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Joined:
July 2003
Posts: 3111
Location: Nashville TN. | http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P45E0uGVyeg&feature=player_embedded# |
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Joined:
May 2008
Posts: 4996
Location: Phoenix AZ | WOW. This is really cool. Thanks for posting it. |
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Joined:
September 2004
Posts: 96
Location: Eugene, OR | The bad bad news....
As a captain for a major airline I've gotta make sure you know this....
NO GUITAR IS EVER SAFE if you don't keep it with you in the cabin.
I cringe every time I see a nice guitar waiting in the jetway to be taken down for loading into the baggage bin. Many cargo compartments have no heat. Others are not pressurized. Can you imagine the stress that takes-out on a fine guitar?? If it happens to slip off the belt loader going up to the baggage compartment, that fall might be 15 feet onto icy pavement. Back on the belt-loader it goes.... Unless it's left to be run-over by a tug.
The only way to keep it half way safe is by Fedex ground. But NOT by air.
EVER!!
Got that?
Most of the damage I see down the road in guitars that just decide to deconstruct, in my mind, is from the stresses of dry, subzero air and shock they were exposed to in some baggage compartment.
If an airline can't keep a dog alive,...they sure as hell don't care about your guitar.. If you see an agent send it out the jetway door, you might as well be shopping for a new one that day.
NEVER. never EVER leave your guitar in the jetway to take down and stow in the baggage compartment. It might look okay after the trip but you have irreparably damaged that instrument...
Carry it ONLY in the cabin. If they say "no".... find some other way to get there or buy another seat for it, and strap it in. |
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Joined:
October 2005
Posts: 4080
Location: Utah | As another captain for a major airline (yet still called a regional airline by most), I agree mostly.
Airlines all have policies about musical instruments. Some allow guitars to be brought on board if there is room to stow them, a few will not allow it even if there is space. The bottom line, though, is that the flight attendants have final say on what goes in the overhead bin or in a closet. Be polite, be one of the first on the aircraft, and hope for the best.
Never send it as checked baggage from the front counter. Take it to the airplane yourself and then only if there is no other option have it gate checked. It will be handled much less that way.
In our regional jets the baggage compartments are all pressurized and heated. They are not effectively cooled in the hot summertime sitting on the ground. We will carry live animals in the winter but not in the summer.
As a "regional" we have the advantage in terms of attitude of the ground crew of not being unionized and not having career rampers. Employees seem to have a more positive attitude about customer service than at a mega-corporation where their job is secure no matter what. Plus, we are profitable and have a profit sharing plan, so most people are keyed into that quarterly bonus check.
Whatever you do, use a hard sided case when you fly, and detune the strings if you have to gate check the guitar. Airlines' damage policy will refuse your claim if you do otherwise. |
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united breaks guitars song 3
