Flight cases - necessary/good investment?

Passacaglia

Hello all -

I've never flown with a guitar, so have no idea. I've a friend who heads down to Chicago regularly, and I've met Josh of Caravan Guitars - great guy, seen the vids of Adrien Holovaty and Adrien Moignard playing some beautiful guitars, look forward to visiting his shop. In prep for DIJ, I'm considering buying the flight case, think it's put out by Dell Arte. (Sorry Michael, my friend can pick this one up locally).

My question goes to whether these really are a prudent investment - given my DG-300 has a standard hard shell case, nothing fancy, just a rigid case. Any thoughts? What do most here use when flying?

Thanks,

Paul

Edit: I guess the larger question is people's current experience getting their guitar on-board with them. if it helps, I'm flying AA out and Delta back. I see conflicting info on this. I really don't want to check the guitar, whether it's in a standard hard shell or fiberglass flight case.

Jazzaferri

A standard hardshell case even inside one of those shipping/flight exteriors rarely holds a guitar well enough to survive the rigours of air travel in the hold. Baggage handlers have a PhD in destroying bags.

A few years ago when I had to gate check my guitar, I went to the special baggage area to pick it up. It came flying through the plastic curtain, missed the steel rack completely and slid along the floor. Man, I was PO'd but nothing one can say or do will prevent someone who is terminally frustrated by life and a bad day from taking it out on ones luggage. Most of the time they are pretty good and it is the machines that do most of the damage but sometimes.......... :evil:

Make sure you detune the strings (I take mine down two whole tones) to take off much of the tension. If it does travel in the hold, give a a full day to warm up before you open the case.

I have a moulded plastic hardshell that I take my beach guitar (an Aria GJ that has been worked on a bunch) in. I wouldnt put my Dunn in anything less than a CF Kaurua (sp??) on the offchance that I might have to gate check it if late and no room in OH.

Delta wouldn't let me take the guitar as carryon maybe 5 years ago. Most of the time if I am early no problem at all getting it on. The cases that go over the case make them too bulky for some OH compartments.

Passacaglia

Thank you, Jazz. That's great information. Hadn't even thought of a travel guitar, which is something for me to think about for the future (even though my 300 is no heirloom). Yeah, my main concern is to show up and plan for carry on, and not be adequately prepped for being forced to check it in. The hardshell I have is pretty much like this one, and the one I'm thinking of is here.

The cargo hold temps do worry, some - aside from "tempering" the guitar for a day, I think I've read of some weird local cracking in the lacquer, at times? Ever heard of this/run across it?

Ian Rossiter

At altitude, the AMT outside the aircraft can get to -50c or worse!!! I doubt that the cargo hold is heated.

Passacaglia

So - what do you guys all do, when flying and playing?

I half wonder whether it's better to just UPS it over to Northampton....

Jon

I've flown with my guitars around the world a few times, and have, honestly, never had a problem. I've only once been able to get a guitar into the cabin - when a Lufthansa employee in Frankfurt insisted that my guitar was a valuable musical instrument and couldn't, under any circumstances, be put under the plane (I even had it in a heavy duty case with three layers of bubble wrap around it)! I've seen my Gibson ES175 come out of a baggage lift in LAX on it's top being kicked along by a baggage attendant. I've always had good cases for my guitars though, and they've always been insured.

I have in the past had fibreglass cases made, but now I'm using a plain Hiscox Lite-Flight Pro II(?) case off the shelf, with a sock to fill the gap between my slightly too small guitar and the tailpiece end of the case, and it's great. After my mostly non-eventful experiences, I would be surprised if anything happened to one of my guitars, although I'm still a little nervous putting them under, and then when I open the case for the first time at the other end. However, if they're insured for their full value with a reliable instrument insurer, there are realistically very few guitars that are so unique that they're irreplaceable, however inconvenient the damage might be in the statistically fairly unlikely event of a bad experience.

Jon

Passacaglia

Jazzaferri wrote:

I have a moulded plastic hardshell that I take my beach guitar (an Aria GJ that has been worked on a bunch) in. I wouldnt put my Dunn in anything less than a CF Kaurua (sp??) on the off chance that I might have to gate check it if late and no room in OH.

Delta wouldn't let me take the guitar as carryon maybe 5 years ago. Most of the time if I am early no problem at all getting it on. The cases that go over the case make them too bulky for some OH compartments.

Jazz, these, right? Do you have any thoughts on how the Dell Arte flight cases compare? And sorry, not following on the case-over-case thing. Do you mean, essentially, a gig-bag or soft cover, over the flight case?

Reading some other forums, many said it was using a gig bag that helped ensure they could carry on board. Makes sense, but the drag would be obviously having to check such a set up in.

I know there aren't any easy answers, but best practices would be nice to follow.

