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Post by jonathan on Oct 19, 2011 13:49:31 GMT
I'm off to the in-laws in South of France for Christmas. As I'm going for 10 days I would like to take my guitar with me.
I need to buy a hard case for my acoustic but how are they loaded onboard a plane? Do they go on with baggage at check-in or are they loaded as you board the plane, similar to prams?
No point buying a case or taking the guitar if it might get damaged. Anybody had any experiences?
Thanks,
Jon.
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Post by sheendigs on Oct 19, 2011 14:01:44 GMT
Hi Jon
I have used several techniques:
A-Using a hard case that I deliver to a special section that takes care of your valued possesion..It does not follow the same track as other luggages.
B-I bought a fiesta red guitar in Germany, so I used my Samsonite luggage that can take a severe beating..and packed the body there..the neck came with me on board.
C-My friend always travel with his soft guitar case that takes two guitars...and they pack it in a special compartment on board.
I hope this helps
Sheendigs...
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Post by asimmd on Oct 19, 2011 14:15:42 GMT
Thats why you have a Flight Case.
We came back from the Canaries a while ago and there was a band waiting to collect their gear,they had to get it themselves as the baggage handlers said it was too heavy for them to lift.
In the UK it's classed as luggage and usually goes in the hold with everything else.
Best thing you can do is to ask the Airline you are flying with and get a definitive answer.
Better safe than sorry.
Alan
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Post by murraysanders on Oct 19, 2011 22:04:34 GMT
Hi all
HOPE ITS NOT EASY JET , only joking , regards Murray
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Post by didier on Oct 20, 2011 8:02:38 GMT
At our latest Shadows' meeting in Britanny, a fan came from Spain by plane. As it seems that guitars were not allowed as hand luggage, he made himself a travel guitar from a cheap Strat copy. First he shortened the headstock (looks like a Music Man now...) :  And he replaced the original screws by allen screws so that the neck could be more easily dismounted from the body for the travel... Very clever ! Didier |
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Post by jonathan on Oct 20, 2011 12:48:56 GMT
Yes, very clever  I didn't actually think of asking the airline, thought it was pretty straightforward. I'm flying with Ryanair so I checked their musical instruments policy. As well as the guitar being put in with normal baggage as part of the 20kg weight limit you can also take some musical intruments into the cabin, small ones like violins and guitars for example, but you must purchase an extra seat! What a cheek. |
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Post by DaveC on Oct 20, 2011 14:47:09 GMT
Hi Jon,
It has always been the case that large musical instuments need their own (paid-for) seat if you insist on taking them into the passenger cabin. Julian Lloyd Webber has been buying a seat for his cello for years. Smaller instruments used to fit in the overhead lockers but this is no longer an option.
You are limited in the number of items you can carry and they must fit through the measuring gauge (at Check-In and at Security). This restriction is enforced by Airport Security not the airlines --- so thank Osama Bin Laden. It's probable that your guitar won't fit so you will have to put it in the baggage hold.
If it won't fit into your well padded, rigid suitcase then airlines have different policies about extra hold items. BA will accept it as an extra bag (max 23kg) above your 1 or 2 bag allowance, and charge you £35 (£28 if you pre-book). I can't speak for RyanAir but I'll bet it won't be free.
They will weigh it at Check-In but, if it is an odd shape that might get stuck on the conveyer belt, then you will be asked to take it to a special Check-In point where it will be manhandled to the baggage trolley/train and out to the aircraft. On arrival it will may well appear at a point away from the baggage carousels.
Whatever you choose to do make sure it is well protected in a rigid case. A soft gig-bag (even well padded) would be a big mistake. Baggage handlers are employed by the airports, not the airlines and they have no interest in the protection of your property. They would think absolutely nothing of stacking 20 other suitcases on top of your precious instrument.
