Traveling With An Accordion

Over the last few years I've occasionally traveled to different states and brought my accordion for one reason or another. The first time it was because I was still new to the instrument and didn't want to go two whole weeks without practice. Lately it's been to play for people I've been visiting. Eventually I'd love to go to an accordion festival and hang out with other accordionists.

But of course the big question is... how does one travel with an accordion?

Tip #1: Don't Travel With An Accordion

If you can avoid it, simply don't! It's so much better to not travel with an accordion! These things are heavy! Your back will thank you! Think of all the souvenirs you can bring back when you're not also carrying an accordion with you!

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Or are you still interested? I guess if you're really persistent, we can carry on with the real travel tips.

Tip #2: Do Anything But Fly If You Can

In the United States, if you can tolerate driving to your destination, do that instead of flying. Hell, take an Amtrak if that's an option. Flying with an accordion is a horrible experience and you'll be able to avoid that completely by relying on grounded transport instead.

Tip #3: Okay Fine, Here Are My Tips On Flying With An Accordion

Alright, sometimes you just can't drive across the entire United States or an entire ocean, or you'd like to get to your destination within the same day instead of taking a multi-day road trip. I get it. So here's how to fly with an accordion:

• Get a gig bag for your accordion. This should be a smaller and softer case for the accordion rather than a bulky rectangular hard case. You'll need this because usually hard cases, especially for 120-bass accordions, will not fit in a plane's overhead bin.
• Bring your accordion as a carry-on bag, do not check it! Have you ever seen how airline crews treat checked bags? Yeah, you don't want this happening to your beloved musical instrument. Unless you have a super padded case that you're comfortable chucking down a flight of stairs, it's definitely safer to bring your accordion as a carry-on rather than as a checked bag. Check with your airline to see if they have a musical instrument policy, most allow instruments as carry-ons.
• Consider paying for earlier boarding. Ideally your accordion is stowed safely in an overhead bin, but if you're last to board they might run out of space and need to gate-check your accordion. This probably isn't as bad as having your accordion go through the whole checked luggage process, but I'm still afraid to risk it. I've just always paid for priority boarding so I can guarantee an overhead spot for my accordion. It's annoying that I have to do this, but I'm the one who chose to fly with a bulky and delicate musical instrument, so it's a small price I have to pay. I know some musicians pay for a whole separate seat for their musical instrument (mainly those with longer instruments like guitar, bass, cello, etc) so at least priority boarding is cheaper than that?

It might seem wild to bring a whole full-sized accordion as a carry-on bag, but actually with the smaller profile of a gig bag it's about the size of a standard carry-on suitcase; maybe even a bit smaller. It sure can be heavy though. The worst part about flying with an accordion is just lugging the thing around airports. Accordions are heavy and they're even heavier when you're lugging them around instead of wearing them as intended. It's always such an unpleasant part of the experience.

If the specific flight you're on has cheap upgrades, consider paying for one. I've occasionally stumbled upon a great deal for a first class upgrade and it makes flying with an accordion so much easier. This probably doesn't work for international flights though....

Tip #4: Have A 120 Bass Accordion? Get A Smaller One!

My final tip is to get a smaller accordion if you intend to travel with your instrument often. Full-sized 120 bass accordions are super heavy, bulky, and uncomfortable to travel with. Even when you're just driving they still take up a lot of space. If you can find yourself a 48 bass or even 72 bass accordion, that makes traveling a whole order of magnitude easier.

The difference in experiences I've had traveling with my 72-bass Bébé Medusa accordion compared to my 120-bass piano accordion is gigantic. While I haven't traveled with it, I'd expect traveling with my digital accordion would also be more pleasant, because despite the fact that it also has 120 bass buttons, it mainly just has computer chips inside of it instead of a complex mechanism of reeds which means it's significantly lighter.

Of course, buying a whole new accordion just for travel isn't exactly the easiest thing to do, but still, I recommend checking out local craigslist listings to see if a good deal ever comes up on a smaller accordion. It might just save you a lot of travel stress!