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MU supports European petition on air travel with musical instruments

By | Published on Wednesday 13 June 2012

The Musician's Union

The Musician’s Union has supported a recent petition from the International Federation Of Musicians calling for action across Europe on the previously reported issue of musicians taking musical instruments on planes.

As previously reported, musicians are frustrated that rules regards taking instruments on board as hand luggage vary from airline to airline, making it difficult planning international trips with valuable instruments that performers are unwilling to put in the hold. The MU has lobbied the UK government on the issue previously, and in theory the Department Of Transport has made moves to address the problem, though the Union says some airlines continue to set their own arbitrary rules.

Commenting on the new petition, John Smith, General Secretary of the MU and President of FIM, told CMU: “It is only by working at a European and international level that we can successfully tackle this issue, and that is why today’s petition from FIM is so important. Just a few months ago we saw the US Congress introduce a uniform national policy regarding musical instruments on airplanes – we need to see similar action in Europe. The problem is that existing law allows each airline to set their own policy regarding musical instruments – which we have seen recently with BA. We need uniformity and fairness across the whole sector”.



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