Not everyone can afford extra seat: Musicians voice concern over Air India baggage rule

'Earlier we were allowed to carry a guitar on board. Now they have stopped this and are asking musicians to pay for an extra seat for the guitar. This is ridiculous,' said Zubin Balaporia, keyboardist of Indus Creed band, in a Facebook post about Air India's new policy.

New Delhi: The enforcement of a rule by Air India that restricts carrying large musical instruments as cabin luggage has Indian artistes concerned who flagged the larger issue of baggage mishandling that allegedly ails all airlines across the board.

Days after Zubin Balaporia, keyboardist of Indus Creed band, took to Facebook against Air India's “extremely discriminating policy," other musicians have also shared their concerns about the way musical instruments are handled by airlines, resulting in damaged or lost luggage at times.

“Earlier we were allowed to carry a guitar on board. Now they have stopped this and are asking musicians to pay for an extra seat for the guitar. This is ridiculous. Vistara used to allow guitars on board and IndiGo still does. Come on Air India - TATA Group. Why have such a mercenary attitude. Surely you help in promoting the arts. Have a heart and regain your soul," Balaporia wrote on the social media platform.

Meanwhile, a statement by Air India to PTI clarified that the airline has not changed its policies on carriage of items, including musical instruments inside the cabin conforming to the stipulated dimensions.

It added that small musical instruments, "which adhere to the specified dimensions, and which are not likely to inconvenience other passengers or create any safety hazard during turbulence, are allowed to be carried onboard free of charge”.

“Any musical instrument, which exceeds the specified dimensions, is allowed to be carried in the cabin but only by booking an additional adjacent seat. Large, bulky or odd-sized musical instruments are to be carried as checked-in baggage only,” it said.

The situation is not new, according to percussionist V Selvaganesh, who said that such rules “are not good for musicians”.

“Imagine there are smaller bands, they can't afford buying an extra seat. I think Air India used to give one seat free for Pandit Ravi Shankar so why did they change that,” Selvaganesh told PTI.

The Grammy winner added that a bigger concern is the way checked-in luggage is treated that they “cross their fingers” during journeys.

“They don’t care even if you put fragile stickers. They just throw it. So the musicians want to keep it with them. Instruments are expensive to buy,” he said.

“We always cross our fingers and hope that we find our instruments in one piece. They don’t care if it’s an instrument and should be loaded in a certain way,” the 57-year-old added.

The issue of mishandling was reported by a musician Ishwar Dwivedi on Instagram in April. He posted a video that showed Air India staffers throwing luggage into a carriage van.

“Air India, Ratan Tata, is this the way you handle fragile items,” he wrote.

In another incident dated December 2022, singer Benny Dayal took to the social media platform to flag a number of airlines for mishandling baggage.

“All Indian airlines breaking and mishandling musicians instruments,” he wrote.

Delhi-based bass guitarist Sonic Shori said that his band, The CopyCats, always “asks event managers to not book Air India”.

“Volume-wise a guitar takes the same space as big cabin luggage. Musicians are asked to check-in their luggage in hard cases, even then there is a risk of lost or damaged baggage. It happens all the time,” Shori said.

Even though the situation is more frequent with Air India, Shori added, other airlines are equally at fault.

“It depends on the staff’s mood, they will randomly tell us we can’t take the instruments onboard,” he added.

According to IndiGo's website, it allows carrying musical instruments at “no additional cost”.

“Guitars, if packed in soft cases, can be carried in hand baggage, however, other instruments have to be properly packed and can be carried in check-in baggage only,” it says.

SpiceJet also mentions in its guidelines that musical instruments are permitted in cabin baggage “only in soft cases”.

“To carry them in checked-in baggage, applicable charges may apply,” it says.

Air India, meanwhile, has a separate section on its ‘Special Baggage’ page.

“Musical instruments like full-sized guitars that are too large for cabin baggage must be checked in,” it says.

To take musical instruments as cabin seat baggage, the airline suggests booking an extra seat and “the baggage weight must not exceed 75 kg”.

Tabla player Shambhu Nath Bhattacharjee said that there have been instances when guitars, sitars and sarod placed inside hard cases broke due to mishandling.

“These instruments are worth Rs 3-4 lakh and even more. These are very delicate instruments, and if you are allowing people to carry laptops and other bags in addition to their handbags then why not this,” he asked.

“Our instruments mean more to us than our lives,” he added.

Classical vocalist Madhup Mudgal noted that people like sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar too have faced problems due to such rules.

“Till some years ago, they allowed only guitars but not Indian instruments like sitar and sarod. Now they have a problem with that too. And if they are not allowing instruments then they should make sure it is not damaged,” Mudgal told PTI.

He added that mishandling by airlines resulted in a broken sarod of Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and sitar of Shubhendra Rao.

“Artistes have a special bond with their instruments that they have used for years. When it is damaged it cannot be compensated with only money. We have a personal connection to our instruments,” Mudgal said.