[HANASHIR:5777] RE: Plane Travel With a Guitar

[David Weisz <dweisz...>]

Here we go again... :)

As someone who has spent a lot of time travelling cross-country with his
guitar, the BIGGEST hint I can give anyone trying to get on a plane with a
guitar is to BE INSISTENT!!! Do not allow them to check your guitar as
baggage, and do not take no for an answer!!! The very least that I am
willing to settle for, and only very, very grudgingly (i.e. when they're at
the point of kicking me off the flight), is a gate check. If you gate check
your guitar, they will hand-carry it to a special storage unit on the plane,
and then hand-carry it back up to the jetway when you land, much like they
do with oversized strollers (the only major exception to this that I know of
is LAX, for those of you travelling from LA) This, of course, means you have
to pass the hurdles of the check-in counter and security. Again, BE
INSISTENT!!! If the airport you're flying through has those beautiful new
plastic hoods over the X-ray machines (the ones that are two small for a
guitar case), explain that you are planning on gate checking the guitar, and
that you need to have it visually inspected. They will do this for you as
long as you are polite, yet INSISTENT (anyone noticing a trend here?).

Basically, the challenge is to get it to the boarding gate. Once you're
there, most of the gate agents are kind enough to let you carry it on, and
often times will let you board early. And remember, to get it to the gate,
tell everyone you're going to gate check it, and BE INSISTENT!!!

Good luck!
David

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org [mailto:owner-hanashir (at) 
> shamash(dot)org]On
> Behalf Of Kjmom18 (at) aol(dot)com
> Sent: Wednesday, April 12, 2000 10:30 PM
> To: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org
> Subject: [HANASHIR:5776] Plane Travel With a Guitar
>
>
> Hi,
>
> I'm planning on attending HN this year and want to bring my
> guitar.  I have
> major reservations about putting it through with the luggage.  Do
> airlines
> let you carry on your guitar?  Please let me know how you have
> handled this.
>
> Thank you.
>
> Karen Joseph
> Temple Rodeph Torah/Marlboro, NJ
> Temple Shaari Emeth/Manalapan, NJ
>
>

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