Dude this JUST happened to me when I arrived to play at Hellfest. Lufthansa too. I really hope they show up before the gig tomorrow....

Agreed on the air tags, I have them for my keys and wallet as well but yes, in your gear bags is something that has put my mind at rest for even just at local gigs where sadly, people do have gear stolen. Glad you didn’t lost them Bea!

Oh thats why Frogleap canceled. I didn't know till now😢 But as a guitar player myself i can relate to your situation. Some instruments are just irreplaceable. When i was 13 years old ive won a Gibson Les Paul studio on a festival. I just started playing guitar back than. If something would happen to that guitar i would go nuts😮 But anyway i'm gladd that you have your baby's back! 🤘

I started using the AirTags in each luggage piece for my entire family two years ago. Same story as yours, flying Condors from Vancouver to Munich via Frankfurt. We missed our connection in Frankfurt big time and when we landed in Munich our luggage was nowhere to be seen. I stood in front of the Lufthansa service desk lady after 3 hours of waiting in the queue with two little kids, trying to sort it out and she told me "Oh they arrived in Munich 10mins ago, you should hurry up and run to grab them" and I was like "No they are not, they are in Frankfurt." And shown here all the AirTags stacked up in Frankfurt". Eventually got everything. Even in Munich, I had to track down the AirTags with my iPhone because they had lost them AGAIN when they arrived and didn't know where they had put them. AirTags!

Traveling with anything of value is scary for me. My high school hockey team flew from NY to Germany in 2016, the airline lost about 4,000 dollars worth of hockey equipment. Happy to hear your issue got resolved.

I'm stressed just listening to your story. I'm glad they didn't get damaged. Cheers.

Just went from the USA to Greece & back. Smart Tags gave me such piece of mind for all my baggage .

Sorry you lost your guitars, man. I am looking forward to the Vower EP.

Dude, major bummer bro sorry you had to go through that but at least you got them back. That’s the most important part. Rock on. Cheers!

The Samsung ones will ONLY work with Samsung phones. For all android users there are tags available (soon). Pebblebee, chipolo have them for pre-order, and eufy and Motorola have announced they're going to be releasing tags this summer.

I followed this whole odissey through your instagram stories, I'm happy you finally got them back 💪 Thank you for all the useful tips!

Thanks for keeping it real and sharing this, Bea. Travel logistics are indeed a nightmare, but anyone whose instruments or tools for the craft don't fit in a shoulder bag (literally and figuratively) gets poorly treated by everyone in every step of the way. Cheers on getting your guitars back!

Thanks Bea to share your stressful story. Glad to hear that you have your babies back 👌

Holy smokes. I can't imagine myself going through this. Mad respect to you for maintaining your cool and sharing the story! I am rarely influenced by purchase suggestions but I think I need one of those flight cases now.

Just got back in my apartment from listening to your new release in my car....awesome IDDQD so intense.... such heartbreaking news man...

I was really looking forward to your gig on Graspop and I really felt for you guys when news got out you weren't able t make it. I'm just glad everything came back to you and the new Vower song is brutal, so if you'd go on a tour and visit the Netherlands I'd definitely be in the front row. Cheers Rabea, you are the best!

Air tags, wow!!! Didn’t know about these, SO GLAD YOU FOUND YOUR BABIES!!! I’ll keep these in mind when we get to the touring stage 😍

Dude this advice could not have come at a better time! I’m getting ready to play my first real fly gig! And I’ve been preparing like crazy by getting a flight case for my pedalboard, deciding which of my guitars I trust enough to fly with and making sure I can take some strings and all the other stuff I’ll need while I’m out there! Glad you got your guitars back! Cheers!

I'm really glad for you that you were reunited with your gear. Thanks for the tip about the tracking tabs - I'm just beginning to play more live, so I'll definitely check them out.

Was following it live from IG stories, glad it finished all good for you, can't wait for the EP

They stopped importing fast-fret to my country a couple of years ago. That stuff is gold

Thank you so much for sharing your experience and advice with us. It just shows me however much I think I know about gigging/traveling, I don’t know everything.🙏🏻🎧

Man, thanks for sharing your on the road experience. I would've never thought of using the Apple Air Tags, absolute genius. Glad you got all your gear back and safe. Can't wait to check out the new VOWER EP, it"s going to be freakin AWESOME of course. Ryan Webb..

