The latest from the NY Times on flying with your violin

March 2, 2026, 2:12 PM · A case containing a violin and four bows takes up less volume and weighs less than a maximum-size "legal" carry-on full of dirty underwear. I'd say to bump the dirty underwear into the cargo hold in order to provide space for expensive and fragile instruments in the cabin.

March 2, 2026, 4:17 PM · A violist got one of my violas in the 50th International Viola Congress in Paris, she lives in Switzerland, so she got one more ticket to the old Italian Giovanni Battista Gabrielli and my viola. Even having a ticket for the viola the Lufthansa prohibited her to enter in the plane with two viola cases. My violas was sent to the cargo and suffered a bit.
When you are not allowed to enter with your instrument, take it out of the case, dispatch the case and travel with your instrument with you. I did that in Germany many years ago.

March 2, 2026, 4:26 PM · ...and to think, Luis, that Lufthansa has its own orchestra.

https://youtu.be/RPVR6T-syPE?si=3TBzHcM9r9v8pRYm

March 2, 2026, 4:51 PM · This is good cause for enclosing the expensive violas in a cloth bag before it placed in the case. Then one isn’t carrying a naked viola.