I did it! I flew from NYC to Minneapolis and back with my SLB300 as a carry-on in a soft case without it getting destroyed!
It actually went well enough that I plan to do it again in a month. I was headed to Minneapolis for a music festival. My band played a killer set, and I performed in an orchestral group too, which was a ton of fun. I'm so glad I was able to bring my instrument for it.
Before my trip, I went to my local foam store (bless NYC for still having specialty businesses) with the SLB and they kindly sold me quite a lot of foam, both small pieces to surround different portions of the bass, and longer pieces to wrap around the whole thing. I padded the bass very well with foam covering all sensitive areas, and my clothes shoved in the spaces, so there was no room for it to shift and it had a real cushion. I also put an Airtag in the case and wrote up a guide for myself for what to do if the bass had to be gate-checked (pull out the batteries, remove my bow from the case and hold it, and ensure foam is in the right positions).
On the way there, the attendant checking boarding passes at the entrance to the pre-check line told me the case was too big and needed to be checked, but I told her "no, it isn't" and kept walking and it was fine. TSA gave me no problems at all. I asked them to hand-screen the bass and they looked at me like I was nuts and said "put it on the belt". They flagged my backpack because of my music stand, but the bass went through on the conveyer belts with no issues either way.
I was flying United to Minneapolis on an
Link Removed which is quite a small plane. I checked in with the gate agents ahead of time and they were very nice. They said it would likely need to be checked and gave me a tag at the gate but let me carry it on to try. If it did need to be gate-checked, on the ERJ-175 they do a "valet check" for all gate-checked bags, meaning they give you the bags on the jetway, so the bass wouldn't be traveling on the conveyer belts and would likely be ok, so I wasn't too worried either way.
I asked the flight attendants when I boarded if I could put it in the coat closet, but they said it wouldn't fit (the door to the closet was open and I agree, there's no way it would've fit). But miraculously, a few (not all) of the overhead bins on the plane were long enough for the bass and there was plenty of space for it!
My only mistake was not closing the bin after putting the bass in, as I then had to nervously watch to see if other passengers would try to shove their stuff in on top of it. Someone did, but it was a couple coats, so it just gave the bass extra padding.
On the way back, I had much more trouble. I was flying Delta, and originally scheduled to fly on an Airbus A220-100, which is a larger plane than the ERJ-175 so figured I wouldn't have issues. I went to go check in with the gate agents, and that's where the trouble started. They were extremely rude and told me that my bass was too large and would have to be gate checked. The flight was delayed, so the plane wasn't even at the gate yet—I told them I wanted to at least try carrying it on to see if it would fit, which is well in-line with both Delta and the DOT's regulations around musical instruments. The instrument doesn't need to be gate checked if there's space!
But, they flat-out refused, and told me they also couldn't give me a valet check tag, which means I'd get it back on the jetway on the other side and spare the bass a trip through the conveyers, as it wasn't a stroller or mobility aid. This is also BS
They can give valet checks to any item they want. I know everything on the internet says the number one rule for flying with instruments is to stay calm, but unfortunately, I started to lose my cool. As I was really getting into the argument, the screens updated showing that our flight was delayed from one hour...to five hours. At that point, I was luckily able to use the Delta app to rebook myself onto another flight for free.
The gate agent at the new flight was much nicer thankfully. I didn't talk to her ahead of time, but when I boarded, she gave me a valet check tag and said "just in case it doesn't fit". Aaaand...it didn't, because the plane had these stupid bins. (not my photo)
The flight attendants were also very nice and tried hard to make it fit in the closet but it didn't, they said it was too long by an inch or two. I prepped the bass for gate checking, and loosened the strings a tiny bit too, though mostly to make the knobs lie flat in the case so they could be more padded. Thankfully, the bass was waiting safe for me on the jetway in NYC!
I did a lot of research before my trip on hard case options and determined that they don't make sense for my situation. I don't have anywhere to store a hard case in my apartment (storing an acoustic and electric upright is already one bass too many), I'd have to pay an exorbitant amount of money for taxis to and from the airport because a hard case would be too heavy for public transit, and I'd have to pay additional fees each time to check it.
This post and the idea of the potential replacement cost being amortized over the number of flights where I don't have to pay for the associated hard case costs really resonated with me and locked me into this idea. I'm very glad it went well, and fingers crossed for my next flight with this—headed to West Coast in May for 5 (!!) performances with my band.
