My son, aged 16, is flying across country to visit cousins. He wants to take his guitar and skateboard. Should he plan to check these or carry on thses items. He has a back-pack that will carry the skateboard and the guitar is in a hard case. Thanks for your help.

Guitar case is too large to be carry on. It will either have to be shipped ahead of time or checked.

I would ship the guitar.

Carry on the skateboard. It easily fits under the seat. My son always carries his.

My recent experience....I called the airlines about a guitar hard-case carry on. They said it could be put in the front of the plane with garment bags, etc. I got to the curb side check-in area, and was told that the plane I was on had no "garment bag" section. The folks who dropped me off had recently been to the Home Depot and had rolls of the blue painters tape in their trunk. I wrapped and wrapped and wrapped that guitar while on the curb at DFW, handed over my vibrant blue guitar case and crossed my fingers. It arrived in Seattle totally perfect....not even a scuff on the tape. The airline (American) made it clear that it was being shipped at my risk, but I had no choice. But let me tell you, that tape really glowed, maybe that helped with it getting some special care. The problem is, even if you call the airline and check the plane type, there could be connecting flight issues, or even plane changes.

eileenleft~ Really? A skateboard fits under the seat on a flight? That just doesn't seem possible, aren't they too long?

Arkansasnurse~ I'd plan to check them both. As long as they are well packed seems like this is by far the surest method. With the size limits for carry-on these days, I am curious how these two items would even be allowed.

Thanks for your input, this was discussed and we thought the guitar should be checked. Delta airlines stated this also....so the idea of blue painters tape is a good one. Thanks again.