Edit" Sorry, Jon, I missed your post (glasses in the other room, and boy do I need them). Thanks, great information. It seems that no matter what, the standard hard shell is just not a good option for flight; those jumbo Dell Artes look good, to me, just don't know anything about them, no experience points.

scot

I've been a mechanic for one of the big airlines for 24 years and have traveled with a guitar dozens of times. I don't get any special treatment when I fly on company planes, so over the years I have refined my own method for guitars and air travel. Here is my best updated advice for airline travel as posted here about a week ago:

1) When you buy your ticket, ask for a seat in the rear of the plane. Large planes usually load rear to front, and this ensures that the overhead bag bins are empty when you get on - the most important thing of all. It's worth a little extra expense and adjustments to get a nonstop to your destination if you can. The system is set up to be precise, and if your connecting flight is 10 minutes late, then when you get to the next flight, the plane could be full - see below.

As far as I know - this is true for all our planes - all Airbus and Boeing overhead bins will easily carry a guitar in a gig bag. DC9 bins will not, and MD80s might not. Commuter jets like Bombardier and Embraer usually won't.

2) Be there early, and when they announce boarding for families with small children, special needs, etc, go immediately. If they ask why you want to board early, politely explain yourself. They may make you wait a few more minutes, but they will probably be sympathetic and you'll be at the head of the boarding line, which is where you want to be. The most important thing is that you get on early before the overhead bins fill up. Most planes today don't have a coat closet and if they do they might not allow a guitar in it - my company will not allow anything but garments. If you arrive late, you are much more likely to have problems. If the bag bins are full, there is no help for you. Your guitar will not get on. As it gets closer to pushback, the agent's stress level goes way up and if you show up late with a guitar and the plane is crowded, they will have no sympathy for you. They won't have time to be sympathetic, because the plane needs to leave on time.

3) A good gig bag is a lot better than a hard case for travel - they will recognize that the guitar is fragile and can't go with baggage. But don't be late!

4) If you are not late but still have problems, remember - be polite but firm and ask to speak to a supervisor at the first opportunity. At their discretion, they can and will keep you off the plane if you are excessively rude or aggressive. Gate agents suffer more verbal abuse from the public in a single day than most of us have to endure in a lifetime - I wouldn't last one day before I punched someone.

5) Remember - whatever the law says, there still has to be room on the plane to get that guitar on board - and believe me, they will NOT stash your prize in the galley for you. The tickets are so cheap today that planes are always crowded, and baggage fees mean that people carry as much junk on the plane as they can get away with. Airlines are under tremendous pressure by the government to be on time. And that's why you should always do everything you can to get on the plane as early as possible.

The plus side is that airlines are much more reasonable about guitars today. 20 years ago, it was about impossible to get a guitar on a plane.

6) If you are late, the plane is already full, and you absolutely can't get out of a gate-check, wait in the jetway until the very last minute. In theory, this insures that your guitar is the last thing to go into the cargo hold (with the baby strollers, car seats etc) and won't have other bags dumped on it, and will be the first removed. And BTW, the cargo hold is pressurized and is kept at the roughly the same temperature as the cabin. Live animals are carried in this compartment

So - get there early, get on board early, use a gig bag and be nice to everyone. Bon voyage!

Passacaglia

Hey Scot, thanks - yours was one of the articles I referred to above, and it was very helpful when I read it.

I guess there's no easy answer. Yep, I understand the gig bag gets you a better chance of taking it on board - but then, we're screwed if we have to check the guitar in its gig bag. A monster fibreglass, jumbo as Michael has here makes it less likely to get a smiling face on the other hand, but should we have to check it, it's better insurance against damage (and I'd imagine, the garish red makes it less likely to gain a thief's potential eye).

That about right?

Passacaglia

Just as an additional point of information, just got off the phone with AA. She was very nice. Said the normal carry on is the LWH combined limit of 45", but instruments are allowed the exceed this limit. She then went to the help desk to get better information. She came back and said, as long as the guitar doesn't exceed 45" LWH, I'm good. Houston, we have a problem.... :?:

FWIW, the planes I'm taking are smaller jets, Embraer RJ145 out and Canadair 900 back, so this might all just be moot.

Jazzaferri

Yes Karura is the cf case I was talking about.

For a guitar that is relatively easily replaced I wound have no hesitation in the dell arte case. For a rare or unreplaceable guitar, eg my Dunn was completed on Djangos 100th birthday and is one of Michaels best I would still only go with the Karura. My plastic moulded (PVC??) case that came with one of my Dunn's works really well and has survived a few baggage checks the number and depth of the scars on it add to my wonder at baggage handling

I can't recall the name but there is a company that produces a case box that has styrofoam spacers between it's outside and the hard shell case inside. Supposed to work very well and is relatively cheap if you have to check a guitar.

I used to fly airplanes for a living. I have a pretty good idea of what goes on below the passenger terminal levels. Oh and yes while the baggage area is inside the pressure hull and somewhat heated if yourguitar is up against the hull and covered by a few bags it can get pretty cold. Remember it's around minus 42 up there summer or winter.