i'm hating air travel........

[Suriel Zayas]

i'm hating air travel everyday more and more. this past weekend i travelled to l.a. for some shows (tom, i was driven right by the newbury park exit off 101 on friday afternoon. i was tempted to tell the driver to take the exit, but you would've had a whole bus load of band, techs, and backline people. we were being taken to the santa barbara bowl to a sound check.). continuing my story, i arrive at the airport early friday morning for the flight to l.a., check-in, and proceed to the gate with my two andersons in my mooridian double electric gigbag. by the way, the mooridian is the perfect gig bag for airline travel, as it fits perfectly in the overhead compartment, until friday. when i arrive at the gate they advise me and the bass player that effective immediately (delta) is no longer accepting stringed instruments in the cabin and that the instruments should be checked in to baggage :eek: . however, it was not that terrible as they would do a gate check and take it to a special compartment and when i would arrive in l.a. they would hand it over to at the gate. that's what they told me and that's what i believed! far from the truth. yes it was checked at the gate, but not handed over to me at the gate. it went through the full complemement of baggage handlers at lax. thank god the guitars made it to the show in one piece.

now coming home i thought i would have the same luck of checking the guitars in at the gate, but that was not the case. at lax i was forced to check in the guitars as baggage, sign a limited release waiver, and say a prayer. fortunately, the guitars made it safe to jfk after making it through lax's and jfk's baggage system.

and yes i'm hating airline travel more and more eachday. for the past 15 years i have been able to always carry at least one guitar with me aboard the aircraft and now suddenly that became a thing of the past. what's next?

with that in mind i'll be posting a review of the new incase double electric guitar case i have been using for about 6 months.

[olectric]

effective immediately (delta) is no longer accepting stringed instruments in the cabin and that the instruments should be checked in to baggage

maybe you could take the strings off? at least then it's not a "stringed" instrument...

anyway, that sucks, bro. i'm so glad your guitars made it okay though! i always fly southwest out of nashville, and i've never had a problem, but i haven't had a fly date since the recent security increase. i have some starting back up in a week and a half, so we'll see how that goes. they always make me nervous!

[stratoquack]

Check out Steve's rant about this very subject.
www.stevemorse.com look at site updates and ROAD NOTES. It's the one from August 11 pt.2

[dave]

it's the same story too in europe. everyone's getting hysterical about safety -though quite how you're supposed to be able to use a guitar as a weapon on an airplane beats me. maybe they think you'll take the strings off and garrotte someome

[Barry]

i'm hating air travel everyday more and more. this past weekend i travelled to l.a. for some shows (tom, i was driven right by the newbury park exit off 101 on friday afternoon. i was tempted to tell the driver to take the exit, but you would've had a whole bus load of band, techs, and backline people. we were being taken to the santa barbara bowl to a sound check.). continuing my story, i arrive at the airport early friday morning for the flight to l.a., check-in, and proceed to the gate with my two andersons in my mooridian double electric gigbag. by the way, the mooridian is the perfect gig bag for airline travel, as it fits perfectly in the overhead compartment, until friday. when i arrive at the gate they advise me and the bass player that effective immediately (delta) is no longer accepting stringed instruments in the cabin and that the instruments should be checked in to baggage :eek: . however, it was not that terrible as they would do a gate check and take it to a special compartment and when i would arrive in l.a. they would hand it over to at the gate. that's what they told me and that's what i believed! far from the truth. yes it was checked at the gate, but not handed over to me at the gate. it went through the full complemement of baggage handlers at lax. thank god the guitars made it to the show in one piece.

now coming home i thought i would have the same luck of checking the guitars in at the gate, but that was not the case. at lax i was forced to check in the guitars as baggage, sign a limited release waiver, and say a prayer. fortunately, the guitars made it safe to jfk after making it through lax's and jfk's baggage system.

and yes i'm hating airline travel more and more eachday. for the past 15 years i have been able to always carry at least one guitar with me aboard the aircraft and now suddenly that became a thing of the past. what's next?

with that in mind i'll be posting a review of the new incase double electric guitar case i have been using for about 6 months.

