Vintage Gibson guitar mangled by airline baggage handlers

[chumbucket]

It was a musician's worst nightmare.

At least that's how Dave Schneider, guitarist and singer for Hanukkah-themed rock band The LeeVees, described it when his guitar—a 1965 Gibson ES-335—got jammed in an elevator by baggage handlers at a Detroit airport.

Schneider was traveling with fellow LeeVees guitarist Adam Gardner from Portland, Maine, to St. Petersburg, Fla., for a gig last month at a conservative temple when their flight was diverted to Rochester, N.Y., due to bad weather, causing them to miss their connection in Philadelphia, Pa. They then drove to Buffalo, N.Y., to hop on a plane destined for Detroit, Mich., where they planned to make a connecting flight to Tampa, Fla.

While boarding in Buffalo, Schneider says he asked Delta staffers not to check in the vintage guitar—which he estimates is worth about $10,000—and allow him to carry it on the plane and place it in an available space, as he did on the flight from Portland.

"I've always carried it on," Schneider, who also tours as the lead singer of the hockey-themed rock group the Zambonis, told Yahoo News. "Never been a problem before."

Schneider says he even showed them a link to a story about Congress passing the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 that made it easier for musicians to fly with their instruments—allowing them to purchase an extra seat on the plane for their fragile instruments.

But he was denied.

Full story link-
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sidesho...xpdGljc3xjb25ncmVzcwRwdANzdG9yeXBhZ2U-;_ylv=3

 

[blackba]

Wow, that is terrible.

 

[Tone Zone]

I was just about to post this!

 

[DoomBuggi]

That would warrant a boot into some one's poop chute for sure.

 

[n4085b]

Guys, just a heads up when traveling with your axe...when you book a flight, check and see what kind of aircraft it is on every leg. Even though you bought tickets on Delta, American, United, etc you very well could end up on a regional jet or turbo prop for one or more segments of your flight (as was the case here). Those aircraft have very small overhead bins and they might not have a coat closet like you are used to on a full size plane to stash your axe.. Not excusing it...just a sad fact that many airlines have outsourced a lot of their flying to other smaller commuter airlines even though they share the same paint job as the major airline, they are separate companies. Southwest is the only one in the states that doesn't do this though that I'm aware of..

 

[bigdaddyd]

Am I missing something? Guy is flying with a $10,000 guitar that is not in aa ATA spec flight case, and didn't even think to buy a seat for it. It got fucked up and he has a problem with that? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Next time leave the irreplaceable vintage shit home and take something else on tour. What a tool. I wouldn't leave me parts guitars in an over head bin...but that is just me. Hell, the last time I had to take a flight I brought one bag. It was a backpack to put in the overhead. Guess what? There wasn't enough overhead bins for everyone because the flight overbooked. People were fighting to cram their shit in. Bins that could fit 6 things had like 15. Image you favorite axe under all that shit.

 

[Zap]

Holy shit! If they did that to any of my guitars I'd take them to court and make them pay exactly what it was worth immediately prior to it being destroyed. After seeing what happened to it, I wouldn't even want the poor thing back because it would never sound the same.

 

[Zap]

Am I missing something? Guy is flying with a $10,000 guitar that is not in aa ATA spec flight case, and didn't even think to buy a seat for it. It got fucked up and he has a problem with that? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Next time leave the irreplaceable vintage shit home and take something else on tour. What a tool. I wouldn't leave me parts guitars in an over head bin...but that is just me. Hell, the last time I had to take a flight I brought one bag. It was a backpack to put in the overhead. Guess what? There wasn't enough overhead bins for everyone because the flight overbooked. People were fighting to cram their shit in. Bins that could fit 6 things had like 15. Image you favorite axe under all that shit.

Valid point. Like this?

"The Les Paul would like a Gin and Tonic."

 

[bigdaddyd]

I mean don't get me wrong, I feel really bad for that guy. That said, I would never travel with a guitar like that if I couldn't afford to protect it with a proper case and seat. It just wouldn't be worth it to me. Clearly that guitar was special to him if he felt he needs to bring it to every gig and he couldn't sub another in it's place. I can't imagine he will get full replacement cost for that very reason. Anything he gets will be strictly a result of the bad publicity and the fact that he was smart enough to start filming.

 

[krueger]

Ok, DOES EVERYONE KNOW IF THE GUITAR IS IN A GIGBAG YOU CAN PUT IT IN THE OVERHEAD?!!!!!

 

[King Guitar]

I fly all the time with my guitar and have never been denied by good old southwest to put in in the overhead. They are the best! Also on Southwest if you want you can buy an extra ticket for your guitar if you want and if the plane is not full they will credit your extra ticket price back to you.