It's also worth noting that the baggage holds are unheated on many aircraft so your guitar may be subjected to a temperature change of minus and then plus 50degC. If you bring a freezing cold guitar into a warm humid atmosphere then expect condensation!
Regards
DaveC
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Post by solidlg on Oct 20, 2011 15:22:06 GMT
Hi Jon,
I have traveled with a guitar on a number of occasions, most recently to Ireland from Canada and via London, BA accepted the guitar as my second piece of luggage, I had the strat in a Hiscox case and I taped over the locks with Duct tape ( or gaffer tape) so that they would not be accidentally opened as only one locked, and British Midland also accepted the guitar as a second piece without additional payment, and in both instances it was checked through the fragile item checking desk.
No damage and no problem, the case needs to be a good one, Hiscox cases take some 300 Kgs of weight on them without damaging the instrument, and the key is you baggage allowance, if you are alloweed two pieces and you can keep your clothing bag under the 23 kgs then you will be OK, call Ryan Air and ask them, usually they are all pretty understanding.
Steve
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Post by jonathan on Oct 20, 2011 17:15:28 GMT
Thanks all. I'll give them a call tomorrow. A good case and within my weight limit then hopefully I should be ok.
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Post by rockinscott on Oct 21, 2011 0:35:59 GMT
In reply to Dave C,
Baggae handlers are not employed by the airports (baa and gatwick at least) BA have thier own handlers that are employed with them directly and just about every other airline ive seen at the airports ive worked at use handling agents, such as swissport, servisair, menzies.
As mentioned if its going in the hold it will probably go via the out of gauge belts to.the.baggage sort.area or if its particularlylarge, heavy or funny shape it will be taken by hand.
Scott :-)
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Post by strat197 on Oct 21, 2011 4:34:51 GMT
Hi Jon
Make sure you get "Fragile" tape splattered all around the case...handle with care if possible too...
regards Tony
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Post by DaveC on Oct 21, 2011 9:00:15 GMT
Hi Scott, You are quite right about the baggage handlers usually being employed by handling agents. But around the world many airports are state or local government owned and the baggage handlers are subcontracted by the airports. The airlines take what they get. In the UK BA has it's own airside handlers at the main bases (LHR/LGW) --- but the people running the conveyors inside the building (and loading/unloading the baggage trains) may not be BA employees. My point was only that they have no reason to care about passengers property. I have a lot of experience of this  . Regards DaveC |
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Post by noelford on Oct 21, 2011 9:28:03 GMT
I'm surprised no-one has mentioned Dave Carroll's 'United Breaks Guitars'. If you really haven't heard it, you can find it on YouTube. (It was written after United Airlines trashed his Taylor.)
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Post by rockinscott on Oct 21, 2011 15:15:30 GMT
Hi Dave,
I see your point but I was pointing in the uk atleast I have workes at gatwick for over ten years, and have in that time done stints in Heathrow, stansted and luton. Im sorry to hear of your experiences, I must point out that im not involved in the baggage process directly, but can confirm for BA that it is their employees that handle the luggage as I have several friends who work as BA handlers. Once taken on the belts at check in its over to computers, until they are loaded in to the cages . Anyway this maybe slightly off topic lol.
Scott
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Post by DaveC on Oct 22, 2011 9:11:21 GMT
Hi Scott, I worked for BA for 37years and I 've seen things done to baggage (around the World) that would make your eyes water! However, literally millions of rigid suitcases are transported by air every day and they get to their destinations unharmed. I hope we haven't scared Jon out of taking his guitar to France. I think his biggest problem will be RyanAir's charges  . Regards DaveC |
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Post by rockinscott on Oct 23, 2011 12:55:33 GMT
Hi Dave
I know what you mean lol and since working at the airports I pack my cases better. I think the key thing to remember is that the case, what ever the contents, should be there to protect the contents. I dont think it will be long before Ryanair start charging for air lol.
