purchasing extra seats Archives

Amtrak Charging for Cellos? – by Paul Katz

Amtrak Charging for Cellos? - by Paul Katz The joys of a musical touring career continue! An Amtrak official recently stopped me from boarding a train to Boston in New York's Penn Station, telling me that I must buy a seat for my cello!" I've been traveling Amtrak for 50 years and never once have I had to pay for the cello," I protested. "I don't make the rules, and I don't know what trains you've been riding, but it's on our website, so there is no way you can get on until you get a ticket." The train was leaving in 15 minutes, so what the hell - furious and furiously, I ran to the ticket window and bought a second seat! But later I checked Amtrak's website and [...]

By Paul Katz|2024-06-24T18:09:25-04:00February 17th, 2013|Categories: Cello Travel|Tags: musical tours, Amtrak, passport, FAA, buying a second seat, service, regulations, cabins, special items, rules, cabins of aircraft, tickets, Travel, customer service, touring careers, baggage, documents, cello, train travel, purchasing extra seats, extra charges, cellobello, travel officials, travel with instruments, having the proper documents, Katz, aircraft, international customs, Paul, airport customs, Medium-Sized Musical Instrument, air travel, Amtrack Regulation|

Bumping the Cello: An Exchange Between WestJet’s Robert Barron and Paul Katz

Shortly after my "Airline Nightmare" story appeared in the Boston Globe, WestJet representative Robert Barron wrote a letter of explanation to the Globe. It is reprinted here, with my personal reactions injected. – PK Robert Barron - West Jet Customer Service Agent: First of all, I'd like to say to Mr. Katz that I'm sorry he had such an unpleasant experience flying with us. All of us at WestJet are very proud of our company and its caring culture so we take it personally when we hear people are unhappy with us. The second-last thing I would want to do is cause a guest any upset, but the very last thing I want to do is to jeopardize anyone's safety. While many airlines do permit musical instruments to fly in the cabin, [...]

By Blogmaster|2017-10-30T05:20:30-04:00September 1st, 2012|Categories: Cello Travel|Tags: size, cellobello, space, transportation, Katz, musical instruments, carry-on, Paul, flying with instruments, passenger rights, air, height restrictions, FAA, media, purchasing extra seats, FAA passenger bill of rights, news, flying with a cello, stowage, regulations, weight restrictions, safety, WestJet, weight, Travel, restrictions, cello, musicians|