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Has anyone recently tried to carry on a guitar on an airplane?

I have my first commission that is ready to be shipped out - and it just so happens that I have a business meeting in DC (where the commissionee lives) and it looks as though I will have time to hand deliver it to him. I would like to carry it on the airplane - but will pack it up nicely and check it if required.

I have read a great deal on line and people are reporting different things (mostly that there has been no problem)...

I will be flying Northwest, and the guitar is an electric...

Thanks so much for your help,
Stephen

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I don't think that you can carry on any more. Along time ago they use to let you put them in the coat closet but most planes no longer have a coat closet and almost all carriers require that all carry on fit in the over head or under the seat.

Here's what I did when flying recently with a guitar.

Go with the attitude that you are bringing it on as carry on to fit in the overhead bins. If they totally buck you with this notion, tell them you want to gate check the instrument as you don't trust the baggage handlers with the custom instrument.

If this fails then you'll have to check it.

It really all depends on the airlines policies. I've flown with two separate airlines over the past 2 years and they had different polices. One would not allow it on board in the cabin and wouldn't even gate check it. Although they have a "fragile baggage" check area. I guess they treat these a bit better Although on the last trip, my new case got a couple of rips in it.

The other airline allowed me to bring it on board as carry on as the flight wasn't totally full. On the flight home, same airline they said they don't allow carry on like that and I'd have to gate check it.

So even within the same airline, I got different responses to my request.

Just make sure you package it well and loosen the strings. Wrap the peghead well too.

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The notion that they will let you carry it on the plane is hopeful at best and if you arrive with it in a gigbag or non flight worthy case and have to check it you're sunk.
Perhaps an expendable gigging guitar is worth the chance but a new committed instrument that you've built has far too much of an investment in it to take the risk.
I've traveled a bit this year to shows (Miami, San Francisco) with new guitars (classicals) to show and have successfully used the Clam from Case Extreme to check and transport them. Their deluxe is around $250.
and is the best overal thing I've found. What is especially good about the Clam is that it goes OVER the regular case so that once you get to your destination, you can leave it in the hotel closet and transport the guitar normally without having to drag around an overly heavy case such as a Calton.
Plus in the case of delivering a new guitar, you can simply transport the empty Clam back home filled with your dirty laundry from the trip.

Thanks guys,

I really appreciate your input...I will probably go with the case bundled in an extra package prepared to check - and then maybe hopefully ask the ticket person with immeasurebly soft and flirtacious eyes if I could just take the whole package as carry on...it is a 7:00 am flight...

Sounds like a great plan - unless the ticket person is a dude...

Thanks
Stephen

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www.ziegenfussguitars.com

Some airlines post the policy to carry instruments on their web sites. Nevetrtheless, it also depends upon the size of the airplane. From where I fly, some of the flights have dinky planes that a guitar willl simply not fit on. They do have a procedure where you check it at plane door and pick it up there, so it has minimal handling and does not go onto a conveyor.

Pretty much all flights seem full these days and with luggage charges the overheads fill up fast. A couple of times I pretended I was a "Gold Club" member and boarded early to get overhead space for my guitar but that was a year ago. I think now days you'd better plan on having to gate check it or get a clam case. One of my owners that is a professional player and travels got one and also likes it a lot. That's probably what I'll do next time.
Terry

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Stephen my friend Northwest are nazis when it comes to permitting guitars on board (sorry Larry.....).

It is hit an miss but in my experience it is miss most of the time..... I have a friend who was an executive for Northwest and she told me that the real problem is that many of the airlines fill planes to capacity making any overhead and closet storage unavailable.

What I do is try it anyway but most of the time they check it at the door of the plane on the jetway and send it underneath. If you are in first class and/or able to board early there is a better chance of getting the closet. If not then you get to have the pleasure of sitting at your window seat and seeing your guitar case fall off the conveyor onto the tarmac.........

Also, remember a couple of Christmas's ago when Northwest got caught on video playing kick ball with people's luggage and packages?????

