The Musicians’ Union (MU) is supporting the petition launched today by the International Federation of Musicians (FIM) which calls for European action on the issue of musicians taking musical instruments on planes.
The MU has been lobbying on this issue for many years now, because musicians regularly have problems taking their instruments on planes due to inconsistent policies from airlines. In 2006 we reached an agreement with the Department for Transport which would have alleviated the problem, but some airlines continued to set their own arbitrary rules.
MU General Secretary and President of FIM John Smith says:
“It is only by working at a European and international level that we can successfully tackle this issue, and that is why today’s petition from FIM is so important. Just a few months ago we saw the U.S. Congress introduce a uniform national policy regarding musical instruments on airplanes – we need to see similar action in Europe.
“The problem is that existing law allows each airline to set their own policy regarding musical instruments – which we have seen recently with BA. We need uniformity and fairness across the whole sector.”
The link to the petition can be found on the MU website – www.theMU.org
