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Flying with an SKB Bass Safe?

#21
I've used an SKB Bass Safe for a Smith Black Tiger 6. No damage, worked great with an Undercover gigbag and no extra padding.

Of course it didn't stop the airline from losing the entire case. :eek:










For a day. That was a very stressful 24 hours. I'll take this opportunity to advise everyone to purchase a musical instrument insurance policy from either Clarion or Musicpro or other musical instrument insurance company (those are the only two I'm hip to). The airline will not cover damage or loss.
 
#23
Ouch!

Here's a story for you. I used to attend a large LAN party in Dallas texas every year. The first year i brought my PC, i took it basically apart and checked the case in checked baggage, and carried on the rest of the parts. that was fine, everything worked great.

The last year I attended, i decided to pack my entire PC in the checked baggage. TSA of course decided to flag it and inspect it and ended up knocking off my heatsink and then just packing it back up and loaded it up into the baggage.

The heatsink was around 4-5lbs of copper which was banged around the inside of my computer for the entire flight and the trip to baggage claim. It ended up being that i replaced a motherboard, cpu, video card, and a sound card over that trip which took all my party money and cut into my bill money.

I have since decided that computer gaming is a waste of time and now i use a laptop and am addicted to the internet. Go figure.
 
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#24
T-MOST said:
Why don't you just carry it on in a gig bag? Most airlines will let you do that.
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Used to be...not so much anymore. I've seen several airlines absolutely refuse a gig bag since 9/11. FWIW, I've used the bass safe many times and the only issue was (like Jimmy said) is the latches, and I also went the route of a piece of bungee around the handles and it worked fine. They will open it to inspect. You may or may not be around when it happens and they may or may not fasten the latches properly, but the visual cue of the bungee helps quite a bit.
 
#26
T-MOST said:
Why don't you just carry it on in a gig bag? Most airlines will let you do that.
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Have you read up on this at all? Seems like it's more of a 50/50 thing. You'll either get lucky and they'll let you, or you won't. And the LAST thing I want to do is try and carry on my gigbag, have it refused, and the have to throw my gigbag in with all the checked luggage :eek:

Better safe than sorry.
 
#28
joelb79 said:
TSA always opens guitar cases and boxes. Its standard operating proceedure.

Luggage gets by a lot, but odd things like guitars or road cases or boxes always get inspected.
Click to expand...

Last time was with SW and the inspectors called me over, they had the bass safe up on the table and were swiping it with swabs. That's it. Got the inspection sticker on it and away it went. No issues.
 
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#29
Example:

The airport at Columbus Ohio has a standing order NOT to allow guitars as carry-ons. No exceptions. Show up with only a gig bag, and either you miss your flight, or you check the gig bag and your prized bass with the rest of the luggage.

I have also experienced getting on a plane with a gig bag, only to find out that a connecting flight wouldn't permit the bass as a carry-on.

The only way to fly with a bass post-9/11 is to insure your instrument and get a sturdy anvil-type flight case, an SKB bass safe, or a golf club case. Anything else and you are just gambling.
 
#30
Pilgrim said:
Because a lot of them WON'T allow it, and you won't know until they take it away from you when you're boarding.
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That's the problem. You usually won't find out for sure if you can carry your bag until it's too late!

I would estimate that 19/20 times, I could carry my gig bag on. Sometimes it may require some "sweet talking" or outright pleading, but I've rarely been denied the accomadation. I have gate checked a lot on smaller planes without incident. There are some smaller airports that won't allow a large carry-on at all. So keep that in mind as well.

Generally speaking, if I'm in doubt for any reason, I check the bass. To be honest, I usually only carry - on when I am flying:
Southwest
Frontier
American
First Class or Business Class
or if I know that the flight will be more than 50% empty

Again, having insurance is the best investment you can make. It's cheap & effective. I have had to use it on one occasion & man was I glad I had it!
 
#33
while we're on the subject, i work for delta airlines in international reservations sales at DFW airport. my advice.

be ready to send it through checked baggage. beware of the fact that alot of times you may be on a smaller 50 seater regional jet. on those smaller jets baggage allowances from the crew get much more strict. hence, your stuff getting tossed under wing, instead of in cabin.

on delta you are allowed 1 carry-on less than 45 linear inches and 40 pounds and two checked bags less than 62 linear inches and 50 pounds. anything more will cost you money. (approx. 100 bucks each way.)
 
#34
biff malibu said:
while we're on the subject, i work for delta airlines in international reservations sales at DFW airport. my advice.

be ready to send it through checked baggage. beware of the fact that alot of times you may be on a smaller 50 seater regional jet. on those smaller jets baggage allowances from the crew get much more strict. hence, your stuff getting tossed under wing, instead of in cabin.

on delta you are allowed 1 carry-on less than 45 linear inches and 40 pounds and two checked bags less than 62 linear inches and 50 pounds. anything more will cost you money. (approx. 100 bucks each way.)
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biff malibu, were you aware of this?Invalid Link Removed

Delta is supposed to be allowing guitar & instrument carry-ons; as well as larger checked bag allowances for musicians.

Not that policies & procedures are ever consistently followed in the aviation industry. :rollno:
(not even remotely your fault, I know)
 
#35
I've use mine on several flights. Once one of the latches came undone but the other was closed. I put very small combination locks on mine to prevent them from coming open (especially if someone in baggage wants a look). Since these latches are recessed its hard to figure how it came undone as mine are very tight when latched. Otherwise the case has performed well and I really appreciate the wheels when on one of those long hikes through airports.
 
#36
I had considered getting the SKB Bass Safe but when I read the measurements of the case it seemed like my F Bass BN5 would be right up against the top. Has anyone with a longer bass used this case?

Wally
 
#37
not to be contrarion but, there is no such thing as a "Certified" flight case.

Standards are put forth, then, manufacturer's either adhere or don't adhere to them. There isn't some panel or lab that says "yup, we approve and certify this case for flight"......like there is with UL labs and such.

That being said, I've flown MANY times with a Mike Lull in that SKB case without any issues.
 
#38
I don't about technicalities, but what does ATA mean then? Doesn't that mean that a case is somehow 'approved' by the air transit association? Built to certain specs. I know there are different levels of ATA too, ATA 300, ATA 400. Something like that.
 
#39
Lokire said:
I don't about technicalities, but what does ATA mean then? Doesn't that mean that a case is somehow 'approved' by the air transit association? Built to certain specs. I know there are different levels of ATA too, ATA 300, ATA 400. Something like that.
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you are correct about the "built to specs" part. Specs. are issued and then, if the builder of the case "feels" they've met those specs., they'll call it a "flight case". I NO WAY does it mean that ATA has approved the case.....or that you have a better chance of collecting money if the airline damages it. That last part is "implied" though.

Another wrinkle these days is that there are now "TSA" guidelines too. This has to to with the lock. Some SKB cases have TSA locks on them. This means you can lock your case and the TSA will have a "master key" that will unlock it if need be for inspection.
 
#40
Wally Malone said:
I had considered getting the SKB Bass Safe but when I read the measurements of the case it seemed like my F Bass BN5 would be right up against the top. Has anyone with a longer bass used this case?

Wally
Click to expand...

Wally, I logged maany airmiles with my F bass in an sbk case - in the F bass gig bag. No problem
 

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