Recent flying experiences, gate checking, and case musings

flaco

Hi everyone, I know this is always something people are interested in. I’ve flown a decent amount with my guitar lately due to Django in June, Samois, and some other trips, so I wanted to share my experiences. In the past few months I’ve taken 11 flights with my guitar, both domestic and international. The airlines have been Delta, Southwest, Air France, Air India, and British Airways. For all the flights I had my guitar in a Calton dreadnaught flight case, which isn’t a perfect fit but it’s the best case I have. For all the flights I was able to get the guitar in the cabin of the plane. For the Southwest flights, the case fit in the overheads. For the Air India flight I bought a separate seat for the guitar. For all the other flights the guitar fit in a closet on the plane.

One thing I have read here and other places is about gate checking the guitar, where you drop the guitar off at the jetway AND THEY RETURN IT TO YOU ON THE JETWAY at the destination. Every airline I spoke with at every airport said this isn’t possible. They all said they will gate check the guitar for you, but from there you have to pick it up on the baggage carousel. One mentioned that TSA regulations only let them bring infant-related items like strollers back up to the jetway. Is this a recent change, or have I misunderstood this all along? This was going to be my backup strategy if I couldn’t get the guitar in the cabin, so it’s disappointing to find out it’s not possible anymore.

On the thoughts about cases, the Calton gave some piece of mind but it’s HEAVY. At Samois I was staying about 2 miles from Samoreau, which I walked multiple times carrying that case. That had me dreaming of a lighter case, but I just don’t know that I would chance anything less protective knowing that you can’t gate checking the guitar anymore and they have to go through the baggage carousel. The Calton is also very bulky compared to the size of the guitar, and on most flights the attendants mentioned that they normally allow guitars but mine was just too big. It definitely would be nice to have something a little more form-fitting and less conspicuous.

Southwest was the only plane I travelled on that had overheads big enough for a guitar case, so they are a great option to guarantee you can carry your guitar on if you are willing to pay for early bird seating. I don’t know how this is going to change once they go to assigned seating.

Regarding getting the guitar into the closets, without exception the actual attendants on the plane would bend over backwards and do everything possible to help find a place, so the key is getting the guitar into the cabin of the plane. Every time a counter agent or gate agent saw the guitar they said there was no way it would fit and tried to make me check it into cargo.

pdg

How were you able to get past everyone and onto the plane itself, without being "busted" beforehand?

Russell Letson

I've been gate-checking my big flight cases (one a Calton archtop-size) on Delta domestic flights for about twenty years (out of and into Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, SeaTac, Newark, and LaGuardia) and never had an agent blink at my request, nor ever had it routed from gate-checked through the automated checked-baggage system. One thing I do *not* do is surrender the case at the checked-baggage station outside the security area--nor has any Delta agent ever insisted that I do so. I say that I'm gate-checking and they say OK. At the gate, I ask the agent for a "pink tag" and am given one. Nobody even blinks.

I know that the aircraft will not have sufficient overhead or even closet space (the flights I've taken have been full or nearly full), so I leave the tagged case on the jetway and find it there at the destination. (The only time it wound up in the checked-baggage area was when I let it go through the conventional checked system going from Nashville to Pittsburgh, which might not have been a Delta flight. It sat out in the open in the oversize area in Pittsburgh. Never again, thought I.)

Southwest is well known as instrument-friendly (and it probably helps that their aircraft are configured with big overheads), and my experience with Delta has been as described above. I don't know about other carrriers, and I suspect that foreign-based airlines might have very different rule-sets and regulations and cultures. And I've never taken a guitar on an international flight.

As far as flight-case luggability goes, the lightweight solution is a carbon-fiber case like a Hoffee. Or (and this is my own workaround) packing a foldable gig bag (an older TKL) in my main checked suitcase. I transfer the guitar for carrying around at the destination--though that does require a pretty big suitcase. Or I suppose I could pack a week's worth of clothes and such in the TKL instead of a conventional suitcase. It might make for some awkwardness during customs inspections, but for domestic travel it could work.

