Travel with my Guild on a airplane

[summax]

Hi everyone
This is my first post here as a member. I usually was outside reading in your wonderful and knowlegable posts.
Anyway, i will be travel to Thailand this summer and of course i want to bring my belove Guild F50 NT with me.
Is there a way to check in my Guitar without getting damage?
Please help.
Thank you in advance.
YP

 

[john_kidder]

I think I'm expressing a minority opinion, but here goes:

I travel frequently with a guitar in checked baggage. I detune it, pad the headstock area with a couple of t-shirts so it can't move at all, put another t-shirt or towel on the soundboard, close and LOCK the case, then snug it up with an old leather belt around the waist of the case, tucking the belt in securely. Slap Fragile stickers on it, take it to Special Handling. Wait by the Special Handling dock to be there when the guitar arrives, in case it looks attractive to someone else.

Sometimes I've also carried the guitar to the gate and left it there for pickup, and delivery back to the gate when I deplane. But I still pad, lock, and belt it the same way.

I've never (yet, he says, reaching around to touch the wood on the M-20 behind the desk) had a problem, except that the case gets scuffed.

 

[Metalman]

YP,

I have had different experiences, all somewhat varied, and I am facing the same thing next week when my wife and I are flying down to Florida, then taking a cruse. I am taking my Nylon Stringed Yamaha with me to "serenade" her as we cruse the Mediterannean!

First of all, if it is possible to choose, take a guitar that if it gets lost anyway shape or form, then either you can do without it, or replace it no problem.

The only guitar that fits that for me is my Yamaha. Can get a replacement at any GC store.

Don't lock your case. A big no-no. All the security agents have to do when they see a locked case, is imagine there is something that someone doesn't want them to see. So they break the lock to get in. It happened to me on an flight from Kennedy to London. Nothing was stolen, but it was the hassle of replacing the lock, and fixing the case. And that was BEFORE 9/11. They are much tighter now.

On our flight, I will walk with my guitar to the door of the plane, not the gate, and if it can't fit in the overhead, or in a closet (it is in a SKB type hardshell case), then they will take it to check in, and then at the end of the flight, I will wait at the door way of the plane, and retrieve my guitar.
And this will be my only carry-on. They limit you these days, to one per person.

Traveling with a Strat: my son took one with him to Russia. We undid the neck, by removing the four screws that held it in place, and placed the neck in one suitcase, the body in another. Then, when he got to his destination, put the thing back to gether, and did the reverse when he came home.

The funny thing was, as I was waiting for him at the gate here in the States, I saw this country bumpkin carrying a Fender Strat over his shoulder, no case, strap, anything, just like that, placed it on the X-Ray machine treadmill, picked it up on the other side, and proceeded to walk down to the gate with his guitar. No suitcase, no carry-on, just the Strat. Couldn't be simpler.

 

[summax]

Thank you, John and Metalman.
Now i feel much better. I was planning to wrap the hardcase (with guitar inside) with a large blanket then place inside a cardboard box.
I didnt know there is a simplier way
YP

 

[john_kidder]

Don't lock your case. A big no-no. All the security agents have to do when they see a locked case, is imagine there is something that someone doesn't want them to see. So they break the lock to get in. It happened to me on an flight from Kennedy to London. Nothing was stolen, but it was the hassle of replacing the lock, and fixing the case. And that was BEFORE 9/11. They are much tighter now.

Wow, and thanks. Silly me. I guess I have only flown with guitars in Canada and Europe. I will not now lock a case in the US, for sure.

I will walk with my guitar to the door of the plane, not the gate . . . then they will take it to check in, and then at the end of the flight, I will wait at the door way of the plane, and retrieve my guitar.

Right on, that's what I meant when I said take it to the gate - the boarding gate at the airplane ramp, not the checkin counter. Up here, they call it a "gate check". In Canada and Europe, most airlines won't allow a guitar as carryon, but they will take it from the door directly to a separate hold on the aircraft (as they do with strollers and wheelchairs) and return it you when you disembark. It's not checked with the regular luggage.

Metalman's description is more precise that mine.

 

[jgwoods]

I have a TSA lock with a belt that allows me to wrap it around the case- through the handle- snug it up and lock it. If they want to inspect it they have a key to open it. SO far they have never inspected it.

 

[Metalman]

OR, you could just sling it over your shoulder, and walk right on the plane with it . . .

Hmmm . . .

Not recommended for an acoustic! Maybe a Squier Strat . . . .

 

[Scratch]

My how things have changed with baggage handlers... In 1994 I took my Yahama FG340II with me from San Antonio to Hanoi, Vietnam for a one-year POW/MIA mission military tour. It went the entire route in the hold, encased in a shipping box. When I retrieved the guitar at Hanoi's Noi Bai airport, the guitar and case were spotless. It did cost me more than two hours unpacking it for close inspection to ensure I wasn't packing heat. Once I picked a tune for 'em they were convinced I'm not hot at all... :lol: This guitar survived cleanly after several travel days and stops in St. Louis, Honolulu, Tokyo, Bankok, and finally, Hanoi. I returned via the same route and the guitar and case are still nearly spotless. In fact, I consider 'Hanna' to be in near mint/excellent plus shape.

