Can You Take A Guitar On A Plane? Airplane Travel With A Guitar

I live, breathe and sleep guitars – Joe Bonamassa

Joe Bonamassa captured the guitarist’s philosophy of life in a single sentence when he said “I live, breathe and sleep guitars”. A guitar isn’t just an instrument, it’s an extension of your personality and who you are, and that’s why no two guitars in the world are alike.

They may sound the same, but they all have their own idiosyncrasies and they all play differently, and that’s why, when you travel, you want to take your guitar with you.

Your guitar is part of you, and as our grandad used to say while he was tuning up “You have to be who you are in this life, no use trying to pretend to be anyone else. That never ends well|”

But flying on a commercial flight with your guitar can be a headache in itself as the rules have changed dramatically over the course of the last decade.

Granted, most of those changes only happened because of the airline’s careless attitudes toward the instruments stowed in the holds of their planes, and their disregard for the financial burden their lackadaisical policies placed on the passengers whose instruments they’d damaged in transit, but they did happen.

That’s why it’s important to know when you can and can’t take your guitar on a plane, and how you can ensure that it turns up wherever you and it are going in the same condition that it was in when you handed it over at check-in. 

Carrying A Guitar On A Plane As Hand Luggage

Dave Davies from The Kinks isn’t the only musician who has had a hard time trying to get an airline to let them take their guitar onboard as luggage, and while it didn’t end well for Dave, things have changed a little since he butted heads (figuratively, not literally) with his courier about the right to bear six strings. 

In two thousand and twelve, President Obama stood up for the rights of guitar slingers when he included Section 403 in the FAA Modernization and Reform Act.

Simply put, the section states that an airline must permit a musician to carry a small instrument such as a violin or a guitar in the cabin of an aircraft with them without being charged an extra fee for doing so.

In other words, your guitar is legally classed as hand luggage and can be taken on board with you, no matter what the check-in attendant says. 

And if they do try to argue with you, you can ask to speak to their supervisor and politely inform them that you’re aware of your legal rights and know what Section 403 says.

You’ll be waved through check-in without any further protest because the same law applies to every passenger and every plane. Or does it? 

It Isn’t Quite The Simple 

Unfortunately, Section 403 only applies to domestic flights and domestic airlines, and legally, it doesn’t apply to any airline whose base of operations is in another country.

British Airways, for instance, don’t permit any musical instrument (or baggage) longer than eighty centimeters to be carried in the cabin of an aircraft as hand luggage. 

The only way that you can take your guitar on board a BA (that’s British Airways) flight with you is if you buy an additional seat on the aircraft on which it can be placed for the duration of the journey.

If you don’t, your guitar will have to go in the hold as luggage if you’re insistent (and who wouldn’t be?) on taking it with you. 

If you are going to fly internationally with a non-domestic airline, then our best advice is to find out in advance what their policy regarding guitars and hand baggage is, and prepare, and act accordingly, taking those restrictions into account.

Some non-domestic airlines do allow guitars to be taken on board their planes as hand luggage, but the majority don’t, so always make sure that you know what the rules are before you fly. 

Cases Matter 

If your guitar does have to go in the hold, whatever you do, if you want it to still be in one piece when you arrive at your destination, make sure you don’t let it go in the hold in a soft case.

A hard case, preferably with a towel or a blanket wrapped around the guitar inside of it, is the only way to go. 

It’s the only way to protect your guitar from being thrown around by baggage handlers and being squashed by other, bulkier cases in the hold of a plane. Guitars are pretty fragile and it doesn’t take much to damage them, so you’ll need to do everything that you to keep yours safe.

And the best way to do that is by packing it in a hard case so the airline can’t do their utmost to smash it to smithereens while they’re flying it and you from point A to point B. 

Prepare Your Guitar For The Flight 

Things are a little different when you’re five miles high in the sky, and you’ll need to make sure that your guitar is as prepared to fly as you are. If it’s going to be flying with you as hand baggage, it should be fine as the cabin of a plane is fully pressurized and as such, how high up you are, won’t affect it in any way. 

However, the hold of an airplane, unlike the cabin, isn’t pressurized, and the lower pressure, and the much lower temperatures and levels of atmospheric humidity can have a devastating impact on your guitar if you don’t take a few simple precautions. 

As we’ve already mentioned, packing it with a few towels or a blanket to keep it secure in its hard case is as beneficial in the hold as it is when the baggage handlers get their hands on it, and before you consign your guitar to the hold loosen and slacken the strings as much as you can.

The loser the strings are, the less chance there is that they might damage the neck of your guitar while it’s flying thirty-five thousand feet above the ground. 

The Final Word On Flying With Your Guitar

Remember, as long as you’re flying domestically, with a domestic airline, you are legally entitled to carry your guitar on board with you as hand baggage.

And if you’re not, give the airline a call and find out their policy about taking musical instruments, especially guitars, with you is. And when you know, you can properly prepare your guitar for the journey.