Anyway, I just wanted to ease your concerns and assure you that there is nothing to worry about......

if you are checking you guitar , pack it very well, the last time I flew with a guitar , they lost the guitar for three days, i came home from work to find it sitting in my front yard in the sun ( no idea how long it was there ), the case was totaly battered and crushed , with some damage to the instrument inside, luckily it was just my travel guitar. but stiil it sobered me up to the idea of bringing a valuable instrument on board! I might take a chance with my own instrument, but not one belonging to someone else . seriously , buy the clam case or pack it well and ship it ! Jody

The flight crew of the plane have the last word, no matter what the website's say. Period! What was easy a year ago, isn't so easy anymore with flights overbooked, charges for checked baggage cluttering up the passenger compartment and what I perceive to be an overall deterioration of customer service within the industry. Plan on having it checked and, if by some chance you get to carry it on, well, then good on ya! Checked baggage is treated miserably by most carriers -- pack for the worst case.

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Jim Howell
Charlotte, NC

Just went to France and back with guitar in a gig bag inside one of these. Nary a scratch.

http://www.casextreme.com/models_all.htm

-C

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Freeborn Guitars
and home of BeauGuard©

i just flew on northwest - from winnipeg, manitoba, canada to tokyo, then hong kong and back again. not even a ding to the case. they made me sign off on the fact that they don't have coverage for instruments before i boarded, though. and the usa dept. of homeland security made sure to peek inside and left a card saying they did. my 'insurance' on this trip was that it was just a yamaha.

i also flew winnipeg to vancouver and back in may with a brand new instrument i had just completed. because it was only within canada they were happy just shoving it through the xray and didn't need to open it. so for that one i made a bubble wrap baggie that wrapped neatly around the whole case. again, it all turned out fine.

i'm sure you'll have to check it. loosen the strings completely. pack extra stuff around the head stock, and good luck.

phil

Is the electric guitar a bolt on neck like a Fender? If so you can remove the neck and fit them in a briefcase or something that will fit in most overhead compartments, or even just pack them in with clothes or something. I mean the problem with instrument shaped case is that if they're checked in people might steal it.

Or else you're better off shipping it.

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Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Thanks so much guys....

It is such a conundrum - I either pack it expecting to check it (wrapping the whole case and making it nigh impossible to get through security) or risk it and see what happens...

crappy...
Stephen

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www.ziegenfussguitars.com

I flew Northwest from New Hampshire to Detroit in July. I couldn't get a good travel case to fit so I carried the guitar on in the regular hard shell case. There was no problem either direction. The guitar fit in the overhead bin with no problem and there was plenty of room left for totes and other soft baggage.

I just acted like carrying the instrument on was what you're supposed to do and no one bothered me at all. If they had, I would have checked it with the baby strollers which are returned at the gate as well.

Thanks Mike - that is some good applicable data...

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www.ziegenfussguitars.com

EVERY flight you take is a crap shoot as far as whether they will check it or not, if its a full size case .... since I use Ameritage, they definitely dont fit the overhead, so under they go. Pray they arrive in one piece, and at the same time you do. There are no guarantees - I had one guitar make it home, the other three days later as it made it onto a different flight - both checked at the same time. They dont care, its just a lousy job. Crossing a border adds another level of complications ....

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Tommy Chong is known to say that if you want a cavity search cross an international border with a guitar case......

I just flew to Ann Arbor and back to Nashville for the gathering.I did exactly like Mike did.The only trouble was on the way there the overhead compartments were smaller than usual and I had to kind of slam it gently shut.I used one of Stew Macs light cases, the OM size and it protected it fine.This was a Northwest flight.
James

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James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee

So the conclusion to this whole story - I carried a folded cardboard box an duct tape with me if at any time I needed to check the bag...

I talked to one lady at a check in counter - she said I would have to check it...
unwilling to accept that news, I moved to a different counter, and that lady said that I could try to get through security with it, and if I could, I could probably carry it on...

Well, I got through security, and carried it on...
I made sure to get towards the front of the boarding line so that I had fresh compartment space to work with...but it fit in the overhead compartment of the A319 that I was flying and worked out great.

Thanks for your input.

Stephen

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www.ziegenfussguitars.com