anybody flown Southwestern w/ a guitar lately?
I'm going to visit friends in Kansas City in early May, and since I'll be hanging out w/ musicians, I'd really like to take the guitar.
Unlike most other airlines, SWA's stated policy seems pretty clear that if it doesn't meet carryon size requirements, instruments must be treated as checked baggage. I don't like this idea if that means I have to hand it off at the baggage check and send it into the not-so-tender clutches of the belts and the handlers.
So my question is this... does anybody have recent experience w/ a guitar and Southwest? Can I take it through security and then gate check it (which would make me substantially more comfortable with carrying it along)? Do the gate agents or FAs have any flexibility in possibly allowing me to bring it onboard? (It would certainly fit in the overhead on an SWA flight, and the 7 a.m. nonstop to Kansas City is unlikely to be full-to-bursting, in my experience.)
I have a hard case in the sense that I have one that's sturdier than the padded gig bag, but it was bought w/ the expectation that it would be getting stowed _by me_ along w/ my PA gear in the Trooper... not that it would be flying. I didn't buy the uber-expensive (and damnably heavy) airline-safe case.
Ideas? Suggestions? Anybody?
Unlike most other airlines, SWA's stated policy seems pretty clear that if it doesn't meet carryon size requirements, instruments must be treated as checked baggage. I don't like this idea if that means I have to hand it off at the baggage check and send it into the not-so-tender clutches of the belts and the handlers.
So my question is this... does anybody have recent experience w/ a guitar and Southwest? Can I take it through security and then gate check it (which would make me substantially more comfortable with carrying it along)? Do the gate agents or FAs have any flexibility in possibly allowing me to bring it onboard? (It would certainly fit in the overhead on an SWA flight, and the 7 a.m. nonstop to Kansas City is unlikely to be full-to-bursting, in my experience.)
I have a hard case in the sense that I have one that's sturdier than the padded gig bag, but it was bought w/ the expectation that it would be getting stowed _by me_ along w/ my PA gear in the Trooper... not that it would be flying. I didn't buy the uber-expensive (and damnably heavy) airline-safe case.
Ideas? Suggestions? Anybody?