Flying with a Guitar

Slowdive

Hi guys. I will be flying with my squier jazzmaster to south europe in a month or so. Anyone has some recent experiences with airlines (Easyjet, Ryanair) that they could share? Any advice? I did some light digging and it all seems sort of crazy. Easyjet lets you carry a cello with you in the cabin but not a guitar?!?! Am I missing something? Ryanair seems to want to rob you at gun point (what's new eh?) 50£ fee and you still have to buy an extra seat?!?? Any ideas? Surely there must be a less nightmarish scenario... Cheers

Elwood

Easyjet have a policy to support musicians and Will, if there is space, let you take a guitar in a gig bag. The risk is, if they dont have space, it goes in the hold. 

The reason Chellos are allowed in the cabin is they can be secured with a seatbelt, a guitar cannot (according to airlines). You need to buy a seat though.

Modellista

Take the neck off and put it in your luggage.

Jalapeno

Elwood said:

Easyjet have a policy to support musicians and Will, if there is space, let you take a guitar in a gig bag. The risk is, if they dont have space, it goes in the hold. 

The reason Chellos are allowed in the cabin is they can be secured with a seatbelt, a guitar cannot (according to airlines). You need to buy a seat though.

'Cellos owners have paid for a seat.I've done that before (only when seats were stupid cheap) and had no hassle.

Also carried on with mixed results (had to surrender my wheely suitcase instead was worst).

Only ever had things in hold in Hiscox cases and they've always been ok.

Never had an issue with Yamaha Silent or Steinberger as carry on.  Want to get a Tele with proper bolts on the neck someday (I suppose you could do same with Jag/Strat or any non-glued neck).

dangriffiths

Make sure the case will survive going in the hold just in case plan A doesn’t work.  

Get to gate early with guitar and ask them if you can get space in captains closet for the guitar case. Being nice and polite is the key here. 

If they say no you can check the case at the gate. At worse this means they put it in hold....at best they are too busy and don’t have time so just sort you out by putting in cupboard or similar. 

Worth a go but the shitter the airline the less likely you will get a good result. 

OilCityPickups

Flying is easier with an aircraft than with a guitar ... I've tried whirling a telecaster around my head ... attempting to use it a a helicopter style rotor ... it's not really a goer. A flying V, despite it's name, gives you little more aerodynamic advantage in the flight stakes over an ironingboard ... it needs to be thinner ... and generally more aerofoil in section ... and of course, because of it's limited wing area ... you would need a jet engine up your bum to really utilise it's potential. So flying with a guitar is kinda a non starter ...
oh ... flying with a guitar in your luggage ... got you ... 

Slowdive

Elwood said:

Easyjet have a policy to support musicians and Will, if there is space, let you take a guitar in a gig bag. The risk is, if they dont have space, it goes in the hold. 

The reason Chellos are allowed in the cabin is they can be secured with a seatbelt, a guitar cannot (according to airlines). You need to buy a seat though.

Yeah, i get that but isn't a rigid foam case in the ball park? I mean, I'm pretty sure I can get it strapped to a seat... The thing is if all goes awry having to check that into the hold is just asking for it... All this overwhelming circus just to get on board with a guitar... It sure seems like it's just luck of the draw. Either you get it there in one piece or it just goes horribly wrong. I'm one of those people that has no fear of flying but dreads all those east berlin checkpoints and such until you get to the actual plane. My OCD just skyrockets...

Slowdive

Modellista said:

Take the neck off and put it in your luggage.

I'm afraid I'll do more harm that way lol

Slowdive

Jalapeno said:

Elwood said:

Easyjet have a policy to support musicians and Will, if there is space, let you take a guitar in a gig bag. The risk is, if they dont have space, it goes in the hold. 

The reason Chellos are allowed in the cabin is they can be secured with a seatbelt, a guitar cannot (according to airlines). You need to buy a seat though.

'Cellos owners have paid for a seat.I've done that before (only when seats were stupid cheap) and had no hassle.

Also carried on with mixed results (had to surrender my wheely suitcase instead was worst).

Only ever had things in hold in Hiscox cases and they've always been ok.

Never had an issue with Yamaha Silent or Steinberger as carry on.  Want to get a Tele with proper bolts on the neck someday (I suppose you could do same with Jag/Strat or any non-glued neck).

Yeah I guess a good case is the only way...

Slowdive

dangriffiths said:

Make sure the case will survive going in the hold just in case plan A doesn’t work.  

Get to gate early with guitar and ask them if you can get space in captains closet for the guitar case. Being nice and polite is the key here. 

If they say no you can check the case at the gate. At worse this means they put it in hold....at best they are too busy and don’t have time so just sort you out by putting in cupboard or similar. 

Worth a go but the shitter the airline the less likely you will get a good result. 

Yeah, crapshoot... you mean buying luggage allowance of 25kg or whatever and use that in case things go south? Can you get through the controls with a hardcase?

ICBM

I would take the neck off and put it in a suitcase - if not it needs to be in a good hard case because you can’t rely on it not ending up in the hold, and you don’t want that to happen if it’s in a gig bag. If that’s not feasible it might be better to borrow or hire a guitar when you get there.

Slowdive

TheGuitarWeasel said:

Flying is easier with an aircraft than with a guitar ... I've tried whirling a telecaster around my head ... attempting to use it a a helicopter style rotor ... it's not really a goer. A flying V, despite it's name, gives you little more aerodynamic advantage in the flight stakes over an irningboard ... it needs to be thinner ... and generally more aerofoil in section ... and of course, because of it's limited wing area ... you would need a jet engine up your bum to really utilise it's potential. So flying with a guitar is kinda a non starter ...
oh ... flying with a guitar in your luggage ... got you ... 

