Travel Dangers

UkeOkay

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I recently flew with my Bonanaza Homestead concert. I had it in a thickish padded case. The first leg was a short flight on a turboprop - thankfully just 20 min, as when I took it out of the overhead bin the lower half was quite wet, not soaking wet thank goodness, but worrisome nonetheless. It turned out a water bottle that my seat mate had in her carry-on had leaked, likely due to the low pressure.

Until now I've never been thankful for a 3 hour layover. That gave me time to dry out the case before the next much longer flight.

A hardcase it will be next time.
 
Interesting. I never thought about the possibility of water or other liquid damage. I've only ever considered thumps and bumps when evaluating a gig bag. From now on I'll be thinking about liquid too. Thanks for posting this.
 
Glad your Bonanza is OK! To me that is a very intriguing brand.

I've seen some wild things on plane flights, such as a woman yanking a big, heavy suitcase out of the overhead, losing control, and dropping it right on the head of another passenger. Very lucky that that didn't result in a cervical spine fracture or concussion.
 
I recently flew with my Bonanaza Homestead concert. I had it in a thickish padded case. The first leg was a short flight on a turboprop - thankfully just 20 min, as when I took it out of the overhead bin the lower half was quite wet, not soaking wet thank goodness, but worrisome nonetheless. It turned out a water bottle that my seat mate had in her carry-on had leaked, likely due to the low pressure.

Until now I've never been thankful for a 3 hour layover. That gave me time to dry out the case before the next much longer flight.

A hardcase it will be next time.

As water flows downwards I think that my main concern would be why was my Uke under someone else’s bag and how potentially damaging was that bag to my instrument. Water coming out of someone’s bag is, I believe, almost unheard of. I guess that the other party would be somewhat upset, the contents of their own bag were likely soaked.

It’s somewhat difficult and maybe impractical to protect an instrument from every possible hazard. In this particular instance - handy if the weather is really bad too - maybe a large polythene bag inside the instrument’s bag is a cheap and practical barrier to a remote hazard?
 
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If you travel a lot, maybe a non-wood Ukulele is a better choice, such as carbon fibre?
 
Unfortunate! When I fly, my tenor goes above all the luggage in bin. I even readjust and get up And really watch my bin for those that like to throw s** in after I position my Uke. I try to travel with HSC but have successfully dflown with both gig bags and hybrid hard foam. No mishaps so far. Glad your Homestead is fine. Those are cool ukuleles as are the Oreo and the new Ranchland!
 
@Graham Greenbag my uke was leaning up against hers. I kept a watchful eye on it until the compartment was closed. This limited the water to the lower half of the bag.

If it looks like I will be traveling often, which may be the case with my new job, I will certainly get something more sturdy and weather resistant. The spouse can't argue with that.

The homestead is a nice little uke and it's not loud, thus it is the most suited for practicing in a hotel of all my ukes.
 
Water in the overhead should be a very rare occurrence given that liquids are forbidden in carry on
 
Water in the overhead should be a very rare occurrence given that liquids are forbidden in carry on

But many terminals in the US have concessions, even restaurants, or at least water bottle filling stations inside, past security/TSA.
 
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