Update: flew to Houston from St Louis w/the DM in an old "airline proof" Martin hardshell; Got EVERY OTHER HASSLE IN THE UNIVERSE, (took HOURS to get to the plane & endless b.s. & they really freaked over my 30-year-old 4" crescent wrench hanging on my key ring, a momento of my Navy days I wasn't about to let them throw in the trash.) but NOT A WORD OF PROTEST OR HASSLE AT ALL ABT THE GUITAR, PICKS, STRINGS, CAPOS, ETC! FROM ANYONE, PERIOD. go figure. Flying back was the opposite; TWA had been bought by American & a TWA employee breaking in to American was told by an arrogant American employee (we later found had been demoted from supervisor) to disallow us - after he told us airport security was the problem, not the airline. This guy later changed his story several times & was absolutely vituperative by the end of our discussion.

My wife checked w/security, which made a liar out of that clown. Then she went to a real American supervisor, who retrieved my guitar & said the problem was that they now flew a lot of smaller "F-100's" (a German airliner, not the super-saber) & their bins were "small." We did indeed fly back on an F-100 & the bins are SIGNIFANTLY LARGER than the usual Boeing & Douglas planes. The DM in HSC fit w/gobs of extra space.

After this mess I will drive if at all possible & will not fly American unless there is no acceptable option. I've had it... At St louis the baggage was unattended by any seurity, our bags were already laying about when we got to baggage claim, & if the DM had been among 'em, & by good luck not busted, it would certainly have been stolen before I could get there, & that (theft) is what an insurance employee we talked to said were, by far, the bulk of the claims they had to settle re guitars & just abt anything else of value when comercial air travel was involved. Tha casual lack of any security at baggage claim is astonishing & potentially dangerous. You still get the impression that total confusion reigns in most of the air travel industry & I doubt that air travel is really any safer against a skilled & competent bad guy.

BTW we did check w/the airlines multiple multiple times in the weeks & days before we flew & were, surprisingly, given no prohibition against the guitar being in the cabin. We were also told a small knapsack was among the preferred "personal items" one could bring on-board in addition to a stricly enforced SINGLE CARRY-ON, but at the airport I was forced to check it. Go figure.. I was also "randomly" selected at every opportunity for additional searching.. The dullwits doing most of the "security" were very entertaining. Most were teeny-boppers, or close to it. The guy at the last check opened the guitar case & stared a long time at the DM, & finally said "I guess that's a guitar, huh?" I assured him he was spot-on in his astute assessment... Then he politely waved me on to the plane..

Also for grins I realized I'd been flying w/a guitar since I was 18; Let's just say over 30 yrs. I've yet to personally encounter a security scanner too small for a dreadnaught in HSC & it's been decades since I've seen an overhead compartment too small for one in any of the standard jet-liners. (The small comuter liners are generally different.)

Our experience & my $0.02 worth.

Cheers, BK