 

[Anonymous]

I fly all the time with my guitar and have never been denied by good old southwest to put in in the overhead. They are the best! Also on Southwest if you want you can buy an extra ticket for your guitar if you want and if the plane is not full they will credit your extra ticket price back to you.

Yeah, but the key is you have to have status on Southwest, fly Business Select or be quick enough to check in and get an A or early B boarding pass so you are assured of bin space. I see a lot of stuff get checked when the bin space starts to run out towards the end of the Bs and a guitar probably needs to get in the bins in the early Bs otherwise there isn't room. Southwest flights are crowded that I fly on...

Steve

 

[The Hoff]

Regardless of the mistake he made to trust them, I really feel for this guy. That is unbelievable. Hope we get an update on what the result of it all was.

Reminds me of the guy who had his Martin trashed by the airlines, perhaps he should write a song about it:

 

[glassjaw7]

Am I missing something? Guy is flying with a $10,000 guitar that is not in aa ATA spec flight case, and didn't even think to buy a seat for it.

In the article, it states that he tried to buy a seat for it and the airline would not allow it.

 

[bigdaddyd]

Am I missing something? Guy is flying with a $10,000 guitar that is not in aa ATA spec flight case, and didn't even think to buy a seat for it.

In the article, it states that he tried to buy a seat for it and the airline would not allow it.

I read that, but the bottom line is he did not buy a seat or have his guitar in the proper case. He still got on the flight without either and checked his guitar. No one twisted his arm. I never would have done that, would you? It is not an everyday production guitar. That is my point. As soon as they told me I couldn't have the seat I would have had to find another way...gig or not. It is his fault for bringing "that" guitar. He could have brought a run of the mill axe and risked that, but when you a special axe like that, you need to be more careful. He was careful not to take the $1,000 payment because he knew it would have been seen as accepted as payment in full and he didn't want that. He should have used the same foresight when the seat was denied and not taken the flight. Had he had the guitar in an ATA approved flight case, he could have at least risked it, but that would be up to him.

As for the question above about putting your guitar in a gigbag in an overhead....I know people do it but scroll up and read what I wrote about my backpack. When that happened all I could think about were all the threads on here from guys asking questions like yours and people on here posting about storing their expensive guitars in gigbags in overhead bins. In made me cringe. Shit was getting mashed and bashed like it was an Olympic sport. Men were pulling bags out and throwing them on the ground to rearrange shit so theirs would fit better. Women would smash what they could down. Their husbands would help by cramming more stuff that didn't fit on top without concern for anything that wasn't theirs. The best was when the attendants would do the final check. The doors wouldn't close, so they would do whatever it took to slam them shut...mashing, bashing and cramming shit until the doors locked. Tell me, is that how you want your favorite axe to travel? Especially with the zero protection of a gig bag?

I realize I am a bit pessimistic when it comes to travel. I travel with two Chrome bags. 1 giant backpack for my clothes and 1 small messenger for ipad and electronics. This is just to ease travel and not to have to check anything. Even with that, I chose them because they are indestructible and can be squished down easily. Anything that is fragile are kept in Pelican cases in the bags. Of course I get stopped like a terrorist when they see that, but at least it renews my faith a little in airport security I mean, if I can protect my phone and camera and such with pelican cases, you would think a dude could do something similar with a $10,000 guitar. For that matter, anyone would with any instrument that they like.

 

[jcj]

Regardless of the mistake he made to trust them, I really feel for this guy. That is unbelievable. Hope we get an update on what the result of it all was.

Reminds me of the guy who had his Martin trashed by the airlines, perhaps he should write a song about it:

It was a Taylor, but yeah...he kicked their nuts up around their ears, with that video

 

[JohnnyCNote]

I used to work in customer service for British Airways and their policy was to allow each passenger to take one guitar in a case into the passenger compartment. Anytime I got a call about that I always made sure to give them special attention. If it won't fit overhead, they have other places to stash it inside the passenger compartment. As far as connecting to a flight that's not BA, I can't say. All of the people we dealt with were traveling across the Atlantic, usually to London (Heathrow), so it was extra important . . .

 

[Bob Savage]

As unfortunate as that situation is, I agree with big daddy. Why in the world was THAT guitar being transported in THAT bag? My sympathy level dropped immensely when I saw the picture.

 

[King Guitar]

Thats not a gig bag it is a Gibson TKL brown 1990's ES hard case, you can see the feet on the bottom of it.

 

[Skrapmetal]

Thats nto a gig bag it is a TKL brown 1990's ES hard case, you can see the feet on the bottom of it.

That's what Gibson provided as original cases in the 90's, wasn't it? Brown with pink liners?