Hey there fellow guitar people. Air travel with your acoustic guitar can
be stressful. I've travelled all over with my guitar
and I’ve learned a lot over the years. The good news is you really can travel
with your guitar and have a good time. I’m gonna share with you a boatload
of stuff that I’ve learned but first the big decision. Let’s do this.
Here’s the big decision. Should I plan with the intention
on carrying on my guitar? Or should I just plan on checking it in?
Now it may not seem critical but one of the biggest mistakes I’ve made
is going to the airport with no clear decision made
and then I was kinda caught up with my pants down. Of course you go wanna
put your guitar in a case either way but it might be a different case
depending on what your intention is and you might do a few other things to
So here’s some criteria that you could use
decide which way to go. First of all, you’ll have a much better chance if your
guitar is in the size range of a classical, auditorium, acoustic
about the same size of a classical or a travel size one that tailored many kind
of things. If you do have a full size dreadnought
or jumbo type guitar the chances of you getting it on the plane
is much less likely. Some of the other things to consider
are kinda how big are the planes you are flying on. The way you can
determine that is, are you flying in the US from big city to big
city? Bigger planes. Are you flying internationally and even
going to maybe some smaller towns along the way. You kinda hit some
small planes even occasionally some with no overhead luggage.
The good news I’ve traveled all over the world with my classical size guitar
or auditorium acoustic which is about the same size
and I’ve never had to actually check in my luggage
except kinda one time. I was going to a small town
in Mississippi and I go from the big airport to the small town
in a small plane with no overhead luggage but they were really nice.
They took my guitar and showed me they put it on top of all the other
baggage so it wouldn’t get damaged and they did right fine. So here's another
one. Are you flying economy or first class? You get a lot more lead
way when you’re flying first class. So those are some of the things to
consider. You might even want to do a little research ahead of time and if
you can, see what kind of planes you're flying on
and if there's glaring policies at the airline that you're flying on has.
Most of the time, I’m flying on the airlines that I already experienced with. But when
I do arrange a trip on a different airline I can usually
find some information that will help me make my decision.
With that, let’s talk about the carry on adventure.
There are several advantages to carrying your guitar on the plane with you.
It’s a little less work up front because you don’t have to be quite so
meticulous how you pack your guitar if you’re carrying it with you
and obviously there’s a much better chance that your guitar will get
to where you're going with you in one piece. And you don’t have to worry about
your guitar getting lost in the luggage shuffle. But one of the main reasons I
I like taking the guitar with me is when I have a layover between flights.
I like to pull out my guitar and play in the waiting areas. It’s fun
and I meet some cool people that way. Now there’s two big things I’ve learned
over the years that really help make this work. One, is make sure
your guitar looks like it’s a backpack. In other
words, don’t bring a hard case. Bring a soft
case that you can put on your back and travel with. You have a much better
chance of the airport personnel seeing that something that could
fit in overhead or somewhere on the plane. Now, let me clarify.
I'm not talking about this flimsy cloth bag that just covers your guitar but
offers no protection. What I used is kind of a semi hard case.
on the outside it looks kind of like a bag but on the inside it has some
stiff foam that does offer some protection
and the better ones even have a hard barrier that offers even more protection.
These cases are lightweight compared to the hard shell cases and they look
much less intrusive than a really bulky hard case.
The second thing is make sure you're either first or in front of the line
when you get on the plane. the main reason that'll stop you is if
The overheads are filled and there's no place for your guitar on
the plane. I fly southwest a lot and you can pay a little extra
and get automatically checked in so you're in that A or
the early B's. The other option is to hover over the keyboard when it's time
to check in so you get in early on the check-in process. With many
other airlines, you have the option to pay a little bit
extra money and get priority boarding. Now when I'm traveling with my guitar
for me that's worth it. Now sooner or later you're going to have
to do a little negotiating with airport personnel. I thought a good
time to do that would be right at the front counter
before I even went through security. I was wrong. I found the few times I did
that hands down. They say “No, you better just
check in”. I realized after a while that I'm just putting them
in an awkward position. Now I don't ask. I just go through
security and wait to see if someone's going to try and stop me.
Most of the times, they don't. On the occasion that they do
I've had to politely suggest some ways I can get the guitar
on the plane. If the overhead was a little too small
I could often suggest a coat closet that worked fine.
You do want to stay polite but act confident.
It does no good to get mad and flustered. They're used to that
and they generally just shut down now. I found that if I stay
friendly but confident that they assume I know what I'm doing
and it worked before. And ultimately if you get to the gate and really there's
no way they're gonna let you on with your guitar you're in a better
position to check it in at the gate because now it won't have to
go through all those conveyor belts and people won't be chucking it on the
plane. So you've decided to check in your guitar
at least you don't have the hassle of having to carry it around but it can
be a little nerve-wracking worried that your
guitar is going to get to where you're going in one piece. The thing is there
are things that you can do. And if you're going to check in your
guitar or if you get to the airport and you find everything you've tried
they're not going to let you take it on the plane with you and you have to check
it in. You're going to want to prepare your
guitar the best you can for the best possible outcome. Let me talk about
detuning. This is something that a lot of people
believe you should detune your guitar before you go on the plane and then I've
heard opinions to the opposite because I usually take my guitar on the
plane this hasn't been a big issue but I suggest if you're going to
check it in possibly detuning it just a half step. If you loosen the
strings too much, I think that release of tension is
probably not too great for your guitar either.
But tuning your tie down just one half step
does relieve a little bit of tension so if there's fluctuations in temperature
in the hold maybe your guitar will be better off.
I think it's optional personally . Now I'm going to go through the steps
to prepare your guitar for this check-in adventure a little more quickly.
do
Now I have a few more tips for you as well. If your guitar is expensive and you
really want to make sure it gets to where you're going when you
check it in. Try putting the case after you've prepared it as we just
discussed into a box and then putting extra padding in the
box. This is how they ship guitars and it seems to work pretty well. The key
is to make sure that it's not rattling around in the box but that you put
enough paper or other bubble wrap so that the
guitar when you shake it doesn't move. Allow
your guitar to adjust a little bit when you get to where you're going before you
start playing it. It has to acclimate to the temperature
and humidity. I have friends who regularly check in their guitar
and they tend to carry it to the oversized area rather than check it in
at the counter. Apparently that eliminates some of the steps that it
would have to go through so it's a little safer. I would recommend
also putting something on the outside that says fragile.
I like the strap thing that has fragile on it. I like it mostly because it really
distinguishes my luggage also from other people's
luggage. And finally, if you are traveling a lot consider
getting one of these really cool folding guitars. There's two
brands that are popular. One is called journey instruments and
the other is called voyage air guitars. Both of them have guitars where
the neck folds down into the body and everything
fits into a nice neat little case. I think it's really
cool. So that's all I can think of for right now.
I've had tremendous enjoyment from traveling with my guitar
and I hope some of these tips can help you to
have fun and reduce some of the stress. If you like what I'm doing
give me a thumbs up and if you found some tips that help you
when you're traveling with your guitar let us know in the comments below. I'd
love to hear from you. Bye for now.