Airfares for instruments rile musicians

Musicians and sumo wrestlers have at least one thing in common: expensive air travel bills due to bulk.

Both groups are often forced to buy more than one ticket when flying.

In the case of sumo wrestlers, their girth does not allow them to fit comfortably in a single seat, hence the need to purchase two seats.

But musicians must sometimes buy three or even four seats, depending on the size of the instrument being taken on board.

"Music performers always pay close attention to the condition of their instruments and take great care of them so they can pass them on to future generations," said Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, chairman of the Japan Cello Society. "I really wish airlines would show greater understanding of arts and culture."

The issue of airfares stems from a decision by Japan Airlines (JAL) last December to revise from one to three the number of seats required to transport a cello.

JAL calculated the cubic volume of a cello based on the assumption its container was case shaped like a box or a rectangle.

It determined that a cello cannot fit in the space of one seat even if it is positioned vertically. It concluded the case must be laid down and, therefore, requires three seats.

As a result, JAL required the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra (SPO) to buy three tickets for each cello when the SPO booked seats for a trip to Sapporo later that month.

E-mail messages complaining about the requirement soon started to fly between cellists around the nation.

One wrote, "The ticket for even one seat is expensive for me." Another said, "Let's join together to complain (to JAL)."

As it happens, cello cases are not rectangular as JAL contended in its calculations. The upper parts of the cases are slender. If the instrument is positioned upside down--which, no doubt, would draw gasps from any cellist--it can easily be accommodated in a one-seat space.

In response to the complaints, JAL backed down and in January reintroduced its previous rule that a cello requires only one seat.

Bringing large musical instruments onto an aircraft is generally not a cheap affair.

Instruments small enough to bring as carry-on baggage do not normally pose a problem.

If they take up seat space, special tickets must be purchased.

The special tickets are half the price of conventional tickets on domestic flights operated by JAL and All Nippon Airways (ANA).

On international flights, however, the fees are the same as those for conventional tickets.

The same rules apply when a sumo wrestler takes two seats on domestic or international flights.

Each airline has guidelines on how many seats are necessary for each musical instrument.

In the case of a contrabass, for example, the number of seats is normally set at four. However, only jumbo jets have four seats in a row.

On other types of aircraft, contrabassists must put the instruments in special hard cases and store them in the fuselage cargo area.

Recently, an orchestra member was required by ANA to buy a ticket for his trombone.

ANA judged that, under its rules, a trombone cannot be regarded as carry-on baggage.

"Previously, it was free of charge," the musician lamented.(IHT/Asahi: March 25,2008)