RE: Air Travel with a Guitar (Full Version)

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Morante -> RE: Air Travel with a Guitar (Aug. 24 2023 15:44:09)

quote:

his was Ryan air.

U should never use Ryanair!!!



Stu -> RE: Air Travel with a Guitar (Sep. 5 2023 1:59:04)

So got the guitar all the way to the gate and that busted me for £48. 'As it is a hard case it will have to go on the hold sir'
Maybe next time I take the soft case



RobF -> RE: Air Travel with a Guitar (Sep. 5 2023 2:57:53)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Stu
So got the guitar all the way to the gate and that busted me for £48. 'As it is a hard case it will have to go on the hold sir'
Maybe next time I take the soft case


A slipcover over a fibreglass or similar formed case works a charm. It looks like a medium sized gig bag like that and the guitar gets well protected for the bin. I’ve never had problems with the big flights with that configuration, always carried it on, but the small planes are different, it’s touch and go. I’ve never been charged for a gate check, though, but I’ve never used Ryanair, either.



Stu -> RE: Air Travel with a Guitar (Sep. 5 2023 23:19:32)

Yeah most of my recent travels with the guitar face been smallish flights. Maybe that's the issue.



Ricardo -> RE: Air Travel with a Guitar (Sep. 6 2023 11:52:39)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Stu

So got the guitar all the way to the gate and that busted me for £48. 'As it is a hard case it will have to go on the hold sir'
Maybe next time I take the soft case


Ridiculous man. I would have demanded cancellation and money back for the ticket and said you will buy a flight from an other airline that always lets you take it on or GATE CHECKS IT COMPLIMENTARY. This is obviously a scam via the low cost flight. They have to make their money some other way.



orsonw -> RE: Air Travel with a Guitar (Sep. 6 2023 12:10:13)

quote:

Ridiculous man. I would have demanded cancellation and money back for the ticket and said you will buy a flight from an other airline that always lets you take it on or GATE CHECKS IT COMPLIMENTARY. This is obviously a scam via the low cost flight. They have to make their money some other way.


In the past I travelled to Spain and other European countries 15-20 times with a guitar as hand luggage no problem. Past 10 years or so things changed. Low cost airlines changed to the model of charging for hold luggage. This means most people take hand luggage so the over head lockers are always completely full. There's no use arguing with them Ricardo, they don't care, this is now known low cost airline policy.
I still go to Spain regularly but I don't take a guitar. If I did I'd look at higher cost airlines, but maybe they have the same policy now as well? Maybe cheaper to buy a seat for the guitar on a low cost airline?

EDIT just looked at British airways policy below, so it's not just Ryan air, Easy Jet,
"Instruments such as a guitar, a larger wind instrument or a cello can be taken in the cabin in a case up to 140 x 50 x 40cm [55 x 20 x 16in] as long as you buy an extra seat for them. These seats are subject to availability and cannot be booked online so contact us at least 24 hours before you fly."



Ricardo -> RE: Air Travel with a Guitar (Sep. 6 2023 12:19:58)

quote:

ORIGINAL: orsonw

quote:

Ridiculous man. I would have demanded cancellation and money back for the ticket and said you will buy a flight from an other airline that always lets you take it on or GATE CHECKS IT COMPLIMENTARY. This is obviously a scam via the low cost flight. They have to make their money some other way.


In the past I travelled to Spain and other European countries 15-20 times with a guitar as hand luggage no problem. Past 10 years or so things changed. Low cost airlines changed to the model of charging for hold luggage. This means most people take hand luggage so the over head lockers are always completely full. There's no use arguing with them Ricardo, they don't care, this is now known low cost airline policy.
I still go to Spain regularly but I don't take a guitar. If I did I'd look at higher cost airlines, but maybe they have the same policy now as well? Maybe cheaper to buy a seat for the guitar on a low cost airline?


