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I've had enough musician friends have their instruments broken during flights after checking them that I wouldn't do it. That said, don't ever check an instrument in a gig bag.. they call flight cases that for a reason. And you'll pay a lot more to fly with a checked flight case because it's oversized and weighs so much.

But I factor it this way: How much is it going to cost me in repairs in a foreign city once I touch down if they break it? What about if I have to replace it altogether? How much is that going to cost me? Paying a little extra for checked luggage and paying for a proper flight case before are totally worth it.

That said, I don't travel a whole lot. In your case, you can't get around not bringing the instrument, so I say sell something else, buy the flight case, and pay for checking it.

our bassist had his calzone flight case demolished by what must have been a forklift for our first european tour. luckily his vintage tele bass (which was probably worth $2000) was totally fine, but the hole in the case was about an inch from the neck. yikes.

so even a flight case isn't a sure bet! just saying.
you don't necessarily have to pay extra for a flight case with an instrument, it again comes down to the size/weight limitations for the particular airline.

airlines have been legendary for destroying or disappearing checked gear for decades. i would never let a piece of gear out of my sight at an airport if i could possibly avoid it. many people on forums i frequent report that they hand-carry guitars onto planes with no problem, but i wouldn't depend on that. i shipped a guitar/hard case back and forth to Chicago summer before last when i visited so i wouldn't have to hassle with it in the airport...i HATE schlepping stuff around airports and never travel with more than one bag. i picked it up at a FedEx shop near my friend's apartment. for your purposes i'd mail it or ship it in some similar fashion, packed in the manner one would pack a vintage guitar for shipment: double carton, bubble wrap, et cetera.

I wouldn't check anything of value, period. in addition to the possibilty of damage, the TSA now manually goes through all checked luggage and has the opportunity to steal pretty much anything they want.

im getting mixed responses...some of yall scared me. i think ill probably mail it. probably usps parcel post which is ground right? neck off or on?

A few pieces of relevant info perhaps:

1) Just today I flew on a KLM flight from Amsterdam to NYC with a Fender bass gig bag (stuffed with a weirdly long guitar) in the overhead. Fit easy breezy, no issues. (Big plane with big overhead storage though...)
2) I've also flown on a smaller domestic flight on one of those smaller Embraer jets (forget which model) with the same gig bag with an old (and delicate) Harmony Rocket in it, and it fit fine and arrived unscathed.)
3) I recently traded guitars with a forum member here and we sent our guitars back and forth wrapped in bubble wrap and double boxed and all of that. Sent it FedEx Ground for just over $30 from coast to coast. Arrived in great shape.
4) I've also checked a guitar at the airport boxed up in a similar fashion and it got their almost in tune still.

Granted these are all guitars that are $500 and under, so it's lower stakes, but still some good options I think.

...I believe a few phone calls will clear things out, if You don't take it in the plane with You, also: do You have an insurance that would cover for the damages/ loosing the lovely vintage bass? Can You have it shipped with insurance? Or by a DHL courier, or similar, perhaps? My friends have ordered instruments from the US, UK, DE and India, none has gone missing, ever, and only one cymbal has turned up damaged on the way And one more idea: see the yellow pages and ask for prices of the moving companies, sometimes they can take organize moving instruments (possibly with other stuff) insured and properly packed.

Friends toured America, opening for King Diamond, and they told me You simply HAD to have a tough fly case for the axes, AND insurance. Train, plane or bus, sturdy cases are really useful with long distance traveling. Nothing really can save the instruments from the drunken forklift driver, but for your valuable instruments it's good to have some protection from smaller bruising the loaders can do without the forklift. The cases can be, though, expensive if You don't have use for them around the year.

My only experience with guitars and aeroplanes came many years ago when I was far too young and naive to even consider these issues. I checked my Les Paul in a hardcase in with normal luggage, they put a fragile label on it and promised to take good care of it. This was just a short hop from Vancouver to Calgary on Westjet (I think), and I may have just got lucky but it came out totally fine.

I just did this about 4 days ago. I took my guitar on the plane and the flight attendants were kind enough to put it in "closet" they have for people that bring suits and the like. The pedals went in a PT Pro hard case - special cargo marked fragile. I had no problems at all. For reference, I was on Air Canada, but I would imagine any American carrier will treat you the same. It's all in the way you smile, I guess.

Best of luck on your move!!

Edit: on the other side, I flew KLM from Amsterdam 12 years ago with about $15k worth of synth gear in flight cases. The mixer came back with case damage, and one of the synths' LEDs was damaged (cheap fix, fortunately). Perhaps it could have been packed better, but just wanted to throw that at you for your info.

Airports could be even more important than flight operators. Because luggage is serviced by airport personal. There are "good, bad and ugly" airports in terms how they carry your luggage from check-in to plane and vice versa.
Never did it before but friend of mine recommended to purchase another ticket also for guitar. It is not cheap, but your instrument "sits" secure next to you.

that's actually a great idea. expensive, but great.

i am really lucky with this stuff. i have a "service dog", so i actually get 3 seats on the plane for the price of one - in the most comfortable section!

symbolique wrote:The thought of a vintage guitar going into the sub-zero (?) temperatures of a plane's hold is scary. Charm the stewardess' for their locker.

Never goes below 40 on a decent airline. People check their pets on these things!

Hope this vid helps
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfxRTs1k45s&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

aen wrote:

symbolique wrote:The thought of a vintage guitar going into the sub-zero (?) temperatures of a plane's hold is scary. Charm the stewardess' for their locker.

Never goes below 40 on a decent airline. People check their pets on these things!

Had no idea on temp, but Snickers here disagrees on the safety of airplane holds: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/26/heather-lombardi-pet-owne_n_814542.html

i went to guitar center today to ask for a box to ship my bass. one guy said they didnt have any but another employee said they did. i guess when he went to the back to check they really didnt, but he opened an unopened fender p-bass just to give me the box. and all the packing stuff that came in it. i just thought that was really cool.