Having just had my luggage go missing in a connecting flight in Nairobi, Tip 1 and Tip 3 are extremely useful - certainly next time will do this! Thanks

Thanks for sharing this. I’m glad you got your guitars back. I am going to heed your advice re: the AirTags!

T-shirt ordered! Can't wait for the EP

Dude! The air tag advice man... Totally invaluable man!

Watching this gave me the same knot in my stomach and sense of panic I had when this once happened to me in Baltimore in the mid 90’s. My LP in was an old-school Anvil flight case which obviously screamed “musical Instrument inside.” I waited there at the baggage conveyor until it was empty but my guitar never came out. Panicked, I ran to a baggage office to immediately report it missing. The lady there made a few phone calls and then shrugged her shoulders telling me to go back to the baggage area, look around, check other baggage belts and come back to file a claim if I couldn’t find it. 🤷‍♂️ When I got back to the baggage area there was my flight case, standing on end, up against the wall, right beside the empty belt and in plain view. Super relieved that I found it and thankful it hadn’t walked off before I got there.

Damn man hate that for ya and glad you got em back. Appreciate you sharing and hopefully things will go smoother for ya next gig.

No worse feeling than losing a part of yourself, like your guitars. Glad it worked out!

I had this happen to me in Hawaii last year. Made me gate check it and just dumped it on the tarmac next to the plane. Watched the Airtag stay behind whilst we taxied away. Told the stewardess and she was adamant it was on board (it wasn't!). Got it back eventually but don't think I've ever been so stressed!

Man, air tags have helped me so many times with airlines losing things. Had my pelican miss a connection in Calgary, and got sent to Prince George BC instead of Saskatoon. I was able to call the airline and give them the heads up to look for the bag in PG. I would've been screwed otherwise. Not to mention when I went back to Saskatoon airport to pick up the bag, the baggage handler "couldn't find it" but because I had the airtag location, a senior staff member was able to go back in the baggage room and find it for me

I've missed you @ Graspop !! But i'm very glad that you have your guitars back 👍

So sorry to hear this Rabea. This is an absolute nightmare as a touring musician. If I can help with a multi guitar vault down the road just let me know. Glad the guitars were eventually returned🙏 certain airlines are literal criminals with no-fault attitudes and it's so sad

So glad that you got everything back.....even though it took so long.

Don't travel with the guitars you just can't lose. Saw an interview with Yngwie. The only guitars he plays live are off the shelf fender YJM signatures. He does not care at all if they get lost or brakes. Fender just sends him more. All the classics stays at home. Piece of mind. Invaluable. Like do your worst.

Nightmare! That's funny because before you mentioned the airtag I was thinking, gps! It's like hey guys, they are literally, like right there! 😊

I travel with a headless guitar, don't check any luggage, and always travel alone. Not practical for pro musicians but for normal people this is the way to go.

Take one guitar on the plane and rent the rest. If they don’t lose it, they’ll break it.

just at the part where you mentioned about the most important tech. I can assume thats an air tag :). When I travel with my gear I do the following: 1. Get a hard case 2. Make sure to have an air tag in the guitar hard case 3. There are companies which allow you to buy some luggage tags. I use Trace me luggage tag (TMLT). You pay a subscription for a year. Those tags come with some unique ID. Companies like TMLT are able to locate your luggage if you report them as lost. They have a good network across airports in the world which allows them to locate your luggage. This is what they claim, I haven’t used the claim service yet but better safe than sorry. 4. Finally, I also wrap my guitar hard case. Almost all airports have these wrapping services. This just puts some extra layer of protection. These wrapping services also sometimes offer you some insurance for lost items. For airtags, I basically have an air tag in all my guitar bags/cases. Also make sure the batter isn’t low!

I also swear by GHS Fast Fret...and that Airtag is like the gadget Spider-Man used to use (the Spider-Tracer?). It's a brilliant idea.

I’m moving to London in 5 weeks from New Zealand, and I’ve been fretting a bit regarding whether I can take my Telecaster with me and if so how etc. Sorry about your situation Bea, glad you got them back in the end.

