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Comments
Take it as hand luggage, and check you are within size limits beforehand. Airlines often have a musical instrument policy.
I flew several times with an acoustic in a soft case, because it was smaller. I made sure to be one of the first to board, and put it in the overhead. Then I spent the rest of the boarding time making sure nobody jammed anything in there too hard.
I didn’t have a nice Taylor though.
Pad the interior and cocoon the guitar in bubble wrap. Any sudden jolts etc should be easily absorbed.
Loosen your strings. Leaving them at standard tuning can cause problems. I can’t explain as I can’t remember fully what I was once told, but I believe it was important.
It is a myth that string tension can lead to major problems during flight. Your guitar has a truss rod here to deal with that. The only reason why you would want to lower a bit the tension is that when the temperature gets colder with altitude, the steel of the strings can contract more than the wood and causing the string to break. So if you want to avoid this, you can definitely loosen a bit your strings.
The most important things is to protect the guitar itself from any shock before during after the fight . It goes without saying that you want to take it in the cabin with you. There are thousands of stories of checked in instruments that ended up destroyed by careless staff throwing and dropping cases... Humidity change can also be a major concern for the integrity of the wood. Try to find a way to stabilise the humidity inside the case (Boveda or D'Addario humidity pack) and you should be good to go.
When boarding, I always ask the flight attendant whether I can store the guitar in the coat closet up front, assuming the plane has one. Three out of four times, they’ve helped me do that. It’s also worth noting that the US FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) has a policy that requires airlines to stow instruments within the cabin. I carry a copy but I haven’t had to show it yet. Discussion of guitars and other small instruments is in the middle of the second page.
A friend of mine traveled with an expensive classical guitar, and called/checked at every step from booking through to getting on the flight. He had no problem taking it on the flight with him and had it stored for him and returned to him before he exited the plane every time.
Thanks all for the recommendations.
Not exactly a myth. I've flown with my instrument a lot ( a very nice guitar , from a well know brand which uses a bolt-on neck design) and on one occasion forgot to loosen the strings. When the strings contracted due to the cold it literally pulled the neck off-centre , the neck joint becoming the fulcrum. Not a lot obviously, but enough that the high e-string , up past the octave wasn't even over the fretboard! I took it to a luthier in London ( where we'd arrived to play ) and he fixed it rather violently over his knee. Said it happens all the time. So yeah ... loosen the strings!!
In terms of packing I always use the empty parts of the guitar case to pack rolled up clothing... get as much in there as you can. Saves space in your other baggage! Don't keep pedals or other hardware in the guitar case. Use you suitcase for those. Get a luggage strap to wrap are found the case.and secure it.. even if its a proper flight case.
Oh yeah ... dont get precious about the case getting banged up. It's a case, thats what it's for! Every ding is a memory!
Wow! Scary! Did the incident you're describing happened with the guitar inside the cabin or in the cargo hold? I always fly with my acoustics in the cabin and lower the string tension but all the luthiers I asked told me that it could be ok not to loosen the strings in the cabin, as pressure and temperature don't change drastically like in the cargo hold. The air gets very dry in the cabin during the flight but this affect the wood very slowly compared to the sudden pull from freezing cargo temperatures.
Make sure the guitar is attached to your body in such a way that it doesn't restrict your arms flapping.
I had the bridge get pulled up from the guitar from the same thing. I had shipped the guitar air-freight. Fortunately the glue gave way rather than the wood getting ripped out.
Darn I forgot to order a guitar to body interface.
Lol. They’re in development
I flew my Martin in it's wooden hard case internationally in 2024 and was super paranoid about it. I had packed it in the case with a ton of padding so it was solid, and I carried it on. I was super up front about it with the airline staff, explained that I had it, I was super nervous about it, and what they needed from me to help make it easier... Just tried to be extra humble and grateful. They were fantastic, and on both legs of the trip the flight attendants were extra kind and careful with it, storing it in their closet. It made it all the way with absolutely zero damage.
All I can suggest is to be extra humble, kind and thankful. It went very far to get my guitar where it needed to go without issue.
Thank you for sharing this. I appreciate it!
It went into the baggage hold. I was expecting it to, but just forgot to loosen the stings. I've never had an issue as long as that measure was taken.
As for sneaking the guitar into the cabin? Never worked for me. Most airlines provide dimensions for instrument cases that can be taken on board, but guitars are too big. I've had the guitar taken away the gate and moved to the hold. So be ready for that!
And if you do get it it on the plane, be prepared for the ire of other passengers who are also always trying to cram extra baggage onto the flight. IMO carry-on bags have got out of control.... especially now the airlines want to charge for actual baggage. What's that about??? ( ps I DO know what that's about BTW...)
First leg went well! Was super upfront as @Daveypoo suggested and brought it into the cabin. Went right into the flight staff closet. Perfect! Thanks again
I don’t think what happened to your guitar is related to string tension or cold - baggage compartments in aircraft have been pressurized and kept at constant temperature during flight for decades now. Most myths about guitar strings, exploding shampoo, glass cracking due to cold, etc. aren’t true. The most likely explanation for your guitar is the rough handling of baggage, which can be pretty awful in most airports.
Excellent! Glad to hear it, and glad to know that the "kill-'em-with-kindness" still works. Godspeed on the remaining legs 😁
Oh, that event was over 30 years ago now ( wow ) and I recall luggage coming out of the baggage hold, really cold. Of course you could still be right... but I'm not testing it again! ;-) Although I do travel a bit, and some of those 'Travel Guitars" or "Folding Guitars" look fun to try out! They range from $300 (Donner) up to thousands ( https://ciariguitars.com ).
Bit of a 'want' though. Def. not a need. ;-)
Glad to hear it went well! As much as possible, the cabin is the way to go for our fragile beloved acoustic instruments.
Didn’t realize it was that long ago, so maybe back then that was the case.
Seen some of those folding guitars demoed on YouTube, and seen a few people surprised that they work relatively well.