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taking a guitar on an airplane


buzzn

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A friend of mine worked as a baggage loader and he said things get thrown around a lot. Sometimes they are droped out of the cargo hold to the ground. Last summer Tommy Emmanuel had one of his guitars cracked on the side from the neck to the tailpin by the airline. It has to be able to take a lot of shock.

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Have a look at Pat Kirtley's article, Advice for Safe Air Travel with your Guitar. There's some great advice there, including a list of airlines whose overheads are big enough to take a guitar.

 

If it were something that you'd be doing a lot of, I'd recommend a strong case such as a Calton, or one of those new Case X-tremes advertised in AG magazine. These are coffin-like cases that will take a guitar in a gig-bag or even in its own case. So far the reviews I've read have been pretty positive, and they're a darn site cheaper than a Calton!

 

Cheers

Cams

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  • 3 months later...
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Both the articles cited in this thread are great advice.

 

There seem to be two general trends of thought:

 

1) pack it in cardboard and ship it in the cargo bay

 

2) don't pack it in a cardboard box, and attempt to bring it on with you instead. In this case, if it must go in the cargo bay, at least you've bypassed some of the luggage machinery.

 

It seems like maybe # 2 is preferable

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I just read in acoustic guitar that a rule change has been made and that unless plains are full they have to let you bring guitars on-board now as carry on baggage. They had a link to the letter....I'll try and post it when I get to work.

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Originally posted by TimH

I just read in acoustic guitar that a rule change has been made and that unless plains are full they have to let you bring guitars on-board now as carry on baggage. They had a link to the letter....I'll try and post it when I get to work.

 

 

Please do!! Thank you very much.

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Speaking from recent experience:

 

Southwest is cool with guitars, and even basses. Get there early, be polite, and check all other checkable baggage. If the guitar is your only carry-on, they are totally cool. You may even be able to joke and small-talk them about it ("where's the party?" was the one I got last week). When you board, if it's open seating, go to the back of the plane and use those bins. It endears you to the attendants. Trust me.

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