Valerie Vaz MP and Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM) launch report on musical instruments on planes

Valerie Vaz MP and the ISM have produced a report calling for the Government to regulate the aviation industry to ensure musicians are able to travel with their instruments without fear of damage and prohibitive costs.

Valerie said:

“When first tackling this issue last year, we discovered numerous horror stories of the experiences faced daily by musicians when travelling. This has resulted in heartbreak, emotional distress and crippling costs for thousands of musicians as instruments have been damaged or musicians stopped from travelling; and all this, despite the fact that it is not a legal requirement to limit hand baggage to only one item per person.

“The ISM and I have produced this report on the policies and behaviour of airlines in the UK to our musicians.

“In the report, we are calling for the Government to regulate the civil aviation industry to ensure a consistent hand baggage policy across all airlines and bring the UK in line with our closest economic competitor in music – the US.

“The US recently passed the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 which included specific guidelines for carry-on instruments, enabling large and small instruments to be carried into the cabin if it is safe to do so and if there is space for it.”

“At the same time we are asking airlines to take a long hard look at their policies and ask themselves whether they are being fair to musicians, and whether their profits are being hit by harmful policies.”

You can read the report, ‘Instruments on Planes’, here.