airline question
 

I need to find out which airline allows you to have a guitar as a carry-on item, it's too expensive to check it in to luggage

Where are you flying from?

Boston

I would suggest going to each airline site and view luggage restrictions for special items (i.e., musical).

For example when I searched nwa.com (Northwest airlines) here is what I found:

Musical Instruments
Northwest accepts musical instruments that exceed size and/or weight limitations (up to 100 pounds) as checked luggage or cabin-seat luggage. Musical instruments are not included in the free luggage allowance and an excess fee of $80.00 USD will apply for domestic travel. For international travel, overweight/oversize luggage fees vary by country.

Cabin-seat Luggage: Northwest requires purchase of an additional seat and advance arrangements for carriage of musical instruments as cabin-seat luggage. Northwest must assign the instrument bulkhead seating behind a hard/rigid divider to comply with FAA safety regulations. See Carry-on Luggage for all the conditions of acceptance of cabin-seat luggage.

Checked Luggage: The passenger must present the musical instrument in a hard-sided or crush-proof container made specifically for the instrument.
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Carry On: Guitars and smaller musical instruments will be accepted as the passengers *one* item of carry on baggage provided the maximum linear dimensions do not exceed 45 inches. Carry on baggage must be stowed under the seat in front of them or in the overhead bin or closet. These instruments are in lieu of the passenger's carry-on luggage item. Passengers traveling with a guitar or smaller musical instrument may also carry a small personal item. <font color = black>

As far as flights within Africa, you should also check the websites for those airlines as well.

Hope this helps,
- Granny Joan
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Ask the airline to be sure, but we've travelled with violins in cases several times, and had no problem at all taking them on-board. Even post 9/11. I think we were on United and Frontier flights.
:)&gt;-