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?

http://www.youtube.com/wa...4zOqozo&feature=kp

You can buy it it's own seat.

Ask the airline if a stewardess could put it in the on-board closet they have.  I've seen this done several times.  Some will, some won't.

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.

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

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 

While buying the guitar its own seat is likely the safest way for it to travel back to DFW, it's probably also the most expensive.  if the guitar has sentimental value then that might be the way to go, tho.  it's the least likely anything will happen to it from all alternatives.
 
if buying it a seat is too expensive even for the value it has to you, you could consider shipping it FedEx or UPS using those boxes they make specifically for shipping guitars.  the big online stores like Musicians Friend, Sam Ash, etc., do this all the time.  I'm sure they have some arrived damaged, but they're going to try to keep that to a minimum in order to reduce their losses.

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.

bapu
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.

sort of.  commercial flight vs. cargo flight loaders are a little bit different environments.
 
I was just thinking about spacey guitars...(and Ed pops in!)...how did he ship his guitars?  I think he built a custom box and shipped one of the big parcel carriers, right?  that's about as safe as you're going to get other than buying a seat on a plane for it.