I've done several USO/DOD overseas shows and and found out only too quickly the importance of road cases .I remember a tour in the mediterrannean when we flew 34 times in eight weeks . Have you tried anvil type cases for air travel ? It would mean no more double cases i suppose but if you can't check them on the aircraft any longer it may be the safer alternative . I bet Tom at Pedalboards.com could knock them up for you . All my cases are made by unitec .

[Suriel Zayas]

I've done several USO/DOD overseas shows and and found out only too quickly the importance of road cases . .

when out on tour (long term) i carry 6+ guitars in their respective ohsc, and those cases go into a single roadcase. however, having been on the road so long and knowing nothing is guaranteed, i always carry at least one guitar in a gig bag with me at all times. and yes that guitar has gotten me out of some major jams. such as, when i was doing the north sea jazz festival in 1999, all equipment arrived to port except my guitars. guess what? i had a guitar with me. and just last december 2005, i arrive at capetown, south africa, and my gutars arrive at sydney, australia. yes, i was scheduled to travel to sydney, but one month later. however, for that quick fly-date, i just wanna take two, and make sure they get on and off the plane with me.

the only saving grace this weekend would've been, i was only about an hour away from tom's shop, and i'm sure there must be an old f*nd*r hanging on a nail somewhere in the shop that i could've used for the show.:rolleyes: :D

[Barry]

when out on tour (long term) i carry 6+ guitars in their respective ohsc, and those cases go into a single roadcase. however, having been on the road so long and knowing nothing is guaranteed, i always carry at least one guitar in a gig bag with me at all times. and yes that guitar has gotten me out of some major jams. such as, when i was doing the north sea jazz festival in 1999, all equipment arrived to port except my guitars. guess what? i had a guitar with me. and just last december 2005, i arrive at capetown, south africa, and my gutars arrive at sydney, australia. yes, i was scheduled to travel to sydney, but one month later. however, for that quick fly-date, i just wanna take two, and make sure they get on and off the plane with me.

the only saving grace this weekend would've been, i was only about an hour away from tom's shop, and i'm sure there must be an old f*nd*r hanging on a nail somewhere in the shop that i could've used for the show.:rolleyes: :D

I suppose the difference for me was I was usually traveling on military planes and not commercial so i was actualling watching them load my gear most of the time . The world is a much different place now, and especially air travel . My mother is from England so we are there quite often visting family . Ive seen the travel restrictions change quite a bit over the years .

[ToneLounge]

Sorry to hear of your ordeals.

I've done eight (8) flights on American Airlines in the past three weeks and had no problems with carrying-on guitars in gig bags. If fact, with the lastest no-liquids deal, the overheads have been rather empty (more people are checking bags now).

[Barry]

i'm hating air travel everyday more and more. this past weekend i travelled to l.a. for some shows (tom, i was driven right by the newbury park exit off 101 on friday afternoon. i was tempted to tell the driver to take the exit, but you would've had a whole bus load of band, techs, and backline people. we were being taken to the santa barbara bowl to a sound check.). continuing my story, i arrive at the airport early friday morning for the flight to l.a., check-in, and proceed to the gate with my two andersons in my mooridian double electric gigbag. by the way, the mooridian is the perfect gig bag for airline travel, as it fits perfectly in the overhead compartment, until friday. when i arrive at the gate they advise me and the bass player that effective immediately (delta) is no longer accepting stringed instruments in the cabin and that the instruments should be checked in to baggage :eek: . however, it was not that terrible as they would do a gate check and take it to a special compartment and when i would arrive in l.a. they would hand it over to at the gate. that's what they told me and that's what i believed! far from the truth. yes it was checked at the gate, but not handed over to me at the gate. it went through the full complemement of baggage handlers at lax. thank god the guitars made it to the show in one piece.

now coming home i thought i would have the same luck of checking the guitars in at the gate, but that was not the case. at lax i was forced to check in the guitars as baggage, sign a limited release waiver, and say a prayer. fortunately, the guitars made it safe to jfk after making it through lax's and jfk's baggage system.

and yes i'm hating airline travel more and more eachday. for the past 15 years i have been able to always carry at least one guitar with me aboard the aircraft and now suddenly that became a thing of the past. what's next?

with that in mind i'll be posting a review of the new incase double electric guitar case i have been using for about 6 months.
Suriel,

I would like to hear some details on your new double case you were referring to .

