A Guitar and Aerlingus

elliebn

hi my friends have a gig in new york and are travelling from shannon with aerlingus. they are bringing a guitar with them to perform, as they are only going for a few days it might be more difficult to excuse the fact that they are bringing a musical instrument with them. just wondering if anyone has any experience with this and if there are any valid reasons for bringing a guitar with you on a weekend break. not sure if this should be in the travel section or not as its music related but feel free to move it.

thanks

should have put that its immigration that would have the problem with the guitar as they don't have a music permit

NeMiSiS

1 guitar ? Hardly gonna be a problem, just... lie...
Terrorist scum !

tolcreator

I've brought a guitar to the states for a 1 week trip with no problem. They actually asked me was I going to be playing any gigs etc, and I told them "no" of course, because I wasnt'. Just for singin' round the campfire etc. Not that I would ever condone lying to an official (gasp!) but well... lie to the official.

It'd be different now if there were like, 4 of ye looking obviously like a Band with loads of equipment (um, yeah, big campfire) but if it's 1 guitar there shouldn't be a problem.

elliebn

thanks guys, there will be 8 people going in total so will be breaking into a few groups, there will be 2 guitars in total hence the avoiding each other at the airport, the rest of the equipment is being supplied by the venue. they've heard that sometimes they are really strict on people bringing musical instruments with them as they obviously assume that its for a gig, hopefully they will buy the line of a party with a sing song planned and it being totally necessary to bring their own guitars.

cheers

haunted-room

Ive had trouble with this before, on my way over to the u.s, i asked beforehand could i bring it as handluggage and they said thats fine. Then when I was boarding the plain they said I cant bring it on board. So they took it off me and put it with all the suitcases and stuff. Then, they also told me that when I arrived in the U.S, that it would not be put on the luggage belt thing cause it might get damaged, of course the first thing I see when i arrive at the luggage thing is my poor guitar being man-handled and thrown on to the belt. F#ckers!!

Duff_Man

duno if its the same thing but on my holiday in france i aquired 2 gutiars and brought em back....they actually asked me to remove the strings! i didnt and they didnt notice:P they let me bring em on as hand luggage. but that was last year...id say things are alot different now!

Fingers Mcginty

I've brought many guitars from the states back to Ireland and most of the time i've been able to bring it as hand luggage albeit after convincing the airline staff that it has to come with me on the plane and not in the luggage.
The one time i had to put it in luggage was when i was bringing an Alvarez 12 string. The guitar was damaged when we landed and i only noticed it when i got it home. Granted it was a cheap instrument it didn't bother me that much. But i've brought Martins, Gibbo's and PRS' back and they've always travelled with me onboard
Just thell them at check in how valuable the instrument is and that if it's a boeing aircraft it will fit in the overhead compartment. You also have to convince them again just before boarding the plane.

Pauleeeeeeee

If emigration ask you if yer playing a gig say no. To them playing a gig is a form of work and I presume you don't have a work permit for the states.

Tazzle

My girlfriend had absolutely no problem bringing her guitar on board, she was going Ireland -> USA and had a mountain of hand luggage aswell as her guitar. So as everyone else said, just blag.

marlowe

This happened last year before the current state of martial law (I believe you're not even allowed wear underpants when boarding an airplane now)......

I bought a guitar last year in New York and was worried about getting it back with me to Dublin. It was in a soft case.

I was flying Aer Lingus and was expecting huge problems cause I already had another item of hand luggage (a tent which I was willing to sacrafice if it came to it). Was really surprised when they let me take it on as hand luggage.

Not only that. When I got on the plane, one of the lovely bright orange air hostesses offered to put it in a special big locker they had up the front of the cabin.

As much as I hate endorsing any large company, they were really sound and probably let me away with more hand luggage than they should have.

elliebn

the guitars will be going in with luggage and they are both in hard cases so thats not really the worry. I've just heard of musicians (with no work permit like them) checking in their guitars and then when they get to emigration they have been flagged as someone carrying a musical instrument and four days in new york "shopping" doesn't usually require a guitar. thanks for all your replies will let you know what excuse gets used.

Frankiestylee

Are they acoustic guitars or electric? No way you're gonna get away with saying electric guitars are just for a "sing song". Neither would they believe someone is importing a guitar from Ireland to America.

elliebn

yup both electric hence the worry as you pointed out its not exactly believable you are going for a sing song. is it true that emigration will be notified before they get there that they have a guitar with them.

Frankiestylee

As far as I know, the Mike Got Spiked boys weren't even allowed fly to America once it turned out they were a band without the proper papers. They had to miss an American gig and fly to Canada for the Canadian leg. That's a pretty good example for your current situation.
Were the plane tickets bought with the same credit card or anything like that? Just wondering if they could link the two guitars in any way.

John

Well they should have gotten work permits shouldn't they?

elliebn

all flights booked with separate credit cards but the date ranges of the flights are the same so that might raise a few suspicians. as for the work permit thing you're right but it was a last minute gig and time wasn't on their side.