Here we have just the latest tale of disaster involving unsuspecting musicians and airlines, but this time it isn’t a story of Jetstar losing Tash Sultana’s gear immediately before her European tour, or a singer-songwriter opening his guitar case only to find a pile of tanbark.
No, this time it’s an increase in fees that’s hitting musos where it hurts, with Jetstar having introduced a new $25 ‘oversized item’ fee recently that is already putting the squeeze on bands with pieces of gear over a metre in length.
As Music Feeds reports, drummer Tom Brockman, who plays in metal band Taberah, has lashed out at the airline, pointing out that the charges have added $150 of additional costs to every return flight they take, chewing significantly into already tight performance fees.
“Just wondering if you can justify the new ‘Oversize baggage handling fee’ that has just appeared out of no where and has totally fucked travelling musicians?” he wrote on Jetstar’s Facebook page, labeling the move a “cash grab”, and the post gained a significant amount of attention from similarly disgruntled musos.
In a response given to Music Feeds, a spokesperson for the airline explained their reasoning for the additional charges, pointing out that the fee impacts everything from guitars to golf clubs.
“We have introduced a fee to cover the additional manual handling required for sporting equipment and musical instruments over one metre in length compared to standard bags,” they stated.
“Until now we have absorbed the cost of having extra staff and equipment to handle bikes, golf clubs, guitars and other oversized items. We know that extra fees and charges aren’t popular, but charging for optional extras helps us to offer the lowest fares possible every day.”
Other posts on the Jetstar page accuse the airline of price gouging, and threaten to take business to competitors like Virgin, who offer relaxed baggage allowances for any performer registered with APRA AMCOS, while AMIN (Music Vic, Music NSW, Music SA etc.) also provide discounts through Virgin and QANTAS.
We get it – flying planes through the skies isn’t cheap, and airlines regularly take a loss at the lower end of the scale, making it up on the record execs and pop megastars flying first or business class. But that extra $25 for every bass guitar or keyboard will cut deep into the already-slim touring margins faced by a lot of bands, so it’ll be no surprise if they start looking elsewhere.