Lol Behave, Syd Barrett

Boromedic

Anyone flown with an SKB case with the TSA latches, I'm going to have to do this soon and I know it will end up in the hold and therefore have to survive Heathrow's baggage handlers.

Getting more paranoid as time goes on as its not a Hiscox, although depending on the weight of the other luggage I have, I may just take the guitar apart and stick it in my suitcase for safety. Empty case in the hold won't bother me at all. Worst case scenario though and it goes in its case into the hold, surely this case should be okay?

 

Jez6345789

I frequently move guitars back and forth with EasyJet to Spain.
i first off paid the 50 and put it in outsized in a hard case. All was fine.

for  Strats I have also taken neck off and thrown it in the case in middle of clothes and had no problems.

now I tend to pay the upgrade seat charge get Speedy boarding make sure I am at the gate and speedy boarding que sharp and take it as my extra bit of hand luggage and put it in the overhead. I have done this with the Private Stock, Valley arts Tele and Taylor gs mini, oh  and Greco les Paul  which are all compact fitted cases. 

Never had a peep or problem from the gate people or cabin crew.

had one obvious regular flyer who kicked off as she tried to put her over stuffed roll on into the overhead and complained to cabin crew that there was a guitar taking all the space and the stewardess said not a problem Madam we can put that in the hold as the gentleman has paid for speedy boarding and gets an extra bag.

I would just pop the neck off and put it in my main case.

stickyfiddle

I've not done it on budget short hauls but done a few trips with 

I'm happy to take a Tele or Strat in a Hiscox through the baggage system, since I figure that's about the most indestructible guitar & case combination possible. And wrapped in that industrial cling film stuff to stop baggage guys trying to open anything...

I've got Gibsons in standard TKL type hardcases in the cabin with me a couple of times. To do that I ask nicely at check-in to gate check it. They never have a reason to say no, but you can lay it on with a little "it's very fragile so while I'm happy for it to go in the hold I need to make sure it doesn't go through the conveyor belt system".

Then when you get to the gate, say nothing unless challenged, and when you get to the plane, either put it straight into an overhead (if you're on a plane with big enough bins) or ask very nicely for them to put it in a cupboard (again because v fragile & sentimental value etc etc). They key with all this is to be as friendly and polite and accommodating as possible at every stage, while being firm enough to make sure it doesn't ever see a conveyor belt.

What also helps here is I have a lot of loyalty with various airlines, so get priority boarding, which makes all of this much easier. And platinum status with Etihad means they're happy to do whatever to help.

That all being said, with a budget airline, I would want it in a Hiscox, or in 2 pieces inside my suitcase. I wouldn't risk the gigbag/cabin thing because they're notoriously much less inclined to do nice things to keep customers happy, and you're fucked if they insist on checking it in, in a gig bag.

thebreeze

Taking the neck off and just putting the guitar in hand baggage is the safest and easiest way imo.  I bought a Squier CV Tele just for this purpose.  The neck is a few cms longer than fits in the "permitted" hand luggage size but I just use a slightly bigger bag (which goes on my shoulder) and is nearly always smaller than the average carry-ons that I can see.  Never had a problem.

Gassage

TheGuitarWeasel said:

Flying is easier with an aircraft than with a guitar ... I've tried whirling a telecaster around my head ... attempting to use it a a helicopter style rotor ... it's not really a goer. A flying V, despite it's name, gives you little more aerodynamic advantage in the flight stakes over an ironingboard ... it needs to be thinner ... and generally more aerofoil in section ... and of course, because of it's limited wing area ... you would need a jet engine up your bum to really utilise it's potential. So flying with a guitar is kinda a non starter ...
oh ... flying with a guitar in your luggage ... got you ... 

Indeed.

He'll be fastdive rather than @slowdive if he tries.

Jalapeno

Not just budget airlines, BA can be particularly arsey. (~Lord knows why ?)

OilCityPickups

My general rule ... only fly with a Telecaster (Squier ... but a nice one) and have it in my hold baggage ... neck off. I take one to Finland fairly regularly and have neck bolts fitted rather than neck screws ... so that fitting and removal causes less wear and tear. Teles are bloody near indestructible, so even if the baggage handlers get a bit frisky ... I doubt they could do too much to one of 'Leo's first babies'. 

Jalapeno

TheGuitarWeasel said:

My general rule ... only fly with a Telecaster (Squier ... but a nice one) and have it in my hold baggage ... neck off. I take one to Finland fairly regularly and have neck bolts fitted rather than neck screws ... so that fitting and removal causes less wear and tear. Teles are bloody near indestructible, so even if the baggage handlers get a bit frisky ... I doubt they could do too much to one of 'Leo's first babies'. 

Did you do the bolt fitting or did you get it done ?

OilCityPickups

Jalapeno said:

TheGuitarWeasel said:

My general rule ... only fly with a Telecaster (Squier ... but a nice one) and have it in my hold baggage ... neck off. I take one to Finland fairly regularly and have neck bolts fitted rather than neck screws ... so that fitting and removal causes less wear and tear. Teles are bloody near indestructible, so even if the baggage handlers get a bit frisky ... I doubt they could do too much to one of 'Leo's first babies'. 

Did you do the bolt fitting or did you get it done ?

Got one of those bolt fitting kits you see on e bay ... I have a pillar drill etc in the Oil city workshop ... so it was no big deal. 
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BLOODSTONE-Neck-Bolt-Anchor-Kit-Guitar-Tone-Upgrade-Kit/162926902884?hash=item25ef333e64:m:mK4BmLDfngffhr6GxtGqfHA