From the Road → America West Alert
I have owned and traveled with bass trunks for almost fifteen years and have logged over 3/4 million miles.
This May I was en route to the Topeka Jazz Festival, stepped up to the America West ticket counter at Burbank Airport and was flatly refused to be allowed to check my bass trunk. I have been flying with America West for years and this was a first for them or any other airline. The supervisor insisted that there was a rule change regarding the length allowable for oversize baggage. The new length allowed is 80 inches. The 3/4 size Gage trunk is 84 inches. The festival was forced to buy a seat on the plane at the last minute and my trunk spent the weekend in the Burbank baggage office.
Memorial Day weekend is not a good time to ask people to give up seats on overbooked flights. The flight attendants weren’t too happy about my bass’s neck blocking the oxygen masks of the row behind the bulkhead so those people were bumped. They wound up putting me in first class for 3 of the 4 flight
segments. It cost the airline a fortune. The topper was while in Phoenix on the return leg I was able to ask the
senior baggage handler at their hub about this new rule and he had never heard of it.
I’ve canceled all remaining flights on America West through the summer and don’t plan on flying with them again. I have an Elite level frequent flier card with them but it didn’t matter. Their only response from upper management was that the rule has always been there, it’s just that no one has enforced it. ( For hundreds of flight segments???) Before and after 9/11 I’ve flown on almost a weekly basis. America West seemed to like having me around when their planes were empty. Now the tune has changed. It seems odd that a major airline would make things hard for the music trade, especially in Los Angeles. Already Doc Severinsen has switched to other carriers, meaning the loss of hundreds of tickets on America West for the rest of the year. All over 4″!!!
I encourage all musicians, especially bassists to avoid America West until they change their tune.
Jennifer Leitham
June 1, 2002
