TrojanHorse

ahh you beat me to it

however I do expect this type of reaction from many on FT

northwest_buckeye

^

runninaway

Seriously? Would you put something worth 10K in the cargo hold of a commercial aircraft and just expect everything to be peachy keen? He rolled the dice and lost. His bad. His responsibility.

CalVol

I was gonna take one of my cheaper guitars with me on a trip last week and leave it at my parents' house. But, I changed my mind because I didn't trust my old cheap case to stand up to DL baggage handlers.

Even if he was used to getting his guitar in the cabin, I'm a bit surprised to see such an expensive guitar in what appears to be a pretty weak case.

Hope he has a good luthier.

Danwriter

They're available 24/6.

BadgerBoi

^

rob0225

I'm really surprised how many people are blaming the musician. This is Delta's fault 100%!

musonyc

Delta generally has a bad rep among musicians and most of my friends and I avoid it. I fly 80K-120K per year, mostly on United for the last 14 years. Staying in the Elite zone helps a lot - it didn't on American or Delta back in the day - I often had arguments though ultimately never had to check a valuable instrument. TWA and PanAm were better. Overall, the most musician-friendly airline I've found is Lufthansa. LH FA's often go out of their way to help stow instruments even for the Economy traveler. In the past I've had enough experiences with my baggage not reaching the destination on the same flight that I absolutely must carry on my instrument. With a tight touring schedule, one cannot allow the possibility of the instrument not being there with you for the concert let alone chasing you around a complicated itinerary with daily international flights.

Worst experience I've ever had was in 2010 flying United C from LGA-IAD-NRT (that part was excellent!) then changing in Tokyo to ANA for a 20-minute flight to Nagoya at 7pm. I was carrying in a soft gig-bag a guitar custom-made for me, unique in the world, and unreplaceable. The luthier made it specifically to provide the features I needed in an instrument that would easily fit in any overhead (including RJ145 and CRJ.) At the ANA gate in Tokyo, the agent told me "Guitar will not fit - you must check - only one carry-on allowed." I explained about Star Alliance regs allowing a personal item plus carry-on and further explained that the guitar would surely fit in the Airbus 320 overhead. She reiterated that it would not fit so I asked for a supervisor. She was even more smiley than the last and repeated the lines verbatim. She even pulled out a small ruler, waving it in the air and announced, "See? Guitar too big!" I asked for her supervisor who turned out to be a scowling and surly fellow who just sneered at me and shook his head. At this point I lost my cool and began to loudly ask if they expected me to allow my instrument to be destroyed or to just fly back to NYC and give up my tour. Boarding was about to begin. The female supervisor then offered that I could buy a seat for my guitar. This turned out to be at a cost of nearly $200 US. As I had to teach a class the next morning and this was the last flight to Nagoya that day I bought the "seat". When I boarded the plane, I found it to be only half full. All of the Japanese passengers were carrying multiple bags including large garment bags in addition to backpacks and rolling suitcases. When I returned to Tokyo I contacted United Customer Service and was given the brush-off. Back in NYC I contacted the United Premier desk and was given what sounded like a very heartfelt apology plus a $300 voucher.

One of the worst problems is consistency across the airlines (and even within one airline).

Looking at this "case" in question, that ES335 was packed in its original Lifton case - both sturdy and practical and actually quite valuable on its own. One has valuable and unique guitars because they play and sound great - that is the original reason for their value! These days it seems most vintage and special instruments are owned by investment bankers and lawyers to display only or lock in a vault. Many of them are priced out of the hands of those that can make the best use of them. It's a shame when a working musician cannot safely carry their instrument.

piper28

To me, the question comes down to whether that case takes up more space than any standard roll-aboard does in the overhead. If the answer is yes, then quite frankly, IMHO you need to be buying a seat for the instrument. Musicians should not get a pass to take up more than their fair share of the limited amount of overhead storage space. Most of the time I've seen a guitar in the overhead bin, it took up most of the bin by itself. Which to me means it shouldn't have been allowed on in the first place (it clearly exceeds the size listings of carry-ons).

tkey75

It does, but maybe the flight was sold out. He can try to buy another seat all he wants, but it's getting checked in that case.

Not apologizing for DL, but only speaking for myself. If I have a $10k guitar, there's no way it's going in the checked bag hold of the plane. I'll ship my guitar somewhere, insured of course, and borrow a guitar when I get to the gig. My "sound" is not worth risking $10k.

sethb

Did you read the original article where it said: "The case carrying Schneider's semihollow-body guitar was lodged between the mobile service elevator and a rail on the loading dock, shaking the elevator door. The case even bent a steel beam."

That isn't a "pretty weak case".

CalVol

I retract my original characterization. I did not catch that in reading the article originally.

Gargoyle

Oh oh. The case destroyed Delta property. They should ask him for compensation.

Ti22

I don't have the link but yesterday yahoo news had a reply from DL basicially saying they were sorry and would reach out to the pax.

I fly with guitars quite often but primarily "endorsement" instruments which the factories I represent can and will completely rebuild if damaged. Checking an heirloom instrument is taking quite a risk without a well rated case. Calton, Anvil, etc.

DMIrishFlyer

Zero? Really? Why do you hope he gets nothing? Delta screwed up, they should fix it.....no?