You were about to be my personal highlight at Graspop! The tour dates in Germany are exactly when I'm on holidays. :') Hoping for another chance any time soon.🤞❤

Air Tags are your best solution there. You can at least see where they are at. My daughter went to college and kept leaving her purse or backpack in different places in the university. AirTags helped her out.

For that short of a distance, I would rather drive. Yes, it takes longer, but at least when I haul stuff myself, so I know exactly where everything is. One lesson I learned early on is DON'T TRUST ANYONE WITH YOUR STUFF. Do everything yourself.

In the US if you have an expensive item to check for a flight, a trick is to pack a firearm with it. TSA will screen it and make 100% sure it's with your flight at all times. A hack on top of that is even a flare gun or a sports starter pistol counts as a firearm so if someone doesn't like "pewpew's", they can still use the hack without getting sand in their clit.

Apple Airtags are your friend. Every piece of gear I own that I care about has one hidden in it now - guitars, heads, even a couple rare pedals. In the guitars, I'll stick them under the pickguard or in the control cavity. If one ever gets lost or someone makes off with it, I'll know immediately where it went.

could we have a guitar collection video? It would be super cool to see ALL the stuff you use

Something else to consider is unfortunately some “lost items” are actually stolen items. Someone will grab a bag or case and stash it hoping they can wait out the traveler then take the item out of the airport later. The idea is this item disappears, international traveler moves on with trip and files for lost items. Now it’s a waiting game the minute you accept a payout or deal to replace your item no one is looking for that bag anymore. The idea most people have is that when you report a missing bag a human being at some point will actually look around for the missing bag. This does not happen.if the bag is actually just mis routed it is in their system and they will at some point scan it and it will move along. But if it’s set off to the side purposely it might as well be on the moon.the takeaway is drag out the settlement process as long as possible and definitely use AirTags although if your item is very expensive put one in an easy to find place inside the bag and put a second one inside the lining or somewhere deeply hidden. TSA keys are easy to get and most locking latches are at best a nuisance just there to keep the opportunists away. Remember an airport that has millions of people pass through and many more millions of bags is built on moving items and people through as quickly as possible. Air travel is a game of volume and time and expensive as your item is they make zero money on sending a human being looking for your bag. Once it moves to a financial claim for lost items that is handled more often than not in a different country than where the bag was lost and no one will ever look for that bag again. And as much scrutiny as there is on a bag entering an airport no one cares about one leaving, at all. You’d think someone at some point would ask why is that employee leaving work with a bag? Most are not that brazen but even if they are there’s very few people that are paid to care on that end of it.

A headless, light guitar as a carry on is the way to go. Love my Ormsby Goliath for traveling.

I've been using Fast Fret for 25 years. I swear by it. I was told it was going to stop being made for some stupid government reason. So I bought a spare. I've had one for 10 years and still going strong. The stuff lasts forever. Glad you got them back. Some aren't so lucky.

I'd like to elaborate the first tip a bit as an aviation geek who happens to play in a touring (sometimes lol) band and occasionally tour manages and also helps out other bands with flights. It is not the connection itself that most probably will lose your baggage, it's the airport you're connecting in is most probably overloaded and won't keep up with the baggage work. All major airlines have hubs in big airports, and these will 100% lose your guitar or rack or whatever even if you're flying to or from it, not even connecting. Hence, I would suggest avoiding major airline hubs like Amsterdam Schiphol or CDG or Munich or Frankfurt altogether. Here in Europe, there's a perfect way around these hubs in form of carriers who can't afford slot costs at those airports and serve smaller, maybe a bit less comfortable, airports. Of course, I'm talking about low cost airlines. Wizz Air and Easyjet are musicians' best friends as not only they usually avoid all the major hubs, but also treat bulky cases like ENKI as 'just baggage' with no extra costs. Ryanair is right behind, but you'll have to pay around 60 euro for a musical case.

I would get a second set of guitars from music man so you can leave the originals at home. They’re too valuable for you to travel with in my opinion.

I know how it feels. Lufthansa lost my Helix and wireless system when I was gonna play at Tomorrowland. Had to find the longest cable ever and plug the guitar straight into the console without any amp sim.

Hi, I'm glad that everything is back to its place, the necessary things help out. Can you please tell more information about what strings you use now on your Sabres for drop C, and really want to know how you tune the sixth string in height and are there problems with the string hitting the frets too much?

