love to hear it. If anything, it would seem to me that having the strings detuned for the length of the flight is going to do more damage to the neck than any change in air pressure. On the other hand, if you're forced to check a guitar then loosening the strings does take tension off the top and make it more resistant to rough handling. (You'd also want to make sure the neck and headstock are well-padded in that case.)

I am a former airline ground control agent for Delta. Only the forward cargo hold is heated in my experience. On MDs and Airbuses, anyway. I also worked Boeing 727s, which were the same. You can't always ask to have something in the forward cargo hold...although live animals always go there. However, the rest of the bags are carefully allotted to different bins for weight distribution, based on fuels and which seats will be occupied on the plane. Moral of the story is to NEVER have an airline check your ukulele. It will almost never be in a heated cargo bin, and will be treated roughly...even if the agents handle it gingerly (although there is no guarantee of that, especially if you check it at the gate rather than right at the plane valet-style)...it will still be jostled around with the other heavy bags. Agents are also often required to persuade bags to fit in a certain space. We called that process "tetrising" the bags.... not sure about the pressurization issue...I don't think that matters. I travel with the uke all; the time and never had a problem when taking it on board with me anyway. Rapid temp change seems like a bigger enemy!
 
I seem to remember seeing Aldrine in a video from the Cali Tour. They were running late and he had to tune his uke on stage. I think he had mentioned something about detuning it for the flight. I don't know what the physics are or anything But I usually tune down a couple of steps when I fly.
 
i personally didnt have a prob when i brought my ukulele home as carry on. but there was a thread here a while back about horror stories involving headstocks snapping off of the neck midflight on guitars checked in as luggage because they "didnt loosen the strings first".
I'd be willing to bet that was a result of baggage mishandling and the neck and headstock not being properly padded rather than an issue with string tension. (Although string tension does have the potential to make a mishandling problem worse.)
 
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