Hello, has anyone ever travelled to the U.S. with his/her instrument? Are there any restrictions/special custom rules?
Thank you for your advice.
k_f

i am traveling to the U.S in november on the 4th. i dont think there are any resrictions. i really want to take my flute. i know you can`t take it to certain places. i am pretty sure you can though. whats your email address. this way we can keep in touch about this. thank you for talking, bye.

I never went over seas with my flute or Bells to a other country on a airplane But I think if you go on a airplane you have to take your cleaning rod out cuz they might think that you are going to try to kill someone, but who knows.

I`m from the U.S. and I`ve never been overseas but, you should expect to go through extra checking and call your travel agent. Whenever I travel with my flute here I always go through the run around when I go through the metal detectors. I think it looks like a weapon or something.

will it definately pick up my flute when i go through the metal detectors. what if its in my bag when the bags go in the metal detectors on the conveir belt thing in the machine. would they take my flute away from me if they found it.

they would be happy for you to take your flute with you if it was in your suitcase and not the bag you take on the plane.

They can`t take your flute away from you because it`s perfectly legal to carry it. Let it go through the metal detectors and if they wish to open the bag, just explain that it`s an instrument which is too fragile to go in the hold. People do it all the time, I wouldn`t worry. Under no circumstances would I let them put it in the hold. I`ve seen the way those bags get tossed through the air, it`s not going to be good for your flute.

If the inspector demands to examine it personally you can request the manager. You can hold your flute in all angles yourself for them to inspect.

if your flute is in a hard case and in your suitcase it shouldnt get that damaged. i mean you could just argue and say that if they bought something that cost a lot of money and they didnt want it to get it to get wrecked what would they want to do. but thats a lot of trouble i mean if they just say you can take it when you say you dont want it to get wrecked then thats fine but if not i say you should just put it in your suitcase. sorry about the long message.

To be honest, I don`t see why there would be ANY problem. The security guards are experienced people. Hundreds of people a day fly with instruments and it`s hardly likely that they all have them confiscated at the border. If it doesn`t look like a bomb they probably won`t care.

While it is true that people travel with instruments all the time, that does not mean that the security check people know how to properly handle an instrument.

There is no problem traveling with a flute. However, the security people may still want to take a look at it to make certain there is nothing hidden inside.

This is where the trouble comes in. They may not realize you can`t pry up the keys to look inside, or that if you grasp around the mechanism too firmly you can damage or misalign the instrument.

In many countries the security people are poorly trained minimum wage earners. They work in an assembly line manner and delicacy is not one of their strong points.

If they want to check it you must emphasize to them the delicate nature of the instrument and how not to hold it.

I like the idea of insisting the manager do the inspection. Then you have someone in authority to hold directly responsible for any damage that may occur.

I was a member of the first symphony orchestra to visit Fiji.

The customs officials were very confused about all this stuff they had never seen before, even the music stands. Judging from their demeanour, they seemed to be thinking the instruments and stands were some form of weapon.

Eventually the situation seemed to be in the too-hard basket, and they let us through. Hehe!

Thank you all: you`ve scared me pretty much; but at least I`m lucky to have a plastic rod!

there is no problem whatsoever with taking a flute to the us...it can be brought as handluggage too which is better than being inthe cargo hold

I recently travelled to Japan and the UK with a school music group. I took a flute, violin and clarinet in the cabin and it was ok. We also had others that took saxophones and trumpets in the cabin with no problems. I don`t know if going to the US would be too much different.