Scott
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Post by jonathan on Oct 24, 2011 18:44:19 GMT
Dave, I was very shocked at having to buy a seat just for a guitar so I'm not going to take it with me now. My (French) wife came up with a solution though, she and my daughter are in France now for half term and her cousin has several guitars so he is going to lend me an acoustic over Christmas. Problem solved and I'm now a happy bunny Jon. |
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Post by John Collins on Oct 25, 2011 10:52:38 GMT
Hi all, Not strictly on topic, but as an anecdote to this thread, here is a true story. How (not to) carry a guitar on a TRAIN. It was back around 1974 and I was travelling, by train, with my fiancé - (we’re still married!  - from Sydney to her parent’s farm in Southern NSW for a holiday weekend getaway. I had been persuaded to take a guitar, and was carrying my Suzuki 12 string acoustic with me. I had placed the guitar, which was in a soft gig bag, in the luggage rack of our carriage. Our stop was just a small rural station, and as we approached, at about 1am, I was standing ready to alight, suitcase in one hand and guitar under the other arm (sounds like Paul Simon). As it turns out, I was actually standing in the section between two carriages, which were connected by a flexible walkway. But as the train began to brake for the stop, the carriages moved together slightly, catching and wedging the guitar parallel to the train. The headstock was caught by carriage 3, while the body was jammed up against carriage 4!! To the amusement of some of the now waking passengers, I struggled in vain to free the luckless instrument – I didn’t want to reef it too hard for fear of breaking the neck (as if that wasn’t about to happen any second). As the train began to brake harder, there were a telling series of “crackling and twanging” noises to be heard above the usual din of the night express. There was nothing else to be done – I had to wait for what seemed like an age until the train finally ground to a halt, and released the tortured guitar from it’s jaws with a satisfied snarl. Head held high, I scurried down the steps to the platform as if nothing had happened. My fiancé followed, at a distance, pretending she didn’t know me. I can still see the knowing smirk on the faces through the carriage windows as I retreated back along the platform toward the exit…….. On unpacking the guitar, there were 3 broken strings, some chipped laquer at the headstock and body base, and the fretboard had separated from the neck near the nut, but overall, not as bad as expected considering it’s ordeal. A bit of glue and clamping and it was back in action. Today that guitar resides in a share house with one of my sons. I dare say it’s probably used up a few more of it’s 9 lives since. Now I dare not take a guitar on a plane........... ;D John |
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Post by tonybiker on Oct 25, 2011 11:55:58 GMT
Excellent story John ;D
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Post by jonathan on Oct 25, 2011 14:02:47 GMT
Hehe, funny story, obviously not for you at the time though  |
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- from Sydney to her parent’s farm in Southern NSW for a holiday weekend getaway. I had been persuaded to take a guitar, and was carrying my Suzuki 12 string acoustic with me. I had placed the guitar, which was in a soft gig bag, in the luggage rack of our carriage. Our stop was just a small rural station, and as we approached, at about 1am, I was standing ready to alight, suitcase in one hand and guitar under the other arm (sounds like Paul Simon). As it turns out, I was actually standing in the section between two carriages, which were connected by a flexible walkway. But as the train began to brake for the stop, the carriages moved together slightly, catching and wedging the guitar parallel to the train. The headstock was caught by carriage 3, while the body was jammed up against carriage 4!! To the amusement of some of the now waking passengers, I struggled in vain to free the luckless instrument – I didn’t want to reef it too hard for fear of breaking the neck (as if that wasn’t about to happen any second). As the train began to brake harder, there were a telling series of “crackling and twanging” noises to be heard above the usual din of the night express. There was nothing else to be done – I had to wait for what seemed like an age until the train finally ground to a halt, and released the tortured guitar from it’s jaws with a satisfied snarl. Head held high, I scurried down the steps to the platform as if nothing had happened. My fiancé followed, at a distance, pretending she didn’t know me. I can still see the knowing smirk on the faces through the carriage windows as I retreated back along the platform toward the exit……..