Carry-on on Frontier Airlines

[juggernaught]

I'm going on a week long trip to Minnesota to visit family (and visit Planetbass, please dont tell my partner!), and I want to bring along my Brown Bass.  Does anyone have any experience with trying to bring a bass carry-on on Frontier?  I called them up and their answer was if there was room, which is at best ambiguous.  Has anyone been forced by Frontier to gate-check?

[funkyjazzjunky]

Are flying 1st class?

[juggernaught]

nope :/

[glocke]

To be honest, your better off leaving it at home.  A bass as carry on is still a large item, and it may or may not fit in the overhead.  I am assuming you plan on bringing it in a gig bag?  if you are lucky, and do get it to fit,  there are still other people who will need to put the luggage into the overheads, which means other peoples crap will be pressing against your bass, and even in a gig bag this could cause minor damage.
 
 
There is also the fact that if you get there and it wont fit, they will make you check it, in a gig bag.
 
Even if it is able to get on as carryon, if you have to take a connector flight in a smaller plane, it will have to go into the luggage compartment.
 
 
If you absolutely have to bring the bass, I would just get a real flight case for it and check it, and insure it...

[juggernaught]

I've never had any problems with the fitting gigbag in the overhead as long as they let it on the plane.  and that's even with one of those regional planes on AA with a full flight.  Super 8s are no problem too.

[juggernaught]

Also, I wanted to mention that my gig bag isn't any slouch either.  It's a body glove hybrid, which is a hard soft case, and is able to withstand the kinds of bumps you'd expect in the overheads AFAIK.

[glocke]

Up to you.  Its your bass.  I tried flying once with my jazz bass...i think the carrier was either northwest or frontier..in any case, they wouldnt let me bring it on as carryon despite assurances when i called it ahead that it would be allowed.  Since it was in a gig bag I didnt want to check it, and ended up having to call someone to pick the bass up.

[juggernaught]

Was it Frontier?  That's the kind of info I'm looking for.  I've been hearing elsewhere that Frontier is good about this thing.

[lbpesq]

And what happens if the nice airplane people let you carry-on your instrument, but the mean nasty airplane people say no on the way back?  Going to fly with an instrument?  Either get yourself a good flight case, or buy a cheapo instument that you won't mind too much if it gets destroyed.  After all the $ I spent on my custom Further, it was a no brainer to spend a little more for a good custom Calton case for it.
 
Bill, tgo

[juggernaught]

OK, I don't need nor want a lesson here.  All I wanted to know what experiences people had with carry-ons specifically with Frontier.  I'll take it from there, thank you very much.  Capiche?

[jazzyvee]

My experience here was a couple of years ago when I had a gig in Florida at the Bob Marley day Festival in Universal Studio's. I called the airline ahead and was told yes I could carry carrymy guitar on board as long as it would fit the overhead lockers.
 
I took my alembic Orion guitar in a sturdy but not flight case.  
Similar to this but guitar shaped for a strat.
 
http://undergroundmusic.com.au/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=53&products_id=455&zenid=36573af0ff2645a4655fff089403ef2e
 
I had no probs on the outward journey from London to Atlanta , then atlanta to Florida.  
 
However on the way back the check in team allowed me to take the guitar on the plane from florida to atlanta. In atlanta again they said yes I could carry it on board. However when I got to the passport control area where all personal items are x-rayed,  I was told that I could not carry the guitar on the  plane... So I had to go back to check-in and have a heated discussion about this with the clerks.
 
 In the end a senior manager came and said that the guitar could not go on the plane as it was a safety risk. However he did say that if I paid for an additional seat, i could carry the guitar on the plane. (strange logic that).
 
In the end it had to go in the hold. Fortunately my Orion wasn't damaged in the trip.
 
I have to say that I have not had that experience on trips in Europe.
 
Jazzyvee

[juggernaught]

Was that Frontier?  I don't think they fly those airports.
 
However, you make a good point: the airport can make a difference.  I've heard that ATL is especially anal.
 
Any additional experience with Denver or Minneapolis/St Paul?

[keith_h]

Devon,
The point you are missing here is it doesn't matter what airline you are dealing with. All of them are pretty much the same. There is no guarantee that you will be able to take the guitar with you in the cabin. Anywhere along the route through the airport an airline agent or flight crew member can say you have to check the instrument into baggage. If the flights you are going to be on are empty you most likely won't have any problems taking it into the cabin. If the flight is full it is very likely they will say it does not meet the carry on requirements or that there is not enough space so you have to check it. The only flights I recall where I could carry my bass consistently were the red eyes I used to fly between LA and Chicago every few weeks.
 
This used to be a little easier some years ago when planes had more closets and didn't run so full. However even then having to gate check my bass was not uncommon. I only used a hard shell case but never had any problems as they hand carry the bass down to the cargo hold and hand carry it back to the gate at the destination. Since it is last on and first off it minimizes the risk of something bad happening.
 
As JV also brought up you could buy a seat for it. This will guarantee you can take it in the cabin.
 
Keith

[juggernaught]

Keith, I think you're missing something extremely fundamental here.  Airlines and airports aren't homogeneously unpredictable as far as letting you carry-on.  Just because it's a problem in general doesn't mean that X airline is just as difficult as Y airline.  That has been my experience.  For example, AA is very good from my experience as long as you are riding on a super 8.  If you ride regional, then you may have to have a fit in the gate.  This isn't Murphy's law here, it's prediction through statistics balanced with risk.  I well understand the point of this being difficult; otherwise I wouldn't ask.  I am well aware of the risks.  What I want is specific information on a specific airline and airports.  From that information, I can *predict* whether it is worth the risk of trying to carry-on.  Are you trying to tell me that you have ridden or know of someone who has ridden every airline and had trouble with every single one of them, or are you generalizing some limited experiences to all possible experiences?
 
Just to get this straight, ATA cases are not in the cards.  If the only option is to check it, I'm not bringing it, no matter how far behind I get on practice.

[glocke]

Devon,
 
I just checked my trip info for that trip.  It was Frontier.  
 
Dont take this personally, we are all only trying to help.
 
For me personally, even IF i did have an ATA case Id be hard pressed to bring it on a trip.
 
If you really need to practice while visiting, I would seriously just invest in an inexpensive bass.