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Chunk or two of stainless in hand luggage? Guessing this is a no no?
I won't have a bag or tuba in the hold, no.

Thanks for any wisdom!

I've never had an issue, I'm guessing as long as it's not ticking you should be good.but you could always ask at the desk before checking your bags.

JJ

Peach wrote:Chunk or two of stainless in hand luggage? Guessing this is a no no?
I won't have a bag or tuba in the hold, no.

Thanks for any wisdom!

The most trouble I ever had:
TSA pulled my bag off the belt, removed the mouthpiece, and asked me what it was. I said "tuba mouthpiece." One of the agents said "oh, okay." The other agent said "what?" to which the first agent replied in a snarky tone "musical instrument, man."

I doubt you'd have much trouble, unless you put little pieces of putty, batteries, wires, and a countdown clock on it.

I've flown with mouthpieces in my computer/all purpose carry around bag many times, only a couple of times intentionally. They have never elicited any comment, at least none that made its way to me.

Well, not what I expected!
Any other experiences welcomed...

"Is that for trumpet or trombone?"

Yep, flown with a mouthpiece in my laptop bag a few times in the last year with no problems or questions at all.

I have travelled quite often with mouthpieces in my carry-on. No one has ever even asked anything, except for an agent on the British side of the Eurostar train to Brussels. He just wanted to know what it was. Flying, no one has ever even cared. True that airlines have a great deal of contempt, generally, for musical instruments. John

Probably 50 flights with my mouthpiece in carry-on. I've been asked about it each and every time.

Peach wrote:Chunk or two of stainless in hand luggage? Guessing this is a no no?
I won't have a bag or tuba in the hold, no.

Thanks for any wisdom!

Never been an issue for me. I get hassled more by a credit-card-sized multi-tool in my wallet, but only because it has a blade-shaped (but blunt) piece on it. It always gets spotted on X-Ray, and then accepted immediately when handled. Camera lenses sometimes trigger an inspection. No one has ever singled out a tuba mouthpiece..

Best way to deal with TSA is to be cool and casual. Don't get stressed out if they want to search or swab your bag. If they say "no" to something, they will take it, and you can't change their mind then and there - so just don't try. My most serious loss was a set of calipers in my hand luggage (not to USA TSA - to Dutch security in AMS).

A couple of weeks ago my band had its annual Mexico trip. I took a pocket trumpet. What Mexico authorities were more concerned about was the small bottle of valve oil, which I had to demonstrate. As set forth above - stay calm, pleasant, cooperative.

iiipopes wrote:A couple of weeks ago my band had its annual Mexico trip. I took a pocket trumpet. What Mexico authorities were more concerned about was the small bottle of valve oil, which I had to demonstrate. As set forth above - stay calm, pleasant, cooperative.

Absolutely - liquids are a no-no. They will attract attention every time.

Peach, no problems a couple of weeks ago.

never had any issues with airport security with my mouthpieces. Hell, I forgot I had my trumpet mouthpiece in my bag until I saw it on the xray screen. I've had more trouble with my laptop then mouthpieces.

AndyCat wrote:Peach, no problems a couple of weeks ago.

Good news Andy as I'm also considering a trip to Hamburg (Gronitz in my case)... =)

Thanks!

Hallo Peach,

Bort is correct. As long as it doesn't look like this, you should be ok. Flown for years with mouthpieces, and never had a problem although they wanted to know what it was.

Safe travels,
TheBerlinerTuba

Yep flown more times than I can count for work and never had an issue. I always carried it in my pocket. I had one guy ask me to "play it" once. I buzzed a little tune and they all laughed and I was on my way. I've taken my blokepiece all over the world.

Always works for me, I also love traveling with kelly plastic mouthpieces because of the reduced weight.

TheBerlinerTuba wrote:Hallo Peach,

Bort is correct. As long as it doesn't look like this, you should be ok.

IMG_7890.JPG

Flown for years with mouthpieces, and never had a problem although they wanted to know what it was.

Safe travels,
TheBerlinerTuba

Haha. I'll leave all that equipment at home this time...

Thanks chaps. It's good to hear from a few European based players with their experiences. Appreciated all.

Also glad to know the world hasn't gone *completely* insane yet...

TheBerlinerTuba wrote:As long as it doesn't look like this, you should be ok.

None of mine look like that - by the way, what is that mouthpiece?