Taking a guitar on a airplane?

[dem00n]

Any advice?

[jimmiJAMM]

Wrap it in bubble wrap, seal it in an Egyptian sarcophagus and have a team of archeologists wheel it onto the plane.

[Thundergod]

Dem00n I was gonna post the same thread, but at MLP , then I thought this would be a better place to ask such a thing because there are less members and less posts daily so it wouldn't get lost as quick. I think Daveinspain is the guy to talk to, he travels a lot between the states and spain and from the looks of it he always gets a new guitar

[duane v]

Any advice?

 

Make sure you are not flying on a MD80 type aircraft.... Not enough overhead space.

Take it as a carry on

Make sure you put it in a gig bag

Loosen the strings.

Ask the ticketing agent to put you in Group1, so that you have first shot at the overhead compartments.

Once you get the guitar stowed, make sure other passengers do not lay thier luggage on your guitar.

 

Ask the flight attendant if they can stow your instrument in thier vertical compartments. In most cases if you don't act like a hammerhead, they will be more than happy to acquiesce, especially if you fly first class.

[ShredAstaire]

Somehow i don't think dem00n is flying first class!

[duane v]

Somehow i don't think dem00n is flying first class!

 

......

[deepblue]

I took my guitar on a plane once, she enjoyed it so much that were off to the zoo tomorrow.

[Riverside]

Take your Strat, unbolt the neck, and put the pieces in your bag.

[DeVeeWee]

One month ago this topic was discussed, and this is what I can recommend, from a pro who never ever leaves his guitar alone on a plane, just read the stuff and you'll be amazed!

 

http://www.acguitar.com/article/default.aspx?articleid=25801

[Artie Owl]

This?

[dem00n]

Thanks guys.

My family keeps telling me it wont fit in the above compartment. :-

[pohatu771]

Thanks guys.

My family keeps telling me it wont fit in the above compartment. :-

That all depends on the plane. I've been in some that would fit, some that wouldn't. If it's that essential, buy it another seat.

[DAS44]

I think a 300 dollar investment in a cmall travel guitar outweigs losing a more expensive one. Maybe get a small acoustic.

 

If not, what's already here is good advice.

[Tim Plains]

I should read that link DeVeeWee provided before posting but...get your flight number and call the airline; see if you can walk on the plane with it. I'm bringing a guitar back from NYC and I called my airline - they said a guitar case is something I could take onto the plane as long as it was less than (I think) 46" long.

[pohatu771]

There's a company that makes foldable acoustic guitars... I was going to buy one over the winter, and then never did. Then I found my J-45 and went that route. There were $600 models and $1500 models, if I remember correctly.

 

[EDIT] Here's one model... though I'm not sure why they chose to use an example with a cracked heel as the photo model.

 

Voyage-Air Songwriter

[daveinspain]

I have traveled with guitars on planes more than a dozen times with no problem at all. I have always traveled with the guitars original Gibson hard shell case. The Gibson hard shell case fits in most overhead bins and on those planes where it doesn't the flight attendants have always stowed it in the closet for me. Even if I am flying coach my guitars have traveled in the first or business class closet. There was only one time they made me put the guitar in the belly of the plane before boarding. They told me when we arrive at our destination they would bring my guitar to me before exiting the plane. I had to wait in that little round area between the door of the plane and the gate tunnel thing. When they brought me the guitar the case a a huge gash on the top of the case....:- I opened the case right there to see if the guitar was damaged, luckily it wasn't. I was pissed they damaged the case though and if I wanted to complain I would have missed my connecting flight. I just bit my lower lip and went on my way. That ordeal happened on a small connecting flight and it was a tiny plane...

 

Carry your guitar with you... It will most likely fit, even in it's original hard shell case....

[Robin Nahum]

One month ago this topic was discussed' date=' and this is what I can recommend, from a pro who never ever leaves his guitar alone on a plane, just read the stuff and you'll be amazed!

 

http://www.acguitar.com/article/default.aspx?articleid=25801 [/quote']

 

Oh wow! Chris Smither is one of my favourite singer/songwriters and a regular visitor.

