Levente -Levi- Littvay wrote:
> And do not expecta ny cooperation. Back in August when I came to Lincoln
> I told then that I will have a guitar with me that might not fit through
> the X-ray. A guitar is NOT something you'd want to check. [...]
>
> So they told me to get a soft case and come out to the airport a few weeks
> before the trip and check if it fits through the machine. Well I did.
> They refused to even bring the darn thing close.
Interestingly, every time I've taken a guitar on a plane without
checking it (I've been forced to check guitars three or four
times, and the airlines lost one _twice_ out of that small
number! Recovered a couple days later each time, fortunately),
it has gone through the X-ray with no hassle whatsoever. It's
hardly an unusual item for an airport! It is kind of fun to see
the inside of my electric guitar on the screen, and when I carry
that without a case at all (for a long time I didn't have a case
for it -- in fact, I'm not sure I've flown since getting a case
for it) it's amusing to see the startled looks and "I want to
ask but don't dare" questions about the Brightly Glowing pickups
as it comes out of the machine. (I've got glow-in-the-dark
paint on the pickups, and that stuff just loooves X-rays.)
I've got no idea how I'd fare flying with my axe since
September. Then again, with my finances the way they are, I
don't have to worry about that for a while.
BTW, musicians have it worse than photographers when it comes to
flying. Dunno the current status, but for a long time there
were _no_ ATA-certified guitar cases. They would't certify
them, which meant that airlines would refuse to _insure_
guitars. (There was a workaround for solid-body electrics where
a guitar case could fit inside an ATA-certified huge _keyboard_
case, but acoustic players were -- and probably still are --
completely screwed.) I've got friends whose guitars were
destroyed, I've heard stories of cellos being _flung_ from the
cargo bay onto the tarmac (bridge down, to add insult to
injury), and there are huge numbers of famous musicians whose
instruments have been damaged or destroyed.
-- Glenn
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