Soft Gig Bag or Hard Case for Flying With Acoustic Guitar?

[Beck]

My youngest son (17) is flying to Spain (From Illinois) tomorrow. He

[MikeRivers]

Presumably some agreement has been reached that if you have a guitar, you're allowed to carry it on (don't ask me for a citation. I got that on good authority but not on the web). but I dont know if it's international or only in the US. Also, not all airlines know that there's a rule, or they do and they're rather not bother with finding a place for your guitar on board. Unfortunately, it's a bit of a crapshoot. Best case would be to carry on a hard case. If he has a gig bag, they're less likely to insist that he check it and more willing to find a place in the cabin for it. But I no longer fly with my guitar.

[Quarterwave]

Put it in a flight case and check it. I've flown all over the world with guitars (touring guitarist), and that's the only way to do it. Every other way is a crap shoot, which exposes you to sometimes having no choice but to check your guitar anyway.... and if it's in a soft case, well, that's how it'll get stowed in the baggage hold of the plane.

 

I've gotten away with it once - when I had to bring a guitar from Sydney via Osaka for a session and then from Osaka to LA. I had a stratocaster from a friend of mine that wanted it back in the US, and I said I'd bring it if I could use it for the session (and to not travel with my own guitar).

 

I put it into a small musicman soft case (similar to a Les Paul soft case) and thankfully, it was small enough to put into the first-class jacket closet.

 

Other than that, every time I've flown with a guitar, I've loaded it into a heavy aluminum-type case that's build TOUGH. They cost a lot to ship (usually over $100 one way), and you usually have to collect it from the "special baggage" section of each airport connection, and then re-check it for the new flight, which is a PITA when you are rushing for a connection....

 

Not fun, but if your son really wants to take a guitar, that's how I would suggest to do it.....

 

Oh - you can Google or Youtube a guy that had his Taylor guitar destroyed by one of the big carriers (can't remember the name - I think it was American Airlines or Delta), and he ended up writing a song about it that's had millions of hits on the Youtube video.

 

Good luck !

[MikeRivers]

"United Breaks Guitars" is the video that you're talking about, but that jogged my memory. I'm pretty sure it was the Taylor Guitars web site that has a bunch of tips about flying with a guitar. That's probably where I read that you have the right to take it on board.

 

I don't think that Beck's son is going to get a flight case for his guitar today in time to make his flight.

[blue2blue]

When I went to Europe in '86, I was able to keep my guitar in its gig bag with me on the KLM trip over and the Air France trip from Paris to New York... but the United flight from NY to LA wouldn't let me. Happily, I got it out in one piece.

 

A few years later, I very nearly lost a guitar (in a HSC) on a trip from Seattle on Alaska Airlines. I was first to the carousel and last to leave. And when I left it was to raise a big stink. I glued myself to the assitance desk, where I could see the carousel and kept asking pointed questions like, Gee, how do you just lose a guitar case on a 1/2 filled flight? And that sort of thing. Finally, without any notice, I saw that someone had just pushed a wheeled luggage carrier out into the area with my guitar case on it and left it. I'm pretty sure someone had marked it to take home but that my making a big stink and refusing to leave put some pressure on someone to go try to find it. I would have thought that they would have told me it had been found instead of just dropping it off and disappearing without a word.

 

 

I think I'd give serious thought to buying a very cheap guitar when I was over there, depending on how long I was going for. I won't trust my guitar on a flight from a US carrier any more.

[daklander]

Some good advice here^.

 

Really, look at something like this but be prepared to pay extra baggage charges.

Another possible way to go about it is to purchase an ajoining seat.

[spokenward]

It might be the wrong tool for the job, but Spain does have a little history -

 

http://www.everettguitars.com/spain.html

[philbo]

I would not fly with any guitar I cared about. Ever.

