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Flying With A Bass - What Do I Do?

#61
Hi. I constantly fly with my bass. I always take it on the plane. I have an old trusty Reunion Blues gig bag.....the single bass one. I never have a problem with them letting me on the plane. I put it in the overhead compartment. The only time you may run into a problem is when you may have a connecting flight and it winds up being a tiny plane which has tiny compartments etc. At that point you WILL have to hand check it at the gate.

One thing to try and do when your waiting to get on the plane is....when they are calling zones.....try to be one of the first on that line.....this way the overheads will not be filled yet by the other passengers in front of you.....and you can safely put your bass in the overhead compartment along with your carry on bag.

I know all this can be scary to some, but if you fly very often and you "check" the bass in a case as baggage....and you have a connecting flight waiting for you and you are late for that flight or they change flights (which can happen often) the chances of it arriving where you are going gets cut down to slim. Sometimes you have to wait for the next flight to come in with your bass on it...or sometimes the next day.....and they have to send it to your hotel or where you are staying. Anyway, I carry it on because I ALWAYS know where it is at all times.

I do this all the time and been doing this for years and years, I'm always flying to and from shows. The LAST thing you need is to have and instrument not get there or get there late and you have a show to do.
 
#63
Deep said:
...and you "check" the bass in a case as baggage....and you have a connecting flight waiting for you and you are late for that flight or they change flights etc etc the chances of it arriving where you are going gets cut down to slim.
Click to expand...

Lot's of pro's and con's either way. Oh well, so far I've always driven to all my gigs (hundreds of them) and any flights at this point are mere fantasy. :p
 
#65
Deep said:
...I constantly fly with my bass. I always take it on the plane...I never have a problem with them letting me on the plane. I put it in the overhead compartment. The only time you may run into a problem is when you may have a connecting flight and it winds up being a tiny plane which has tiny compartments etc. At that point you WILL have to hand check it at the gate.
Click to expand...

I am happy for you that you always can carry your bass on. I have not been so fortunate. I fly a lot too, in fact an awful lot, and have since 1980, often with an instrument. In the last 3 years, I have witnessed musicians being forced to gate check an instrument in a gig bag. For me it was American, but I have seen it on Delta, American, United, Hawaiian, and Alaskan. Planes have been all sizes, but it is true that for me it was a smaller (but not tiny) plane. But size does NOT matter.

Here is the thing:
I was allowed to take a bass on board in one direction, but not in the other. The aircraft was not only the same type, it was the very same piece of equipment I had flown on about a week earlier! The same plane on the same route, going the other direction, not full.

Flight crews are the variable, not plane size. Also, if you are going "first class," "ruling class," or "uppity class," you might get by. Might.

Deep said:
One thing to try and do when your waiting to get on the plane is....when they are calling zones.....try to be one of the first on that line.....this way the overheads will not be filled yet by the other passengers in front of you.....and you can safely put your bass in the overhead compartment along with your carry on bag.
Click to expand...

Excuse me, but this is silly, IMHO. How much have you flown? Most overheads won't fit basses. People stick their bags near the front of the plane even if they are sitting in the back. If you want to get space in an overhead, get on first by being one of those blasted "million mile high premium club" members or pick a seat in a section that boards early. But oh my, that varies with every carrier and every model of every plane, every fare, and even with airports. :p

Good luck with that, too.

Deep said:
...if you fly very often and you "check" the bass in a case as baggage....and you have a connecting flight waiting for you and you are late for that flight or they change flights (which can happen often) the chances of it arriving where you are going gets cut down to slim. Sometimes you have to wait for the next flight to come in with your bass on it...or sometimes the next day.....and they have to send it to your hotel or where you are staying. Anyway, I carry it on because I ALWAYS know where it is at all times.
Click to expand...

Instead of that, I pick airlines and airports that allow me to fly without changes or stops. I have never had my ATA case not appear when and where it should. If non-stop/no changes is not possible, I FED-EX the bass, or don't take the Sadowsky, if you know what I mean.

Deep said:
I do this all the time and been doing this for years and years, I'm always flying to and from shows. The LAST thing you need is to have is an instrument not get there or get there late and you have a show to do...
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...or a bass crushed under a cryogenically sealed barrel of bison semen down in the hold after being forced to do a gate check of your Number 1 in a leather gig bag.
 
#66
I have flown with a bass quite a few times.

I had a friend who had the SKB bass case and he hated it - I guess the TSA couldn't close it correctly so they left it open (unlatched) and simply wrapped it with plastic tape. The bass arrived unscathed, but I won't use them after hearing about that.

I bought a hard-shell golf case - it is big enough to fit my bass in a gig bag and some packing material (i.e. clothes). They are typically not too expensive, and the nice thing about them is that they are common - TSA agents are familiar with them and I have yet to be charged an oversize fee. I think it's the best way to fly a bass.

Some other things that I do - I always insure the bass for replacement value - always. It's only a few bucks. I also always pay with American Express; they have never failed to stand behind me if there is an issue, plus they have automatic exra luggage insurance in the event of lost/damaged luggge.

I would never take the neck off my bass fly with it - too much of a PITA.

