Flying with a Carry on guitar?
- Ravensnest
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Flying with a Carry on guitar?
Has anyone here flown with their guitar as a carry-on? I've been reading the instrument policies of different airlines. Flying from here to my country always ends up being with China airlines. According to China Airline's online policy, my guitar is 1.5 inches (4 cm) too long and half a kilo too heavy.
I was wondering if they are sticklers or if it is close enough they would let me slide. Any experiences?
TYIA
I was wondering if they are sticklers or if it is close enough they would let me slide. Any experiences?
TYIA
Still here, in country...
- Freightdog
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Re: Flying with a Carry on guitar?
This is a bit generic, and roughly applies everywhere, randomly, consistently…. and everything in between.
Write to them/email them, get a response in writing, by email, on headed stationary. Something that you can print out, and refer the check in staff to.
If they only respond by pointing you towards their baggage policy, then you pretty much have to do one of these-
-Take a chance. On a lightly loaded flight, they might not care, on a packed flight or code share you might get told to check the guitar in as extra baggage/outsize baggage.
-forget the carry on, and check it in.
-book your ticket through an agent, and maybe pay a seat fee!
Some are sticklers. Some airlines are fairly pragmatic, but might have one or two ‘by the book’ check in staff who cannot think, only follow the rules verbatim. A lot of airlines use third party check-in staff at some stations, which can be particularly difficult.
Out of interest- is the guitar too long and heavy, or the guitar and case that it’s in?
Low cost/short haul/cheapo operators tend to allow less latitude than Lang haul/mature airlines in my experience. For some, also, the days are long gone where the Purser or the captain might make the call. In the old days, we might have a guitar fly in the flightdeck with us if the cabin were full.
Write to them/email them, get a response in writing, by email, on headed stationary. Something that you can print out, and refer the check in staff to.
If they only respond by pointing you towards their baggage policy, then you pretty much have to do one of these-
-Take a chance. On a lightly loaded flight, they might not care, on a packed flight or code share you might get told to check the guitar in as extra baggage/outsize baggage.
-forget the carry on, and check it in.
-book your ticket through an agent, and maybe pay a seat fee!
Some are sticklers. Some airlines are fairly pragmatic, but might have one or two ‘by the book’ check in staff who cannot think, only follow the rules verbatim. A lot of airlines use third party check-in staff at some stations, which can be particularly difficult.
Out of interest- is the guitar too long and heavy, or the guitar and case that it’s in?
Low cost/short haul/cheapo operators tend to allow less latitude than Lang haul/mature airlines in my experience. For some, also, the days are long gone where the Purser or the captain might make the call. In the old days, we might have a guitar fly in the flightdeck with us if the cabin were full.
- Freightdog
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Re: Flying with a Carry on guitar?
Couldn’t help it! Sorry.
- Chuck Borris
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Re: Flying with a Carry on guitar?
I am flying with guitar carry on for 20 years, never had problems on long haul flights. Twice I have to argue with airline ground staff (once Air Asia from Hanoi to BKK and JC int. from Phnom Penh to BKK) Both times I insisted to see their boss and demanded his personal assurance for the safety of the guitar. I asked for their name, position in the airline and I told them my guitar is worth 10.000$ and I will send bill to them if something happened. After that they relied gruffly: "Take your guitar on board"!
Not any of my guitars is worth 10$k, but I dont trust airlines how they handling instruments, to many horror stories I read.
Not any of my guitars is worth 10$k, but I dont trust airlines how they handling instruments, to many horror stories I read.
Don"t Eat The Yellow Snow.
- hdgh29
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Re: Flying with a Carry on guitar?
If travelling with guitar, always best to invest in a hard case, with "fragile' stickers. If you are forced to put it in general baggage without a hard shell, you could get a broken neck. Especially in China.Ravensnest wrote: ↑Wed Aug 11, 2021 3:50 pm Has anyone here flown with their guitar as a carry-on? I've been reading the instrument policies of different airlines. Flying from here to my country always ends up being with China airlines. According to China Airline's online policy, my guitar is 1.5 inches (4 cm) too long and half a kilo too heavy.
I was wondering if they are sticklers or if it is close enough they would let me slide. Any experiences?
TYIA
"I tried being reasonable. Didn't like it" (Clint Eastwood)
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