guitars on planes

or is that a sort of space surf board?
who posted this thing first? was it Lats? or Playa? whoever it was, I demand that you tell me if he's flying his guitar, or on a space surf board or what the hell is going on...

i must admit, thats quite a nice looking washburn,,,

Yeah... she flew in from Florida to Texas and they guaranteed it would fly with her. So.... they lost it! Yeah... they delivered it like at 3:30 am in the morning. She never had a problem carrying it on the plane as of last AUG. '06. They said airlines changed the rules. Whatcha gonna do? I wouldn't travel with anything but a hard case shell... period.

well there isn't much i can do...but call them up and ask...i dun wanna carry it all the way there and they tell to my face i'd have to check it in...i reckon when i touchdown it will be in pieces... and i dont really trust this airline with baggage handling...geez... id be happy if it ever reaches to me even in pieces... hopefully someone doesnt steal the whole thing...

well, take a mate with you to the airport, go to the check in counter, and if they want you to check your guitar, just give it to your friend and have them keep it while you are away...from what I gather, you will be going back in a few weeks...I'd rather have no guitar for a few weeks than a broken one with me.

well, take a mate with you to the airport, go to the check in counter, and if they want you to check your guitar, just give it to your friend and have them keep it while you are away...from what I gather, you will be going back in a few weeks...I'd rather have no guitar for a few weeks than a broken one with me.

Thought I'd like to update this thread as I have just travelled with a brand new guitar from US to Middle East.

I bought a Fender Strat in Savannah Georgia and flew by 3 different air routes to Muscat Oman

After scouring the net for advice I decided to keep this baby in its hard shell case rather than trust the gig bag.

Leg 1: Savanna to Wash DC: US Airlines - this was a small plane which has no room in the overheads. I had to put it through checked baggage. (For anyone who doesn't know - you carry it like hand luggage but you have to hand it over at the plane, they tag it, put it in the hold and you get it back at the destination). Well it was not ideal but it was the only solution and it survived.

Leg 2: DC to London LHR: BA-747 - no problem. Carried it on board. FLight attendant said it was too big for the bins so she took it and put it in a wardrobe.

Leg 3: LHR to Muscat vis Abu Dhabi- BA - 777 - no problem. Same deal as aboove it went in the wardrobe.

Everything arrived AOK and nobody said anything about the size (larger than the current hand-luggage specs)'

I found the aircrews very helpful and they really looked after it when they needed to.

Interestingly on the same DC to LHR flight I met up with a guy who had a bass in a gig-bag! He told me he never had a problem travelling with it like that.

OK maybe we were lucky but I would definitely do it again if I had to.
Good luck to others

Cheers
Craptone

awesome tip braah! will keep that in mind fom now on..thanks!

Sheesh

I forgot to mention above that I did phone each of the airlines 24 hours before. US airlines simply quoted the party line regarding normal hand luggage which kinda put me off but when I got to check-in it was no problemo.

BA gave me an "Oh really...." (as in "that's interesting!") and as if to confirm this, at check in and at all gates they were totally ho-hum about everything.

Anyway, good lugging wherever you may go.

Craptone

Regarding some of those (much) earlier posts about detuning, from what I understand this mostly applies to when your guitar has to ride in the rear baggage compartment, which is generally unpressurized or temperature controlled. Thus, it's the drastic drops and rises of both that might wreak havoc on wood under tension of steel strings. So anywhere in the passenger cabin should be ok.

No experience with carry on, but I would recommend that is the way to go. I just took a band trip (MA-CA), in which our jazz band, chorus, and orchestra went as well (big trip). Key point of the trip....one gibson les paul ($900), snapped headstock, trombone ($2,000), bell completely dented, basically stomped on, and a sax case that was trashed. Hopefully carry on can be used so things like this don't happen. Or else, make sure you have your luggage insured. Either way, you gotta be careful.

i've taken my electric onboard a few times. you can store it up front in an upright locker. people put coats and **** in there.

I just got my new copy of Taylors quarterly publication called Wood And Steel ( a freebie for buying a new Taylor) and it has a very in depth article about taking your guitar on airline flights. They have info on what to print out and take with you to show the flight attendants about the rules of taking a guitar on as a carry on. Etc Etc Etc. If you want I can scan the article and email it to you. Just let me know.

I just flew back from Arizona to Maryland yesterday...took my electric straight to the gate and they do the "gate vallet" basically the same thing they do with baby strollers and car seats and such. It came off the plane in tune just as it went on (without detuning the strings at all prior to flying). So take it as a carry-on item and have them check it at the gate.