Hi guys.. I need some suggestions from you.. My uncle is getting a guitar for me from USA, Umm it weighs roughly around 9kgs along with the hardcase. We called Air India (flight which he is gona travel) regarding this and they said it would cost me around 130$ for the same.. The price is pretty high considering the cost of the guitar. So please guys any other suggestions of how can I get it shipped. Also I have read many posts stating we can carry it as a hand luggage..is it possible to do so? or are there any other ways ? also will there be any customs charges on it ..? Hmm would love to hear your suggestions... Has anyone here done this before? plz help me out guys..
Why are they charging 130 additional $$? If the total weight of luggage is within limits i don't see any reason for overcharging. Additional kgs will be charged as per rules. Don't ship it. Which guitar is it?
Its a schecter synyster gates custom .. they said they wont allow it to be carried as a hand luggage so it should be checked in as a normal luggage.. and my uncle has already got 2 bags and as per norms for the third one they said they ll charge, doesnt matter if all the luggages are with in the 50kg weight limit or not, for an additional luggage they need to pay extra charges.
In that case it's better to pay 130$ rather than shipping it... It's worth to pay that much money for a 1000$ guitar..
Hmm well I am thinking of the same but still if there is a way I can get it done for free then its a stupidity to pay them... I read many posts abt the same thing, they all said they can take it for free but i dont know the policies of air india properly so in case if they allow carrying musical instruments aboard ..
^ $130 is I guess because they are counting the weight in pounds, so every additional pound is getting charged a lot. I'm guessing the guitar in it's case is weighing in at around 10-14lbs? Carry along luggage doesn't get charged, but I believe some flights do not allow certain luggage of particular dimension to be carried along with you on the flight. Anyways if you are being forced to place it in the cargo hold then a flight case is needed. I'm not sure what kind of case that guitar comes with, if it's hardshell then make sure that it's extremely durable. depending upon whether it's a direct flight or connected flight the amount of abuse it will receive is going to vary during loading/unloading. Since you already are in US then getting hold of a really high quality flight case for cheap shouldn't be a problem, they usually have a lot of stuff getting sold for used all the time there on Craiglist/Ebay. Goodluck with the trip.
I am not sure whether the Guitar is Bolt on or not..But if it is...Seperate the Neck and the body and dump it in the 2 bags that ur uncle has. This shudnt be an issue. Sadly dump the hardcase for now!!