I now travel frequently on business during the summer and fall throughout the central US. I had one TKL case wiped out (Taylor 314 guitar survived OK), during a trip to Chicago two years ago, and a Martin case beat to heck last summer (guitar survived OK) on a trip to Minneapolis and back. I have since sold those guitars. This summer I have several trips scheduled. I try to drive when I can (Texas, Arkansas, and NM locations), and on those trips, I can pack any guitar in the rental vehicle, but again I need to fly to several other more distant sites. Looks like Hanna will make the trip (when does her luck run out?), or perhaps the newly acquired F30 which might fit in the overhead. Problem with that is I must also carry my laptop/briefcase etc. meaning two carry-ons.

I'm thinking about getting a gig bag of some sort that will hold both. Has anyone else tried this? If so, any suggestions for an auditorium sized gig bag with space enough for the laptop?

 

[Russell Letson]

When I fly with a good guitar (no sense in going to a serious workshop with a Baby Taylor), I use a (unfortuately no-longer-available) SuperCase. The next step up would be a Calton, if I could remember to plan six months ahead. I have carried the very large SuperCase aboard every flight I've taken for the last four or five years--it even fit in the overhead on a new regional jet (CR series) last year. But if the flight crew or gate agent insists on it going into the hold, the case will protect against all but the most determined destructive events (though not from theft). I have never had to surrender the case for regular baggage-checking, which significantly increases the opportunities for disaster and mischief.

There's a lot of anecdotage about flying with standard hardshell cases, but what I take away from it all is that even a five-ply arched-top-and-back case can be compromised, though a cover helps preserve the case itself. I won't use a non-flight case for my serious instruments.

Another note for those not familiar with current TSA behavior: Put strings and pointy/sharp tools and gadgets in checked rather than carry-on luggage. For some reason, a guitar string looks like a garrotte to security folks, and godknows what they think you're capable of with a multitool.

 

[fronobulax]

I have a TSA lock with a belt that allows me to wrap it around the case- through the handle- snug it up and lock it. If they want to inspect it they have a key to open it. SO far they have never inspected it.

I've had several TSA locks and three have been lost because the TSA opened the lock and did not bother to relock the case after inspection. I am not a big fan of post 9/11 air travel in the US and the only solution I have is to not travel with anything I don't want to lose or have the whole world know I am carrying. Leave your bag unlocked and just assume everyone is going to take the time to snoop around. Of course we were talking about guitars... :wink:

I've never tried it but you can check firearms on a U.S. flight and the container is inspected and monitored the entire time it is in the airline's possession. A starter pistol, which is easy to obtain, is classified as a firearm so if you can find a way to pack a starter pistol with your guitar you can be assured that they won't lose your ax.

That suggestion comes from people who travel with high end photo gear. But others who do the same have given up and use a separate carrier - FedEx or UPS, for example - and just prepare for a situation where the shipped package does not arrive when the passenger plane does.

 

[Metalman]

I've never tried it but you can check firearms on a U.S. flight and the container is inspected and monitored the entire time it is in the airline's possession. A starter pistol, which is easy to obtain, is classified as a firearm so if you can find a way to pack a starter pistol with your guitar you can be assured that they won't lose your ax.

That suggestion comes from people who travel with high end photo gear. But others who do the same have given up and use a separate carrier - FedEx or UPS, for example - and just prepare for a situation where the shipped package does not arrive when the passenger plane does.

Who would have thought; to carry a pistol with you on the plane, like you say, pack it with your guitar, and have it monitored the entire time it is in the airline's possession!

I suggested that to my wife; she said, no way you're traveling with a pistol!!!

 

[Metalman]

I was once traveling with a Strat, in a gig bag, and it went nicely up in the overhead bin.

I also had a carry-on, and in it were my cables, pedals, etc., and two Shure 55-S microphones. You know, those big "Elvis" mics.

The X-ray scanner techincian looked at these things, and said, what are they dumbells or something? And then she saw my guitar, and I pointed out that they were microphones.

Phew!

 

[6L6]

Thailand in the summer is one of the hottest, most humid places on earth. Frankly, I would not take any guitar I really cared about to Thailand. Get yourself a cheap axe you can live with and leave your Guild at home.

6

 

[summax]

You guys are the greatest! Thanks for all your valuable inputs.
YP

 

[Brad Little]

It's not an option overseas, but i know of several people who send a guitar on ahead via UPS, either to the venue they will be playing or to the motel/hotel they will be staying with a notice to hold for arrival. Eliminates all the baggage hassles, but does cost a bit, depending on the distance sent.

Brad