QUESTION TO ANYONE IN THE KNOW ABOUT CARRY ON FLIGHT SIZE RESTRICTIONS

D

Doug Bryan

Member
I'm a new Guitarist, Vocalist, Songwriter whose debut album will be dropping everywhere mid January 2020 with a tour to follow. I am new to fly gigs and am pretty well prepared already. I will be dragging two guitars out in Gator Titan Cases which are air tight and can withstand the force of a Mack truck driving over it so my guitars check as luggage. My suitcase will contain my weekend clothes, FC-12 and two Expression Pedals. It's a sturdy injection molded rolling unit I can either carry on or check comfortably without fear of damage. The FC-12 will make it in there with an inch to spare on each side.

The issue I'm having is with housing the AxeFx III in something suitable as a carry on. Every airline says you are restricted to 22 in wide x 14in deep x 9in high.

Would anyone know if this is the absolute limit? I can't find a carry on that meets these measurements. The closest I've found is 14.5 inches deep as opposed to 14 inches (that's what she said 😆) and 10 inches in height as opposed to 9 inches.

Any insight from anyone with any knowledge about this I would love to hear from.

Thanks!
 
The last flight I took from the UK to Spain, I would estimate that maybe 25% to 30% of the 'hand luggage' bags or cases I saw being brought on the plane were over the prescribed limits. I suppose it depends on each individual airline, but if it looks about right, they are unlikely to stop you and check. They don't have the time on the turnaround schedules to be that picky. I have known people who have taken guitars and bases in a gig bag upside down so the staff only see the top and think it is a rucksack.! It is amazing what you can get away with.

A trick is to select your seat and get priority boarding (it will cost extra!) and then you get on the plane first and get space in the overhead lockers. Once the overheads are full, the hand luggage will go in the hold, regardless of what you have paid for!

This is based on the UK airlines, the US airlines may be more picky, especially if it was a Gator case or the like.
 
It's highly unlikely airline staff are going to bust your nuts about half an inch here or there. The old "I have a few thousand dollars worth of musical equipment in this case, I'd really prefer to carry it on" is a great backup too.
 
I just talk to the airline. They specify the size is 22 inches wide by 14 inches deep by 9 inches high max. I told them well if you are saying 45 linear inches then I am coming in 1 inch short of the max on West and a half inch more in depth. So technically it's 45 1/2 inches. Are you going to break my balls for a half an inch and the woman who I was on the phone with said no
 
Are they going to be breaking your balls over it? Depends on the local culture is my experience. And the airline. Only flown abroad twice for gigs, once to Italy with KLM/Alitalia, and to Turkey with Turkish Airlines. In both cases we had to check in at Schiphol. The first time the check in staff was from KLM and they said, only one item of luggage each. There were four of us and I alone had two guitar cases and a pedal board. So they charged us a lot for extra luggage. On the return journey the check in staff were from Alitalia. This time we had taped guitar cases together so they were 'one item of luggage'. In theory. I doubt it would have been accepted as such at Schiphol, but the Alitalia guys were 'yeah, whatever'. Gotta love Italian relaxedness.

2nd time with Turkish airlines the check in staff at Schiphol were from Turkish airlines and they too were 'yeah whatever.' Multiple pieces of luggage? No problem. I reckon they're used to Dutch Turks travelling to Turkey during the holidays carrying everything but the kitchen sink.

I reckon the moral of this story, if there is one, its that if the local culture is one of yeah, whatever, you'll do fine. If the local culture is one of rule Nazi's then yeah, you can get boned over half an inch.
 
Like somebody said, pay the $35 for priority boarding and you're good. Some of the people traveling have "carry-on" luggage that's well over the "limit".
 
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