JSanta

I just took a flight from Toronto to Barcelona on Air Canada and because of the savings not flying out of the States, we had business class seats. 100% sure my guitar would not have fit in the overheads, but a case would fit in the closet. I brought my AJL travel guitar, so that case is only the size of a violin. No problems there.

When I brought my Duffell home from England in January, I also flew business class (JetBlue this time) and the Bam case without the cover would have fit in the overhead or closet, but with the flight cover, it's way too big. I gate checked the guitar and I watched the JetBlue ground crew load/unload it and they took great care. I was super impressed.

99% of the flights I take are on small regional jets and I am 100000% sure that there is no space for any type of case on the plane, even my travel guitar case doesn't fit in the overheads.

Anyway, my point is that my experiences have mostly been positive, but I am prepared for the situation and fly enough that I know what kind of plane I'm going to be dealing with. And I personally haven't seen ground crew being negligent, though I know it happens.

Thankfully the Bam case is really light, so without the flight cover, I don't feel like I'm carrying a boat anchor.

flaco

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/122113#Comment_122113

Don’t ask questions, don’t ask for permission, and just walk on with confidence worked in most cases. The few times I was questioned I just mentioned I was going to try and find space for it and I would gate check it if I couldn’t find space in the cabin. One gate agent tagged it and told me I needed to drop it at the gate check area, but when I got to the plane I carried it inside and they found me a closet.

flaco

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/122114#Comment_122114

Thanks Russell! Have you done the gate checking recently? I’m wondering if this is a recent change, because I had multiple Delta gate agents at multiple airports tell me that if I gate checked it then it would be checked through to my final destination and come out on the baggage carousel.

pdg

Russell, what's a "pink tag"?

DeuxDoigts_Tonnerre

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/122121#Comment_122121

When you gate check your instrument, they give you a pink luggage tag to put on the case. You then tear off the end of the tag and keep it with you.

billyshakes

I don't know if that is a Delta thing or what, but just about every flight I've been on recently that has "run out of room" in the cabin has had lines of people in the jetway waiting to get their gate-checked bags. The pink tag I think Russell is referring to is the gate check tag. When a gate agent prints out one of those long white bar code strips at the counter, then you can pretty much be sure your bag will end up on a carousel. But, just handing you the pink tag that looks like one of those cheap bagage ID tags airlines provide should mean your item will be waiting for you on the jetway.

I flew with my new TL-50 out of Hartford to DC but it was on American Eagle (PSA airlines). I booked an extra seat and the gate agent was completely fine with that and asked me about the guitar out of curiosity (he had a luthier relative). However, the new-ish flight attendant thought it had to be placed on the seat (i.e. not in the footspace where your legs go). Since it was a small Embraer regional jet, there is no way that could happen as the headspace is too low. However, when she asked her more experienced colleague, it was given the green light provided it was strapped in. At some point during that interaction, I did ask if she just wanted to put it in her closet (even though I paid for the seat), but she claimed there was no room. I partly think that was in instinctive response that might be trained into them to avoid having to cater to people with oversized carryons. It did appear to have room but I wasn't going to argue because I had the seat.

Russell Letson

flaco: I flew Minneapolis-La Guardia and back three weeks ago with the same results I've been seeing for years--even with the same big, scary-looking SuperCase. Maybe it's the routes, maybe it's my boyish good looks--though at 80, it's more likely my gray beard and suburban-grandpa wardrobe. Flying first class doesn't hurt, either, though in my not-so-long-ago coach days I got the same treatment.

pdg: The pink tag is actually more magenta, the color of the gate-check tag that now is associated with your boarding pass/destination info. I haven't done a connecting-flight route since visiting Hawai`i (MSP-SEA-HNL) in early 2001, so that final-destination part isn't a concern for me. (And for that trip I took a Baby Taylor in a hard case and stowed it neatly in the overhead on both legs of the trip.)