flying with musical instruments

[imagineaudio]

I don't travel much, but am relocating in january. I don't have any super expensive stuff, but I am very fond of my les paul and a certain (only) LDC. I plan on bringing my guitar, a rode k2, sm57, portable recorder, and a bag of clothes. I'll return after a few months to ship the rest of my crap.

What are your experiences flying with instruments?

This would be an appropriate place to discuss tips, no-no's, good and bad experiences, etc...

[G. Hoffman]

I used to do it all the time when I lived in Boston, but I have heard that things have changed since the attacks in 2001. With that caveat, here is what I've found:

The first thing to keep in mind is to ALWAYS be kind and polite with the airline employees. It makes a world of difference. If they get pissed off at you, your screwed.

The only people who can tell you that you can't bring your guitar on the plane are the pilot and the lead flight attendant. The pilot doesn't care, and the lead flight attendant doesn't care as long as you get your guitar in the overhead bin before they are full. When the check-in agent, the gate attendant, and security folks tell you your guitar needs to be checked, just smile and say, "I'll have it hand carried at the gate." (If you can at all avoid it, do NOT let them hand carry it at the gate. They usually will not hand carry it to the baggage pickup. This is bad.) If you must, get them to give you a hand carry tag, and then as you walk onto the plane, hide it in your hand. Just keep politely ignoring everyone right up until you get on the plane. It always worked fine for me.

I always got a seat in the back of the plane because at the time they were seating the planes back to front. At least some airlines have gone to open seating these days, so that doesn't help as much. But the idea is to get on the plane as early as possible, because that means the overhead bins won't be full yet. Once you get in the plane and get your guitar in the overhead, you are almost certainly gold. I also liked to fly on Saturday afternoons, because the planes were all but empty. Most Saturday afternoons I had not just a whole row to myself, but frequently an entire 6-10 rows. NICE!

One other thing to keep in mind, for what little good it actually does. The National Musicians Union did some lobbying with the FAA, and got a regulation put in place which says that the airlines should allow musical instruments of reasonable size (including guitars) as an additional piece of carry-on luggage, above and beyond the normal allowed carry-on allowence. Now, this is not a regulation, and the airlines are free to make their own policy on the matter, but most airline employees don't know any better. Hell, most of them probably don't even know their own airlines policy on the issue, much less the FAA's position. None the less, if you check with your local musician's union, they can probably give you a copy of the letter from the head of the FAA to the president of the national union. It can sometimes help.

Finally, you may well be better off shipping your gutiar. I ship about 100 guitars a year, and in the 35 years our shop has been around and shipping a similar number of guitars, we have had 3 problems. If you pack it right (if you want, I can PM you a copy of an essay I wrote to give our customers on how to pack a guitar for shipment). If you ship it the day you leave, it will take a few days to get to you, but on the whole, if you are moving you probably won't be playing all that much. If you don't already have a place to stay, then you could see if there is a guitar shop in your new town you could ship it to. We do that from time to time, though usually just for good customers.

If you do chose to fly with your gutiar, remember to keep your cool, smile, and be nice. It makes all the difference in the world.


Gabriel

[Jason Phair]

Don't put your Crown Royal bottle that you keep stuffed full of weed into it.

Oh that silly Dennis...

[ella]

From what I've been told, shipping it allows you to insure to the total value of the git, as opposed to the max payout that the airline prints on the back of the ticket for luggage.... which can be as little as $500.

Any gig that requires that I bring my bass rather than simply renting on location, that's the way I'm gonna do it.

[G. Hoffman]

From what I've been told, shipping it allows you to insure to the total value of the git, as opposed to the max payout that the airline prints on the back of the ticket for luggage.... which can be as little as $500.



Well, yes, but...


UPS and FedEx are extremely limited in what they will cover. If they loose your package, or if they damage your package (and you can prove it), then you can make an insurance claim. Assuming you can get in contact with them within the limited time frame they give you. And it is very limited. But there are a lot of issues they will not cover, including weather related damage (weather checking and the like), and of course any guitar which is not packed properly (which, by the way, includes any guitar packaging which uses packing peanuts - they are designed for light items with low mass; i.e., not a guitar) has the entire shipping insurance voided, even if you paid for it, no matter what they do to your box.

And I've seen airlines replace some rather expensive guitars over the years. Some that really surprised me.


Gabriel

[subvocal]

great advice from G. Hoffman
I carry my guitar all over the place.
A Martin.

It has been to Fiji, Hawaii several times and across the country a few times. I've never checked it once. I always get to the gate extra early and am nicer than normal just to get on the plane.

With SouthWest you can even ask for a preboard at the check in counter and they will sometimes do it for you if you ask really nicely.

The worst has always been Northwest Air.

[G. Hoffman]

The worst has always been Northwest Air.



See, now, I've only ever flown with my guitar on Northwest, and I've never had a problem. Then again, it could well be the airports I've flown through. I've always gone non-stop between Minneapolis and Boston, so maybe those are just good airports to fly with guitars.


Gabriel

[solomon2]

As mentioned, it varies airline to airline. The worst offender is Delta. So bad that Local 802 ( the NYC musicians union) has asked its members to boycott Delta.

[Southpaw]

As mentioned, it varies airline to airline. The worst offender is Delta. So bad that Local 802 ( the NYC musicians union) has asked its members to boycott Delta.

Word.

Delta savaged my hardshell pedalboard case on a flight from Seattle to Atlanta. Punched a hole in the side which allowed the humidity to get inside the case. I had standing water on all my electronics when I opened it up at the airport in Atlanta. I swear I thought I was going to commit violence.

Thankfully, I was able to use a bunch of paper towels to absorb the water and it air dried well enough.

I fly Alaska and Southwest whenever I can. They have always been really good to me when it comes to bringing my guitar and violin on the plane with me. And the advice to be friendly is spot on. I'm always as nice as pie and it has always been to my benefit.

I've only ever had to gate check my guitar once and that was on a small flight where the plane's overhead compartments weren't big enough to fit my guitar case.

[G. Hoffman]

I've only ever had to gate check my guitar once and that was on a small flight where the plane's overhead compartments weren't big enough to fit my guitar case.

I ran into that once too; with my smallest acoustic guitar, strangely enough. I was fortunate that the plane was nearly empty, though, so they just let me buckle it into the seat next to me. The one time I gate checked my guitar it was before I really had the whole thing figured out, and I believed the gate agent when she said I had to check my guitar. It turned out fine, but I never made that mistake again.


Gabriel

[Tim Armstrong]

I've never had to check any of my guitars as luggage, not even my dreadnought Larrivee, but I'd note that since the last time I flew with a guitar (April), I understand that the rules have tightened.

I seem to remember hearing horror stories of symphony violinists in Europe being grounded because they couldn't carry their instruments onto the plane, and wouldn't check a $50k violin as luggage!

Definitely a good idea to check with the airline to see what the current rules are!!!

Cheers, Tim

[G. Hoffman]

I seem to remember hearing horror stories of symphony violinists in Europe being grounded because they couldn't carry their instruments onto the plane, and wouldn't check a $50k violin as luggage!




Most of those are situations where the players don't own the instruments they are playing, and the contract which allows them to use the instruments requires that they keep it in their possession it is not in a secure lockup (and airline baggage is certainly NOT secure).

Or, you could go the same route as Yo-Yo Ma with his Strad; buy a second (first class) seat for your guitar. That way you KNOW you can get it on the plane.



Gabriel