In this day and age for a national airline of Trinidad and Tobago to be considering your instrument as a piece of luggage is a real shame.
When pan players go abroad, with the restrictions on number of pieces of luggage you are allowed to carry, you have to make a choice between your clothes or your pan.
That is nothing short of disgraceful.
Airlines coming from Europe allow passengers to bring their surfboards free, but if you want to carry your pan on Caribbean Airlines you have to pay extra for that.
They should not only allow you to carry your instrument free, but treat it as a fragile instrument and put it in the hold by hand, not among the regular luggage.
It's disrespectful at the very least.
Replies
I heard that you can pay for the seat and set your instrument on it, I don't know how true it is,
Don't forget 'seat belt please" for the pan.
A pan could be dangerous in a plane.
The point I'm making is that as the national airline of Trinidad and Tobago they should have more respect for the pan. If a passenger from the UK arrives in Barbados with a surfboard it's not considered part of the luggage. Certain items are allowed as extra baggage without charge.
Why should a pan player have to decide between clothes and his instrument?
Of course you can travel with a hard case, that is not the point. As a national airline consideration should be given to the national instrument so that you can carry both your suitcase and your pan without having to pay $50US for extra luggage.
And yes it should also be considered fragile baggage because everyone in the national airline should be familiar enough with the national instrument to know it is not a garbage can.
Wayne....."If a passenger from the UK arrives in Barbados with a surfboard it's not considered part of the luggage."...
I think you are mistaken,to me it seems every airline has seriously restricted what was "free" luggage.If you fly BA (economy),you are entitled to 1 piece "free" checked luggage 23kg, and since a surfboard cannot fit in a luggage compartment,you cannot take that as hand luggage.
From my experiences CAL still does better than most airlines.CAL (economy) allows 2 pieces "free"checked luggage on flights from UK to the Caribbean.
You bring that issue to the WST FORUM. Nobody here can help you solve that problem. That is why I am making the point about POLITICS and PAN MEN/PLAYERS.
And I love that comparison about the SURF BOARD and BARBADOS. But think about it carefully and it will make perfect sense.
Wayne I feel your pain…as it stands Caribbean Airlines lets you go with one piece of luggage free…beat the system..put yuh clothes in the pan case…story done...
The bigger problem is when the instrument(s) arrive. Recently a small group went to the USA and their instruments were all taken out of their hard cases, with tenors rested on the sunken area denting the inner areas and the skirts of the guitars and cellos were badly dented. If they need to search then rest the pans on the rims (belly up) and why dented skirts!? One was definitely sat on as it was oblong and the thing is even if you complain or try to claim for damages, you are wasting your time. There was an instance when items were stored inside of bass drums as they were seen as just empty bins.
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next