The Magic Travelling Guitar

My boyfriend is moving from Zurich back home to Brazil. As such, he is bringing everything he has bought in Switzerland back home which includes Ricardo, his bass guitar. This is a very valuable item that shouldn’t go into the hold as it will very likely get nicked at some point. It is very common for bass players, as the case is very slim, to ask for the guitar to be put into the crew’s wardrobe for long-haul flights. That way, the crew can keep an eye on it and give it to the right person at the end of the flight.

My boyfriend and I follow advice; we just carry the thing with us through two airports and it’s relatively easy as, due to an injury, I’ve bullied him into a wheelchair to travel through the airport. We get through the first flight with no issue; it’s a quick haul to Germany, the guitar just goes with the buggies, and we get it back no issue. The issue is the flight from Germany to Brazil.

As my boyfriend is on crutches, we get to board first with the elderly and families. We get into the queue carrying this case, which has been in plain sight for at least two hours, so the crew has had plenty of time to come up to us to ask what this is and what we are planning to do with it. Once we get our boarding passes scanned, we are asked to step to the side.

The lady at the boarding gate then starts asking us what this is and keeps reiterating that there is no way this thing will be allowed on the plane, being stern to the point of aggressiveness, and not bending her thinking an inch.

Employee: “This guitar is too big for hand luggage and has to go into the hold. If you wanted to bring it with you, you should have bought an extra seat for it.”

Me: “This is what we were advised to do by another musician, as the case is not, for example, a cello, which is too fat to go anywhere else in the plane that is not the hold, and we don’t want it in the hold due to the risk of theft.”

This argument lasts for about fifteen minutes, which normally wouldn’t be too bad, but remember, my boyfriend is on crutches, and being made to stand around for all this is the last thing he needs. He starts getting pale during this conversation.

In the end, we convince the woman to just ask the crew of the plane, and if they say no, then we will have to risk it going in the hold. Within three seconds of spotting us with the guitar case, a lovely crew member turns to us and asks:

Crew Member: “Oh, do you need to put that in the wardrobe?”

We went through fifteen minutes of argument and aggressiveness from that staff member for a two-second question. I wish gate staff would communicate with the cabin crew sometimes.