[Anderton]

Tough call. For my Europe gigs I take a Peavey Milano guitar, which is indestructible anyway, put it in its hard case (nothing special, just a hard case) and check it. It has survived a lot of plane trips.

 

I have to say, though... I don't know who makes the case for Gibson's Firebird X, but it fits in the overhead bin and is claimed to protect the guitar from a six-story drop. I haven't dropped it from six stories, but I believe it...it's a soft case, but padded to a degree that could only be considered excessive It's been back and forth to Europe a couple times and so far, so good.

 

The best shot for getting into the overhead is if you have a zillion frequent flyer miles on an airline. But even then, if you end up on a commuter airline, there probably won't be space and it will be checked anyway. These days, I think the best approach is to assume it's going to be checked, but try to get it in the overhead if the case will fit. On one flight the flight attendant thought I was a Famous Person and put the guitar in with the coat closet for flight attendants, but that was a one-time only thing...tried it again, and no luck.

[sharkbait]

Too late for you, but for future searchers, my experience:

 

Check with the airline about your needs in advance. Air New Zealand pre-authorized my guitar for carry-on into the overhead bin. Each time, I think my soft case was a wee bit bigger than the allotment, but they were nice about it. If it fits in the overhead bin, you just need to self-monitor than your fellow passengers don't squish it.

 

Take a cheap guitar so the potential damage isn't the end of the world (I assume that's the case with the poster!). Then a soft case is the go.

 

I'm taking a somewhat nicer guitar (Harmony 1260) on a flight soon, so I hope I haven't just jinxed myself....

[smross]

Hard case... You can never be too prepared.

[MikeRivers]

 

On one flight the flight attendant thought I was a Famous Person and put the guitar in with the coat closet for flight attendants, but that was a one-time only thing...tried it again, and no luck.

 

 

Many years ago, United had a high tech storage closet on, I think, their 747, for hanging garment bags. The hanger system was motorized, and when a section of the rack got filled, a motor would rotate the rack to put the next hanger bar within reach. At the end of the rotation, the top couple of hangers went over the top, with the garment bags hanging from it folded over. I had to convince a flight attendant that it probably wouldn't be a very good idea to do that to my guitar that was in a gig bag.

 

What I really miss, and this is going back probably 30 or 35 years, was the carry-on storage racks that United and American had on their planes. It was a series of shelves that had enough room to stash something as tall as a guitar case. But I guess they made more money putting seats in that space and selling them to people who didn't bring their guitars on board.

[Beck]

Thanks for the ideas. We went with a light but rigid case and I put a little extra padding wrapped around the headstock. He carried it on. He's 30,000 feet in the sky over the Atlantic Ocean about now. I know people fly everyday, but when you think about it and it's your youngest going out of country for the first time, is that insane or what?

 

My older son has been to Europe twice, so I'm not quite biting my nails (figuratively speaking) so much as when the first one went.

[MikeRivers]

Good deal. Sounds like the system is working, at least once.

[Jeff Leites]

Here is the TSA link of flying with musical instruments: http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/assistant/editorial_1235.shtm

 

I'd never fly with my guitar in a soft case.

Last time I flew with my guitar was in '05. Took it as carry-on. Lucky I did. When I got off the plane, and got to baggage claim, I found that there was a band on board, and a roadie was grabbing every instrument he saw and piling it on carts. I could have got involved in an annoying situation.

[Lee Flier]

Yeah, it is always a crapshoot dealing with carrying guitars on. If the plane is big enough and it's not too overcrowded and it's after 5 PM on a full moon on Tuesday, they might let you carry it on. Otherwise they will make you check it. One time, I was able to carry mine on on a flight to London, but on the way back they made me check it. Different customs rules, blah blah.

 

Then there's the added stress of carrying a guitar around on other public transportation (trains, subways, boats etc.) Carrying a guitar and other luggage, stuff can get knocked around no matter what you do. So, I only carry a relatively cheap guitar overseas, and always in a lightweight but hard case.