Claire, this subject has driven me up the wall over the years, both sides of 9/11. I travel with a 72 bass piano accordion in a soft rucksack bag, so it easily goes in the overhead bins. I am talking about flying in the UK and Europe, although I did bring a fiddle to the States and did some domestic flights post 9/11 (where the only problem was a mountainous black security man insisting I gave him a tune on it!), but the rules seem pretty universal.

What I do is this. If I'm travelling alone, I leave my instrument in the car and check my bags in at the desk. If I'm travelling with friends, I leave the instrument with them, and check in. I then retrieve the instrument and go through security. I am never challenged going through security checks, as they are only bothered about X-Raying everything, and then when I get on the plane, it is too late for the cabin staff to get arsy about the instrument, and they always assume the check-in desk allowed the instrument through and are more interested in getting bums on seats and everything stowed.

I have never been challenged in this way before, and have even got hard guitar cases into overhead lockers. It is always good to get on early though, before all the space has gone, especially if you have a couple each.

Good luck, and let us know how you got on after.

Greg