Flying...cut bell or buy case?

[pompatus]

I've got a tour coming up in the spring that will require a decent amount of time on airplanes. I'll be playing a straight, non-F attachment, Bach 36. I've got a spare bell that would be a good candidate for turning into a screw-bell, but I'm trying to decide which would be the better option for flying.

• -Should I buy a good sized case for flying?
  -I've only got the boxy old Bach cases for it right now.
  -What recommendations would you guys have?
  -Something I could alternatively put a Bach 42T in, when needed, would be great.

• -Should I cut the bell, and buy a screw-bell case?

I've got a budget of around $600 for case alone, not including potential parts and work.

Thank you, all, for your opinions.

Happy holidays!

[JLivi]

I'm in a similar situation, minus having a tour booked

I've successfully flown with a Marcus Bonna tenor trombone case and a BAM Softpack jazz case. Both have been successful getting into the overhead compartments on bigger flights. I've had to check them a couple of times and haven't had any issues, until United broke my BAM case. They ended up replacing it after a 6 month battle. They told me the case depreciated in value and wanted to replace the BAM with a SKB case. I wasn't having any of that.

Anyway, the only time I've had issues were on the small regional flights.

Chicago > Columbus
Chicago > Omaha
etc...

So if you have a lot of small regional flights I would possible look into the screw bell conversion.

Something worth noting is that I have a friend that flies exclusively Southwest and has ZERO issues with his Eastman case. And he probably is on 200+ flights a year. So I guess the airline you are flying matters too?

[sirisobhakya]

Buy good, sturdy hard case, and do what Mr. Douglas Yeo said in this link: http://www.yeodoug.com/resources/faq/fa ... ravel.html

I have done it many times, and no damage whatsoever. The flights were full-service from Japan to Thailand, for reference.