Guitars on planes?

My sister has a Martin D28 that belonged to her late husband. It's been languishing in its case for twenty years. She had hoped the kids would get interested in guitar, but that never happened. I've played it when we visited her in Washington. You can tell it's a nice guitar, but obviously the strings are beyond dead. She recently mentioned that she was thinking of selling it, and I told her I had thought of that guitar often. We both agreed that it would be much better to keep it in the family, and go where she knows it's going to get some lovin'. The emotional value of this guitar far outweighs its monetary value.
We are all going to meet in Oregon in September for my daughters' wedding, and it was suggested I could bring it back on the plane from there.
But I don't believe a guitar qualifies for carry-on, and Iv'e heard too many horror stories about baggage handlers.
Is this a viable option, or would it be much better to have her ship it to Texas?

You can buy it it's own seat.

Bob I used to fly from city to city with my equipment and had to do that for many years. Under NO circumstances let that guitar leave your or her hands!!! Buy a seat if you can. The problem with getting the stewardess to stow it is if she can't you will have either leave it, pass it on to luggage , or if available buy a seat. I've had 4 beautiful guitars destroyed  by the airlines. Considering it's a Martin D28 you should do what it takes to get it home safely.

craigb
Sorry, I meant ask first as in before you buy a ticket.

I did that too but when I showed up at check in " things have changed" was a typical reply. I know that was a while back and  Pterodactyls where cramped for space and all most of the flights were full with little extra room 

I'm pretty sure if you ship it, it probably goes on a plane and is most likely loaded by the same type of guys that load commercial flights.

Spacey put the bazz in the case and then put it in the box for the case.



The guitar was supposed to be in two pieces, roight?

Forget UPS. FedEx is OK but DHL is probably the best choice for this. It is who I would use. Buy a really good case for it, buy insurance, and ship it, just NOT UPS or USPS for that matter. FedEx usually does a pretty good job but I recently got an amp that had a hole in the outer box. Thankfully, it was double boxed with a good bit of extra room between the inner and outer box. If the extra room had not been there, I would have had a hole in the grill cloth, it was close. The instruction manual that was packed over the grill had a hole through the first ten or so pages and a dent all the way through it, it is a pretty thick manual. I'm glad that they put it there.
I have received packages from UPS with several holes in them. In fact almost every large package I get through UPS has multiple holes in it, sometimes FedEx, not usually though, DHL has been good all the time, YMMV huh?
What if you rented a car for the return trip?
 
Of course you could ask Bubba to just hand it off to himself and then back to you...
 
Good luck!
 
J

I've checked guitars maybe a dozen times without trouble. I've also carried them on. Once the metal feet for the case were pressed into the case but the guitar was fine.

Last time I flew with a guitar was from NY to Vegas, with Virgin. I was anxious because it was the first time I was flying with my US strat and my new LP.
 
When we got in line to register our luggages for the flight, the lady at the desk spotted my guitars and offered to place them in their onboard closet before I could even say a word. Which not only reassured me but also saved us money.
 
 

RobertB
Thanks for the input, guys.
I'll check with the airline, to make sure I don't have any surprises at the airport.
Our current plan is to fly into San Francisco, and drive up the coast to Oregon(7 hours). We are looking at an 8 hour layover there anyway, and the drive will be way more fun. Donna hasn't traveled much, so it is a rare opportunity.
Depending on what the airline says about the guitar, I will either ship it from San Francisco to Fort Worth, or carry it onto the plane.
My daughter is getting married. I'm getting an awesome guitar. Donna gets to experience a good part of the Northwest coast for the first time. I haven't seen my sister in years. I am totally stoked. This is going to be good.

VERY cool!  you guys deserve a nice vacation, too!

If you stop by any decent music store, ask the guitar manager and usually they will give you a Kaman shipping box.  I tend to call ahead to find out when they'll be unloading so I can get one before they flatten it for recycling.