Musicians get a cheap ride

Thu 8th Sep, 2011 in Local News

Musicians have long been dealt a rough deal when flying in Australia, paying excessive additional baggage costs to lug around their gear. However, a deal made between The Australian Music Network (AMIN) and Virgin Australia may have changed all this.

The deal made exclusively with the music industry includes baggage allowance of 32kg (across three pieces of checked baggage) for individual artists – with an additional 32kg able to be purchased in advance for just $15. Bands will also now be able to ‘pool’ their baggage allowance across their travelling group.

The announcement was made by Virgin Australia at the BIGSOUND conference in Brisbane yesterday, where Director of AMIN Denise Folley commented, “Dealing with high and inconsistent excess baggage charges has been a burning issue across the music industry for many years…The impact of this new deal for artists will be significant and ongoing.”

The deal offered by Virgin Australia will be made available only to members of music industry organisations that elect to partner with the airline – the complete list of organisations will be announced over the coming weeks at www.amin.org.au.