Essentially you are saying they are charging for (intended) carry ons so that means when purchasing a ticket one needs to weigh the price against the extra 50 bucks. I would bet it balances out and one would be back to gambling checking it in either way. In my mind I am thinking he paid a decent price ticket that was RELATIVELY cheap, as in he found a good deal but based on timing say, he could have chosen a different airline. Instead it sounds like cheap flight is the PROBLEM….I have flown “cheap” flights around USA and always get it on or free gate check. This business of “buy a seat for it” I never understood because like what, you put the guitar in the seat next to you? That is unacceptable and dangerous and does not even guarantee it fits over head or that it makes into the cabin…it is just an “inconvenience” fee that the rude airline pushes on behalf of your rudeness at bringing a musical instrument with you. Basically an insult.



orsonw -> RE: Air Travel with a Guitar (Sep. 6 2023 12:33:08)

quote:

This business of “buy a seat for it” I never understood because like what, you put the guitar in the seat next to you?


I think you buy the 'seat' for it's allocated overhead locker space? But I agree it is ridiculous how hard it is to take a guitar, and the best one can do is gamble on getting it on. These days I'd estimate odds of getting a guitar on as hand luggage are very low.
But so are flight prices, was just looking at a flight to Barcelona next month, as low as £27 return!



Mark2 -> RE: Air Travel with a Guitar (Sep. 6 2023 16:39:19)

Just came back from a trip to Washington state and United let me bring a guitar on board both ways. OTOH, on a recent trip to Santa Barbara, it was a smaller plane and I had to check it. I use a decent case, and duct tape it closed in case the latches give. I also don't bring my best guitar.



machopicasso -> RE: Air Travel with a Guitar (Sep. 7 2023 4:46:38)

quote:

Just came back from a trip to Washington state and United let me bring a guitar on board both ways.


That's interesting. The last time I flew United (maybe 6-7 years ago?), they wouldn't even let me check it at the gate. I said I'd done it repeatedly with other airlines, and they were like, "We've never allowed that." So, I haven't flown United ever since.



Ricardo -> RE: Air Travel with a Guitar (Sep. 7 2023 14:13:24)

quote:

OTOH, on a recent trip to Santa Barbara, it was a smaller plane and I had to check it.


This is and has always been normal, however, the new issue if you didn’t read it from Stu, is whether or not they charged you $50 for that???

quote:

That's interesting. The last time I flew United (maybe 6-7 years ago?), they wouldn't even let me check it at the gate. I said I'd done it repeatedly with other airlines, and they were like, "We've never allowed that."


And again, did they hit you with a $50 fee to check it at the gate??? That is new issue going on, where if it IS the case that is what airlines are doing now, it is no longer advice I will give to take it to the gate. Again, I have ALWAYS had to gate check guitars on various airlines at some point (about 20% of the time or less), pink tag COMPLIMENTARY (no fees involved), yet we are hearing stories now that airlines are squeezing out checked bag fees at the gate. THAT is what I am trying to establish. It is important because when I travel for gigs I get Per diam and performance fees etc, but I have never allocated bag check fees I didn’t need. This would be something I have to add to the contract when I fly to gigs if it is an actual “thing”.

I notice some years ago pros traveling with NO GUITAR, and I have had to lend my guitars out at times which I always thought was lame, and only recently did the same myself (because my friend had a great guitar I wanted to try out and use anyway, not some stranger). It is to the point promoters contact me to lend my guitars to strangers and I think it is lame….unless this is what it is about. So it can be dealt with if it is in fact a new policy and we need to amend or roll in the costs (two directions is extra $100) to gig expenses.



machopicasso -> RE: Air Travel with a Guitar (Sep. 8 2023 4:39:31)

quote:

And again, did they hit you with a $50 fee to check it at the gate???


No, I've never paid a fee for checking it at the gate. Most of those times were pre-COVID, and I was flying Delta.

Most recently, I flew round trip via American Airlines last December and checked it both ways without any fee.

Maybe we need an ongoing list of which airlines are (or are not) charging fees.



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