M. Ted, You must be the luckiest guy alive. I would never 'check' an expensive guitar. I have had one of those above mentioned solid plastic cases severely damaged. I'm convinced that the only reason that the guitar survived was that it was a cheap old Yamaha.

I used to work in the baggage handling business and those machines have to be seen to be believed.

Another trick to taking a guitar as hand luggage is to - not use a case at all. I've never come across anyone who had the heart to ask me to check a 'naked' guitar.

All checked baggage should pass the 'throw it down a flight of stairs' test before handing it over to the airlines.

BTW, it's not the airline's fault if your bag gets damaged it's the AIRPORT that installs and maintains the equipment.