Carbon fiber guitar in airline overhead

[Finn Bjerke]

I domt want to be annoying but there are alternatives to breaking the rules and find some silly people yell at you:

1. The carbon guitar will survive almost anything in a hardcase, also the belly of the flight alternatively:
2. The collapsable guitar seen and played here by super talent Josh TUrner
3. The ukulele og guitarlelle for travelling

BTW Josh Turner is always a great pleasure to listen to, here he is sporting a guitar made for travel on airplanes (as indeed the blackbird - Carbon and Ekoa are too) http://www.journeyinstruments.com/jo...travel-guitar/

[Finn Bjerke]

[jonfields45]

RainSong CH-PA & Gator GWE. Same size as a GSmini hard bag.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_...3U4V0JsWmVmRGc

[Earl49]

My solution is a little different. I simply don't fly any more, period. If I cannot drive there then I don't need to go -- business or personal.

To be fair, I am built like an NFL lineman and the airlines seats simply don't fit. But I am also fed up by the awfulness of modern airline travel, even apart from claustrophobia and poor customer service. There is a Taylor 114ce in Anchorage, AK that I bought for past trips up there and it lives at a friend's house, but I don't really expect to ever see it again.

Earl;

I'm with you. Air travel has become a cattle drive of close quarters, rude service, delayed departures and so forth. I was planning on a trip to Costa Rica but after looking at the flight options decided to stay home. I do still travel to Tacoma to see my daughter and grandson and its been painful; the last time my wife and I went to the port for a flight we got all the way to the luggage check in ony to be informed that the flight was cancelled and there were no other flights that day.

I like train travel, but that's a mess also (in the U.S.)

[Earl49]

I hear you, Evan. I've probably flown at least 900K business and personal miles over the last 35 years, but I am DONE. Even paying big bucks for first class doesn't work any more. Flying -- even first class -- just ain't what it used to be. And I won't even start with the TSA hassles. Business travel for me usually involves carrying delicate and expensive test equipment, so I always get extra scrutiny.

I looked into train travel to go back to Michigan five years ago when my brother had a medical crisis, and I was going to be there for several weeks arranging for his care. Amtrak had me driving six hours (either north or south) to meet the nearest train, then leaving the car unattended for weeks. The train was 36 hours en route for only $1000 each way. I drove from Boise to Detroit in three days for a fraction of that amount, brining everything I needed for weeks. A mess indeed.... Can't get there by air, can't get there by train, so only the highways remain as an option.

I live in a small village. I've almost got it down to foot and internet travel (though my wife cuts into that and forces me to face the outside world).

[Steve Christens]

Originally Posted by Earl49

My solution is a little different. I simply don't fly any more, period. If I cannot drive there then I don't need to go -- business or personal.

To be fair, I am built like an NFL lineman and the airlines seats simply don't fit. But I am also fed up by the awfulness of modern airline travel, even apart from claustrophobia and poor customer service. There is a Taylor 114ce in Anchorage, AK that I bought for past trips up there and it lives at a friend's house, but I don't really expect to ever see it again.

We retired last year and my wife informed me that she is never flying coach again - business or nothing. Flying business class is still a pain, but nothing as bad as the cattle herd in the back of the plane.

[Earl49]

Steve, I made that same call fifteen years ago - never again in coach! It has been exclusively first class ever since.

But my favorite airline (Alaska) recently changed their first class cabin. They took out the closet and smashed four rows of seats into what used to be three rows. You get the nicer seat, but the same seat pitch (distance between rows) as in coach. $1700 spent for a first class seat to Anchorage, and I had to ask for a wheelchair on the other end because my knees would not move any more after being smashed into the seat in front of me for 3½ hours.

While I'm not ready to hang it up professionally just yet, if I had to travel for work......I would retire tomorrow.

[Captain Jim]

Commercial Rating/Multi-Engine/Instrument - just over 4,000 hours PIC. If you aren't sitting in the cockpit, you are cargo. Since retiring 11 years ago, I have flown commercial a handful of times, and never because I wanted to. Taking a guitar along would just be one more bit of concern with the unpleasantness of flying commercial.

[Earl49]

Agreed, Jim. Instrument airplane, SEL, SES, designated check airman, and 1400 hours PIC in Alaska when I hung it up. The only seat(s) worth having are up front with yokes and throttles within reach. Or possibly the back (RIO) seat in an F-14..... if you cannot get the front seat.

[Kerbie]

Originally Posted by Earl49

The only seat(s) worth having are up front with yokes and throttles within reach.

The room with a view...

[Steve Christens]

Originally Posted by Earl49

The only seat(s) worth having are up front with yokes and throttles within reach.

This past February we flew SFO to Auckland Business Class on Air New Zealand, and it was astonishingly pleasant. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

[frances50]

Even with TSA pre-check, the passenger is subject to the whim of the airline personnel which can be dictated by factors well outside your control. I've only had to fly once with an instrument and it turned out well but I wouldn't want to push my luck.