About CabinClef

Airlines count on musicians not knowing the rules. We do.

CabinClef is a guide for musicians flying with a violin, viola, cello, guitar or small wind instrument. It shows whether your instrument can fly in the cabin on 41 airlines, gives you a gate card to show staff the airline's own policy, and if they still say no, writes your complaint to the airline and the regulator. You can add the incident to a public record, so one refusal becomes a pattern that unions, regulators and journalists can act on.

Where the answers come from

• Every answer comes from the airline's own published policy, linked on each airline's page, with the date it was last checked. The current data was checked 10 Nov 2026.
• Airlines change their rules. If an airline's rules are more than 100 days old here, the page says so. The airline's own page is always the authority.
• The public record holds only fixed answers: airline, instrument, what happened, month, and a few yes-or-no details. No names and no free text. Reports are not verified.

Who made it

CabinClef was made by a professional violist who has stood at the gate with an instrument. It is published by Projekt Partitur Inc., in Ontario, Canada.

Independent

• Not affiliated with any airline, and no airline pays for anything here.
• No ads and no accounts. CabinClef earns nothing from the links it shows, and money would never change an answer.
• This is not legal advice. The letters are drafts for you to check, edit and send yourself.

Spot a mistake?

If an airline's rules have changed or something here is wrong, email hello@cabinclef.com with the airline and a link to its policy. Corrections are the most useful thing you can send.