[Suriel Zayas]

Sorry to hear of your ordeals.

I've done eight (8) flights on American Airlines in the past three weeks and had no problems with carrying-on guitars in gig bags. If fact, with the lastest no-liquids deal, the overheads have been rather empty (more people are checking bags now).

+1 on american airlines, as i travelled the two previous weekends in a row on american and absolutely no issues. you're right, the overhead compartments were rather empty.

[dannopelli]

Was in Nashville a few weeks back and watched the baggage handlers literally THROW guitars, horns, etc, from the conveyor to a luggage cart. I wanted to scream!

[olectric]

Was in Nashville a few weeks back and watched the baggage handlers literally THROW guitars, horns, etc, from the conveyor to a luggage cart. I wanted to scream!

Ugh...I wish you hadn't said that. I'm going to try to carry my guitar on this weekend.

[dkaplowitz]

... forced to check in the guitars as baggage, sign a limited release waiver ...
Ugh! That's what gets my goat. In effect they're saying, instead of letting you be responsible for whether it gets broken, we're going to put it in a place where we KNOW it will get broken. And we're gonna make you sign something that absolves us of any responsibility for mishandling your expensive item. Is it any wonder these jerks can have a business with such volume that always runs at a deficit? Anyway, sorry to hear about the bad experience. I know how stressful that can be. It's great to hear the gear made it okay.

Oddly enough, I flew to Seattle from Philly on Delta on 10/13 and back on 10/20 with a mini guitar and didn't encounter any hassles even though the thing looked like a submachine gun in the nylon case I had it in.

[Woodash]

Oddly enough, I flew to Seattle from Philly on Delta on 10/13 and back on 10/20 with a mini guitar and didn't encounter any hassles even though the thing looked like a submachine gun in the nylon case I had it in.
I fly a helluva lot for work and I almost always carry a Steinie GR-4R with me in what is proabaly a very similar case. Slung over my shoulder, I never get hassled. Of course, nowadays, if you have more than 2 carry-ons, you're pretty likely to get hassled.

[Casper]

The first fly date I did to Canada, I carried my axe in a shoulder bag and the stewardess let me put it in a coat closet, when we connected, I had to put it in the overhead. No problem up or back.
Overseas, I take my ohsc and duct tape either end and lock the case, it has been through the rigors, but still protected. They never checked it. (knock on wood)

You guys should look into Gator Cases. I have a dual hardshell for my Classic and DT. It comes with wheels on one end so you can tow it. Also the handles are solid. Its alot of latches, but top and bottom lock. I have replaced the wheels and a couple of latches, but its been a great case for over 2 years the 80-90 dates I do a year and rides with the equipment in the truck to every gig. Runs about $250.00.
Shaun

[santellavision]

Another checklist item is, if you are not a elite frequent flier, book a window seat in the back, they board right after the Elite FF's. Nothing worse that boarding late and all the overheads are stuffed and they make you check it as underside baggage.

[ShaunzNoiz]

Flight case it at all times if it is an instrument that you can't stand to lose.

I had a few gigs in China from May to June of '08. I bought a Gator flight case for $100, and bought a mid-grade guitar that I felt would cover the material that I would be doing with this particular group. Checked it at the gate and didn't worry about it.

I fly to gigs a lot. A lot of it depends on the airline you travel through. Delta has always been a pain with me and guitars. It sucks, but now I travel with a mid-grade guitar that I won't have a heart-attack over if it gets damaged.