 

He doesn't have good news in his article though.

 

For a while there, I was taking my Les Paul Special HB as carry-on in a gig bag.

 

And then the local mean-spirited budget airlines (no Southwest culture here - more the EasyJet/RyanAir misanthropic business model) came over all strange and took the view that a guitar could be used to bludgeon passengers and that this had actually happened in America. So the guitar had to be checked in - at a cost of course. Where do they get this stuff?

 

So I bought a nice flight case and now Chris reports that these are what auditors call a "portable attractive item".

 

Harmonica?

 

RN

[flyingarmadillo]

There is an agreement between the musicians union and the TSA that allows guitars as carry on luggage here in the States, however the airlines can still disallow it because of the size. They can't not let you take it because of the security risk, because there is none according to the TSA.

[milod]

... Pardon my cynicism but one reason I'm rather glad my heavy travel days are gone is because of the outlook of "security" folks in airports. Rules are irrelevant if some petty bureaucrat says "X" and you don't dare complain because you can't miss the flight.

 

Camera equipment is kinda the same as guitars. Well before 9-11 I had a portable studio light rig I paid a full passenger seat ticket for, from the airline, and ran into "you don't really wanna know" when I tried to board. I won, but just barely.

 

I could tell more tales like the intentional overexposure of film to Xray machines, etc....

 

What may work at one airport with one crew today may not work tomorrow with another crew. That's anywhere and everywhere I've traveled, anyway - and that's well beyond the USA.

 

Europe, South America, Asia... the "rules" seem the same that you never can tell if you get through with pro-level "working" stuff or not. I'll admit I've never had the courage to visit Canada although I have more than a few friends who live there and some who've played a lotta gigs there.

 

m

[saturn]

Unfortunately, there's no clear cut answer.

 

Each aircraft type has a different cabin configuration. Some overhead compartments will easily accomadate a guitar, while others will not. Unless the carrier flies only one aircraft type, they can't always guarantee what kind of plane will be flying your route. Plus, there is the fact that one guitar case takes up the space that could fit 2 or 3 other passenger's carry-on bags, which isn't fair to those other passengers who now have to check thier bags because of someone else's guitar.

 

Sometimes the "closet" contains emergency equipment, so the crew can't put anything in there that might

interfere.

 

You also have to hope you get a gate agent or crew member willing to work with you.

[dem00n]

Unfortunately' date=' there's no clear cut answer.

 

Each aircraft type has a different cabin configuration. Some overhead compartments will easily accomadate a guitar, while others will not. Unless the carrier flies only one aircraft type, they can't always guarantee what kind of plane will be flying your route. Plus, there is the fact that one guitar case takes up the space that could fit 2 or 3 other passenger's carry-on bags, which isn't fair to those other passengers who now have to check thier bags because of someone else's guitar.

 

Sometimes the "closet" contains emergency equipment, so the crew can't put anything in there that might

interfere.

 

You also have to hope you get a gate agent or crew member willing to work with you. [/quote']

Man now you make me scared of taking it.

Its a 7 hour trip...so...hmm...

[pohatu771]

Man now you make me scared of taking it.

Its a 7 hour trip...so...hmm...

Which is why I don't bring a guitar unless it's necessary.

 

I played a show last summer with a borrowed guitar, because flights to New York from Rochester are small planes and I assumed there wouldn't be room for my own. I was lucky enough to be staying with a friend whose guitars I was familiar with.

 

If you're not going to be performing with the guitar, you don't really need it. A week off of practicing won't kill you.

[dem00n]

Which is why I don't bring a guitar unless it's necessary.

 

I played a show last summer with a borrowed guitar' date=' because flights to New York from Rochester are small planes and I assumed there wouldn't be room for my own. I was lucky enough to be staying with a friend whose guitars I was familiar with.

 

If you're not going to be performing with the guitar, you don't really need it. A week off of practicing won't kill you.[/quote']

Two weeks.

And im going to be bored there, all my parents do is go to the beach.

Oh fun!

[DAS44]

Where the hell are you going?

[dem00n]

Where the hell are you going?

Grecce