On a side note - a few years back, my step-son's grandmother (who lives on the east coast - we live on the west coast) - decides to give him an acoustic guitar in a gig bag for Christmas. We had to fly back the day after Christmas, so i didn't have time to buy a hard case. I called the airline - they said that I should be able to carry it on, no problem. I printed a copy of the "infamous" TSA letter. Checked in, the counter agent said that I would be fine if I carried the guitar on. Got to security - the TSA agent said "no way." Got a supervisor - no arguing - I would not be allowed to carry the guitar onboard, I would have to check it. Luckily, the airline was sympathetic - the manager hand carried the guitar to the luggage area, he wrapped it in bubble tape, they placed it on last (I watched them load it), took it off first, and then the luggage crew hand carried it to me when I got off. Maybe it's just me, but after that I wouldn't even attempt to carry a bass on in a gig bag. There are too many people to deal with and too many people that can be arbitrary ...

IMHO, IME, YMMV, etc.
 
#67
Hi all. Every one of us has had different experiences. And they are all well taken. It just has been MY experiences that I posted earlier. I fly all the time on just about every airline you can name. From my experience most overheads do fit my bass. Last week I was flying show to show every day...6 flights in 6 days. I do this consistantly throughout the year. Of course there is downtime.

Now of course no matter what the rules are the attendent will make the call....yup they can tell you it can't come on the plane and has to be gate checked.

If you're lucky enough to get direct flights all the time then your golden. But when an agent is trying to get you there and you have one or two connections and there are delays....and you land and now have 30mins to get on the connecting flight....peoples luggage and the bass MAY not make it in time into the hold of the plane. Which can mean it wont get there with you.....might be on the next flight..IF...there are more flights that day....otherwise you have to wait till the next day and if you have a show that night.....well ...

That being said...everyone has there own thing that they do.
Everyone here has great suggestions.....talkbass has a wealth of info.
 
#68
Deep said:
Hi all. Every one of us has had different experiences. And they are all well taken. It just has been MY experiences that I posted earlier. I fly all the time on just about every airline you can name. From my experience most overheads do fit my bass. Last week I was flying show to show every day...6 flights in 6 days. I do this consistantly throughout the year. Of course there is downtime.

Now of course no matter what the rules are the attendent will make the call....yup they can tell you it can't come on the plane and has to be gate checked.

If you're lucky enough to get direct flights all the time then your golden. But when an agent is trying to get you there and you have one or two connections and there are delays....and you land and now have 30mins to get on the connecting flight....peoples luggage and the bass MAY not make it in time into the hold of the plane. Which can mean it wont get there with you.....might be on the next flight..IF...there are more flights that day....otherwise you have to wait till the next day and if you have a show that night.....well ...

That being said...everyone has there own thing that they do.
Everyone here has great suggestions.....talkbass has a wealth of info.
Click to expand...

+1
I am sincere when I express my gladness at your success with flying your bass. Wish it had been the same for me.
 
#69
Well, after reading all of these posts, I can conclude one thing... Airlines, handlers, and air travel in general, is inconsistent. So in a change of heart I will not be gate checking it (though I still trust that if I were to try to gate check it I would have no problem). Looks to me like a lot of people like the bass safe, Aside from the little problem with them not getting closed properly. If anyone has a picture or a detailed description of the fix to the closing problem, please show me. But unless yet another person says "no you idiot" right after I post this and changes my mind, I will get the bass safe.
 
#70
Verticos said:
...But unless yet another person says "no you idiot" right after I post this and changes my mind, I will get the bass safe.
Click to expand...
An SKB golf bag case DOES NOT have the bass safe problem "with them not getting closed properly."

AND never (IME) gets charged "oversize" . . .

As they say, "a word to the wise . . . "


DON'T GET AN SKB BASS SAFE!


:hyper: :cool: :hyper:

.
 
#71
deaf pea said:
An SKB golf bag case DOES NOT have the bass safe problem "with them not getting closed properly."
AND never (IME) gets charged "oversize" . . .As they say, "a word to the wise" . . .DON'T GET AN SKB BASS SAFE!
Click to expand...

+1

I've got to agree about the flaws in the bass safe compared to a real full-recessed hardware ATA. But golf bags....hmmmmnnn???

There is a lot of happy talk mixed with Ads (and revolting sports clap-trap) in the golf world about "how to travel with your rich-a$$ golf clubs." But, guess what? Deaf Pea is totally right on this (no shock, there). :p

The golf duffers (doofi?) are rarely ever charged extra for up to 70 lbs (32 kilos) of golf gear in one of those 2-wheeled golf bag "road cases."

I've seen hundreds of these rolled into airports all over the world by portly golfers who had not a care in the world. There were never questions like the ones I get, such as "...is this a firearm in your luggage?" Airlines personnel seemed to not even notice these behemoths.

The Golf world has a significant array of these heavy-duty 2-wheeled cases to choose from. Need more info....
 
#79
I put my my double gig bag in an SKB golf club case and check it in when I fly. The only problem I had with this case is the plastic molding coming out of the aluminum seal. I fixed it by drilling in pop rivets all around the plastic molding into the aluminum seal, all around the case. After that, no problems...kinda bulky though, but cest la vie.
 

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