Special airline fee for musical instruments hits the wrong note

Musicians across the country are seeing red over what they have termed a lsquoridiculousrsquo new rule which forces them to cough up Rs 1000 for every musical instrument they carry on board a domestic flight The diktat which came into effect after DGCA approval earlier this month had already been enforced by some airlines last year The payment is mandatory and over and above any extra payment that may have to be made for the weight of the instruments Sound and fury An online petition against the rule led by tabla player Anuradha Pal has garnered about 1300 supporters so far PicRane Ashish At the forefront of the battle is Juhubased tabla player Anuradha Pal who is leading an online petition against the rule Palrsquos campaign has garnered about 1300 supporters so far Pal plans to take the petition to the Ministry of Civil Aviation once the campaign gathers enough steam lsquoWe musicians are ambassadors of Indian culture across the world Rather than being supportive airlines are exploiting us charging for musical instruments when they are well within weight and dimension limits prescribed by the airlines themselvesrsquo the petition states Speaking to MiD DAY Pal added ldquoOur government keeps finding new ways to tax us its citizens I have flown all over the world but never faced such a rulerdquo Pal is not alone Many other musicians have added weight to her cause and shown support including Uday Benegal of Indus Creed Speaking to MiD DAY Benegal said ldquoThe discrimination is disturbing and ad hoc This might sound harsh but it sounds like a scam The charge is supposed to be for lsquospecial handlingrsquo I asked the airline whether that meant they would be liable if the instruments were damaged They said no Musicians have it hard enough in this country to begin with The rule is sure to affect the growth of the industryrdquo A YouTube video posted by Raghu Dixit shows his band members arguing with airline staff over a set of 20 flutes to be checked in The link to the video It all started with a YouTube video posted by singersongwriter Raghu Dixit in November last year The video shows Dixit and his band members arguing with airline staff over a set of 20 flutes to be checked in A heated argument ensues and the airline staffer says ldquoThe rule is in effect from October 1 Whether you like it or not unfortunately you have to pay for itrdquo He is later seen asking Dixit ldquoAre you going to pay for it or not because your flight is already boardingrdquo A frustrated Dixit replies ldquoWell my ticket is less than what Irsquod pay for the flutes sohelliprdquo Dixit and his band had to cough up Rs 4000 for four instruments including the case of 20 flutes before they could board their flight Uday Benegal of Indus Creed has also spoken out against the move A spokesman representing Dixit said ldquoWhat we want is that airlines treat musical instruments the same way they would treat any other fragile piece of luggage We have no problem if they charge us extra because an instrument is over the weight or size limit But overcharging simply because it is an instrument is unfairrdquo Weighed down The new regulations also mean that the ceiling for free checkin baggage has been reduced to 15 kg This means musicians inevitably burdened with heavy instruments in addition to their luggage have to shell out up to Rs 250 for every additional kilo they wish to take onto the flight Palrsquos petition mentions lsquoThis means that I now have to pay at least Rs 5000 per flight for my tablas to be checked in ndash Rs 10000 for a round trip this without even considering my personal belongings With the current state of the economy musicians are already suffering with regard to payments Between slashed budgets for cultural events and such blatant exploitation by the airlines how exactly are artists supposed to survive in such an environmentrsquo Guitarist Ravi Iyer said ldquoThe rule is ridiculous I usually carry my guitars in a hard case If the instrument is light or delicate I take it with me as hand baggage The new rule forces me to checkin all musical instruments Recently an airline attempted to charge me Rs 1000 for a pedalboard but when I put up a fight they only charged me for my guitarrdquo The DirectorGeneral of Civil Aviation Arun Mishra remained unavailable for comment u00a0The link to Anuradha Pal39s petition Unbundling of fares Late last month the Ministry of Civil Aviation allowed unbundling of services to bring down cost of travel for passengers who do not need additional services Seven such services were allowed to be unbundled The charges of most of these services including checkin baggage preferred seats carriage of sports equipment musical instruments and items of value were earlier included in the base fare of airlines Some airlines have also reduced free baggage allowance from 20 to 15 kg u00a0