And were you able to take it on the flight as carry-on baggage? Also, which airline did you use?
I will likely be flying with an archtop electric guitar this weekend and I'm not risking it with the general luggage.

flew in march - SAA cpt - lon where a guy brought a guitar on boad and the cabin crew stowed it somewhere for him.

when we flew back lon - cpt, i had a guitar with me, check in desk woman at counter said no problem to take on board...

when i got on board the cabin crew had a bit of a shit fit, said they could not put it aywhere, i must put it in the overhead - which i did - fitted no problems,, and all was well..

Yup. As a matter of fact I took 2 guitars with me. One electric and one semi-hollow.

Its pretty straight forward, just go to the desk where you sort out tickets and all that, and they will put a red tag on it. You then proceed to the airplane with the guitars and give it to the crew just before you enter teh plane and they will hold it in the front of the plane for you i.e. it wont go to the place where all the bags go. Then when you land, your guitars will either be in airport or bottom of airoplane with a person standing there who will give you your guitars back upon verification that they are Yours!

By the way... I strongly urge you to get the guitar wrapped in plastic. It costs R50, but will make sure no one opens the case and fiddels around, and also protects against vibrations etc. There are stations all over the airport that can wrap it for you.

Thanks guys!
Adrian who did you fly with?

Reinhard, I last had a guitar with me as hand luggage in 2007 from London to Cape Town...British Airways...no problem.
It's best to pre-arrange with the airline.
Good luck.

Reinhard wrote: Thanks guys!
Adrian who did you fly with?

British Airways

I've flown with kulula a few times with a guitar recently and they always ended up having no space in the cabin for the guitar so they take it from you just before you walk through the door onto the plane and then they put it in the hold under the plane and then when you land you collect under the plane or from oversize baggage. But its not the same as putting it through regular baggage i think it goes to a different place or at least is put in carefully...

Thanks guys. I am flying up to Jhb to buy a pricey vintage piece and I am really nervous flying back with it.

If you do fly British Airways, according to their site you can take it as carry on and ask the crew to put it in the coat closet ?

The cheaper places don't let you do that :\

Reinhard wrote: Thanks guys. I am flying up to Jhb to buy a pricey vintage piece and I am really nervous flying back with it.

Quite seriously, why not book a seat for it on the return flight?

Hugh Cumming has told me a tale of the time he sold a '39 Gibson Mastertone Banjo to a collector overseas. Because of the value of the instrument Hugh had to deliver it himself, and part of the deal was 2 business class tickets - one for Hugh and one for the banjo.

Flown a few times, cheap and normal airlines, never had problems. Just give it to the check in person to mark as fragile and take it on as carry on luggage.

At least 4 or 5 times this year already ?
Like everyone said take it as carry-on, if they have space in the cabin they'll let you take it in wiht you, otherwise they will stow it in the forward hold. I assume you have a hard case?? If not, insist on the cabin. The fragile hold always scuffs my stuff so I'd be nervous about something in a soft bag...

Thanks for all the info guys! Will definitely get it wrapped. Fying up to fetch my new GF tomorrow morning and back the afternoon.

Flew back with British Airways. Was the 2nd one on the plane and put it in the overhead storage ?

my ex wife seems to fly just fine with a broom

I flew SAA JHB to London! And at first they said i couldnt take it on but my retort was ''ure gonna have to pry it from my cold dead fingers'' and then they put it in the long overhead carrage above my head!! Very nice peeps those SAA guys! ?

EttieneB wrote: I flew SAA JHB to London! And at first they said i couldnt take it on but my retort was ''ure gonna have to pry it from my cold dead fingers'' and then they put it in the long overhead carrage above my head!! Very nice peeps those SAA guys! ?

They did this once on a Jhb-CPT flight for me too, after a MONUMENTAL amount of bitching & moaning from the cockpit crew. Sheez.

IceCreamMan wrote: my ex wife seems to fly just fine with a broom

Wha ha ha ha ha.
I've fallen of my chair!!!

A friend in the Police, who recently checked with his connections in the customs department, advised me that the new laws make it really difficult to transport instruments, so rather buy a flight case. I just acquired an instrument in another city, and the cost of a flight case would have broken the deal had I known.