What's new
By:
Filters
Drummerworld Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Anyone tried taking cymbal bag and snare on a plane (Ryan Air)?

Mark_S

Mark_S

Silver Member
Hi all,
I'm off to Slovakia next weekend to play at a festival. My main concern right now is taking my cymbals and snare onto the plane. I'm guessing they'll be too big for hand luggage - has anyone else done this? I tend to think all my nice paiste signature cymbals will come out mangled if I don't reserve a seat for them. I'm currently trying to find out more info from their website..

My cymbal bag is 24" (due to my giant beat ride) and my snare is 14 x 5.5". Foot pedal can probably squeeze into hand luggage folded down..
 
I've only flown on them once, but Ryanair is notoriously ruthless about charging for extra/over-size baggage. On other airlines you can usually ask the flight attendant to store a cymbal bag in the garment bag zone, but with Ryanair I would plan on having to check them, and pack them accordingly.

Have a great show!
 
Let me know what happens as I'm going to need to take my breakables to Lübeck in the summer and I'm fairly sure that I'll have to fly Ryanair too.
 
Thanks, I'm not yet sure how much time I'm going to spend outside the studio! Hopefully there's a window or something...
 
Oh great. Another item for Ryanair to add to there list of "extra" charges.

Cymbal bags.....sizes vary.....£300
Sticks......£10 each.

Bass drum pedal will have to go in the hold mate, you might just set it up on the plane and use it to threaten the flight attendants into flying you to the Tama factory.
 
Thanks for your replies all - I'll let you know how it goes! Currently I'm thinking Snare as hand luggage, and cymbals either stored in the hold, or the cymbal case in a large hard suitcase, or give them their own seat on the plane.

I was going to drive it, but they were all worried I wouldn't make it for one reason or another! Call me odd but I've always wanted to drive across Europe, but maybe better to wait until there's less at stake and less of a rush!
 
You've probably already done this, but I've just seen this thread, so.....

"Strictly one item of cabin baggage per passenger weighing up to 10kg with maximum dimensions of 55cm x 40cm x 20cm is permitted".

If the packed bag exceeds those dimensions eg with any lumps sticking out, and doesn't fit comfortably inside the "test box" at the check in counter, you'll have to pay £50 to put it in the hold.

You can check in up to two items of hold baggage. First bag costs £60 (15 kilos) or £75 (20 kilos). Second bag (max 15 kilos) £105. .

" ... large musical instruments including but not limited to harps, double bass and drums are inherently unsuitable for carriage by airlines operating fast turnarounds such as Ryanair. However, these items may be carried in the hold of the aircraft in addition to your personal checked baggage allowance up to a limit of 20 kilos per item upon payment of a discounted online fee of £50/€50 per item, per one way flight. If the item is purchased at the airport or through a Ryanair call centre a higher fee of £60/€60 per item/per one way flight will apply). Any sporting and musical item weighing over the 20 kilos allowance will be charged for the excess at the applicable excess baggage rate per kilo" (currently £20).

This "unsuitable for carriage by airlines operating fast turnarounds such as Ryanair" means it WILL be thrown around by the baggage handlers.

It's all here
http://www.ryanair.com/en/terms-and-conditions#regulations-checkedbaggage
 
Just to second mikel on the importance of not trying to take your bass pedal in your hand luggage! I did this once by accident in Italy and it took so long to deal with that I missed the flight.
 
I've ended up buying another seat to put the cymbals on.. Budget airlines eh!
I'm going to put my foot pedal in a suitcase, hand luggage is going to be my snare.
I was offered to use some cymbals they've already got over there but I'd rather use what I'm familiar with than risk it.
 
Well I ended up packing the cymbals in my suitcase in the end. The extra seat had gone up to £150 so it was just getting rediculous, so I went out and purchased a good suitcase instead for just over half that price. It was a bit of a pain to pack the suitcase as I had to angle the cymbal bag to keep the edges of the 20" ride from being right up against the weakest point of the case (the zip), but I'm happy to report cymbals made it unscathed to and from Slovakia. I did insure them before leaving, just in case..!

The snare went with me as hand luggage. In the snare case I managed to also fit my laptop (without case) and hi-hat cymbals. The hi-hat cymbals ended up in the snare case because it made the main suitcase too heavy! (> 20 KG).

What fun packing that was, took me hours to get it right!

What's funny is after all that care, one of the cymbals took a leap off the drum riser during the gig as some of you may of seen in another post.
 
I'm heading out to Croatia on Ryanair next week and since the thread's eighteen months old, I was wondering if anybody had any fresh stories? I went to the UAE on Etihad last month, but with their lavish 30kg weight limit, weight wasn't much of a concern.

For this trip, four of us on the same booking have 20kg checked baggage allowance each. Ryanair appear to have changed their policy about pooling, so it is now allowed, provided no one bag weighs more than 32 kg. Has anyone any experience with pooling?
 
Just know that Ryan air, like most European airlines, is extremely strict on carry-on items fitting in the baggage checker. If not you will be hit for a huge (compared to the seat price) penalty and pulled out of line while you check it. Know the sizes allowed.
 
Ryanair have changed their cabin baggage allowance some time in the last 6 to 8 months.
You can now carry 2 items on board. From memory, the size and weight allowed for each item basically equate to a normal piece of cabin baggage plus a large ladies handbag.
Check their website for the exact sizes. The racks at the airport desks that are used to check if baggage conforms to the size limits are actually larger in dimension than the official dimensions. As for the weight, they never asked me to weigh my hand baggage, although you could always get unlucky. I always make an effort to act as if my hand baggage weighs only a few grams, even if it actually weighs 10kg.

Remember, Ryanair want to reduce checked baggage to reduce flight turnaround time, so they'll probably only get tough if your baggage is blatantly oversize or overweight.

One important point: Ryanair reserve the right to put hand baggage in the hold if the cabin locker space is all used up. So in theory, if you were the last person to board a fully booked flight, they might end up taking your custom finish limited edition gold hardware snare and putting it in the hold after all. That's why everyone queues up as soon as the boarding gate is announced, even if it means standing around for 2 hours.
 
I bought http://www.tesco.com/direct/uni-com...TS-yRPhH0eAujTQDEqb-O0C8upbOdJAGR4EoTA1_D_BwE at the last minute for a second opinion on my various baggage weights (couldn't 100% trust an electric scale for weighing yourself) and the weight came out exactly the same at check in at Stansted as it did at home, which is great. It was 1kg lighter in Zadar, with slightly more in it...so there's the lesson, if you're not able to pool, maybe stay a kilogram lighter than your allowance, just in case there's something up with the scales at check in.
 
I don't know Ryan Air, but I did on Southwest. Took a 8 x 14 snare bag and inside I put a 4 x 14 snare, one snare stand, and 3 pair of sticks. Put it between my feet on one flight, and coming home in the overhead.
 
GRUNTERSDAD said:
I don't know Ryan Air, but I did on Southwest. Took a 8 x 14 snare bag and inside I put a 4 x 14 snare, one snare stand, and 3 pair of sticks. Put it between my feet on one flight, and coming home in the overhead.
Click to expand...

Ryanair are famous for their penny-squeezing ways.

If you're over the baggage allowance by a few kilograms, you can easily pay more than the ticket is worth in 'excess baggage' charges.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top