Posted by Ed Owen on July 23, 2001 at 12:46:48:
In Reply to: flying with tuba - surcharges? posted by lahti bound on July 22, 2001 at 07:20:30:
Last year, I took the University of Southern Mississippi Tuba & Euphonium Ensemble to the conference in Canada. We had seventeen people in the group (one was a spouse) and sixteen horns (8 euphoniums and 8 tubas). We were told by our travel agent that as long as the airline knew in advance the amount of luggage (specifically horns), then we would not be charged. Therefore, we faxed the dimensions - height, width, length, and weight - two months in advance to the airlines. We were not charged one cent on any of the flights. However, previous posters are correct - you are at the mercy of the person behind the counter. If I remember correctly, they tried to charge us a couple of times. However, I had a copy of the fax that we had sent and after some "ever so gentle persuasion" they eventually let us through. So, the bottom line is to let the airline know ASAP the dimensions of your case and then keep any correspondence in case you run into problems.
Hope this helps your situation. See you in Finland!
Ed Owen