It also depends on the airline. I had people at United telling me that
if you gate check an instrument on the first leg of a flight then it
goes baggage (just like a suitcase) to the second leg of the flight.
Boarding early is great because the overheads are still empty. It's not
great to be at the start of the line when the flight attendants are not
yet busy with other people and have plenty to time to tell you that
your case is too big and it will have to be checked. I've had the very
best results when the planes are not so full, but I am not sure you can
find partially empyu planes any more.
Nancy
I just brought a Flamenco Guitar back from Granada Spain and had 3
different
flights. Each flight was very accommodating and found space on the
plane for
the guitar. It helps to board as early as possible (Elite membership
is a
big plus with the airline). I do not know if I just got lucky or
not.
Regards
David
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [[1]
mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf
Of Philip Soren
Sent: Sunday, January 22, 2012 6:50 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [LUTE] Lute: Air Travel Advice
I am about to move to China for 18 months for business. This is
entirely too much time to be without my Renaissance lute.
After calling both airlines and both airports that I will use to
leave
the country, the procedure for taking a "guitar" seems to be:
they
might let you take it as a carry on item; if they don't, they
will gate
check it. (A gate check is where you go through TSA and normal
security with the instrument in hand, then, at the time of
boarding at
the gate, hand it off to an attendant who then puts it somewhere
in the
belly of the plane with strollers and wheelchairs and such, then
hands
it back to you after disembarking.)
I have never done this before. I'm quite scared, having read
horror
stories all over the internet about damaged guitars. However,
90% of
those stories have to do with the instrument going through normal
checked baggage, e.g., the carousel and the baggage handler
monkeys.
If I can gate check my instrument (after having tuned the strings
down,
plastic-bagged it inside the case, and tossed an oasis humidifier
in),
everything should be okay, right? In theory?
I suppose my other option is to bundle it up and ship it to
China. But
not only is that in the $250+ price range, that will get handled
by a
LOT of different people. That scares me even more.
What do you all think? Some people here I'm sure has had some
experience with lute air travel.
P.S. Buying another cross-Pacific ticket for my lute to sit next
to me
is completely out of the question, unfortunately.
--
To get on or off this list see list information at
[2]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
Nancy Carlin Associates
P.O. Box 6499
Concord, CA 94524 USA
phone 925/686-5800 fax 925/680-2582
web sites - [3]www.nancycarlinassociates.com
[4]www.groundsanddivisions.info
Representing:
FROM WALES - Crasdant & Carreg Lafar, FROM ENGLAND - Jez Lowe & Jez
Lowe & The Bad Pennies, and now representing EARLY MUSIC - The Venere
Lute Quartet, The Good Pennyworths & Morrongiello & Young
Administrator THE LUTE SOCIETY OF AMERICA
web site - [5]http://LuteSocietyofAmerica.org
--
References
1. mailto:[email protected]
2. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
3. http://www.nancycarlinassociates.com/
4. http://www.groundsanddivisions.info/
5. http://lutesocietyofamerica.org/