This might not apply for every traveling musician, but here in Belgium we have a company called Kick. They are a backline and DJ equipment rental service and they provide the gear for you so you don't have to travel with it. Sure, you're not playing your own guitars and amps but they can match the setup and brands.

Great that you got the guitars back intact&safe. 🙏 Temple Audio seems to do great pedal board platform for QC with various I/O options. Not sure they work for you, but check those out. And thanks for the insights! 🙏

After lots of nightmares with instruments and test equipment, we use AirTags, and fly them in Pelican cases with SW Air Cargo - not sure what options they have in Europe, but it seems to work in the states.

And 4th advice - do all the photos and write serial numbers of you gear you will travel with. Gear not always will be found and then you have to prove what was in the bags for insurance company. That was not your case but my friends had one.

🙏🙏🙏🙏 perfect, about to head to europe for the first time with tons of gear

Yo just a bit of advice for some folk interested in the flight case part. Obviously, each to their own with what works for you, if Rabea prefers the Scott Dixon in his experience then fair enough but I toured with one of these for years and I quickly learned to hate the thing. Firstly its metal, so its heavy and whilst you can have three instruments in there and just about manage to get the weight under weight restriction, you are paying for the outer protection far more than the inside protection. To my next point, the dividers on the bottom are simply not tall enough, there were multiple flights where we opened the cases in baggage claim and the guitars managed to wriggle free and smash into one another (in one case cracking a jp15 bridge completely in half) to me, this completely destroys the concept of what the guitar coffin should be doing and we shouldn't have to be finding hacks in order to stop the guitars from moving around in there once we've locked it up. The metal design means as well that it dents easily/scratches/rusts, as time went on it got harder and harder to close because of misalignment. Long story short, I changed to an Enki case and whilst the tipping over thing can be annoying from time to time I no longer spend flights panicking about my guitars, its lighter and more purpose built for safety. Absolute no brainer. Thanks for reading.

My heart sank when I read the title of the video. I hope they were all replaceable ones. I can’t imagine loosing my most beloved axes 🪓 that have sentimental value. Even though you were cruel and got us with that clickbait title 😂 I’m glad you got them back!!!! Keep rockin Rabea!!!

On top of these, if you're worried about losing stuff, and if you can afford it, just grab a couple of new, reliable guitars that you won't miss if they get lost or stolen or whatever. I get wanting to bring your unique stuff around with you to show off, but flying internationally just introduces a lot of potential problems.

Thanks buddy! All 3 of your almost 400k followers flying with gear will be super informed now.😅

Yes, thank gosh you mentioned Air Tag! But I also thought these days the major airlines put scannable bar codes on luggage and scan it each step of the way?

You should get a Soulman board. They have a ton of different modules and they look great! I have 2 (one for my bass board and one for my QC) and I absolutely love them.

Did my first fly gig a couple weeks ago, I took my ToneX and generel bits in my carry-on suitcase but everything else was rented. Left my capo on the rental acoustic though 🤦‍♂️ +1 for Fast Fret!

Wow man that is not good, so pleased you got them back. An idea for your pedal board movement, using a curved microphone foam sound absorber in the lid, the forward facing textured surface onto the items in the box? Best of luck with your vinyls!

That definitely sounds like no sleep for a few nights. Good to know it all worked out in the end.

Brutal man. I flew with my guitar to Australia. I was pulling my hair out when it was 30 mins delayed behind the regular baggage 🤣. Can't imagine having to fly home knowing they're not on the plane with you

The trouble is baggage sorting areas are all automated and a network of belts, sensors and X-ray scanners. They are often running at capacity most of the time so if there's an issue like a blockage or fault, delays etc, it can go south very quickly. I saw a lot of that stuff happen when I worked in an airport and its really frustrating.

I'm just glad you got your guitars back.

At least you turned a negative experience into a positive. Thanks for the advice.

Glad you got them back 💪🏻🎸🤘🍻😎

It doesn't matter how much your instruments are "worth" - If you're touring or gigging - put them in a hard / shell flight case - even a cheap one is always better than not having one! Scratches and dents on guitar don't matter too much either - but a snapped neck does!!

Best not go through Dutch klm. They have a strict rule on luggage. 158 cm l+w+h dimensions added up. Anything bigger you need to buy a seat for. Just about ALL of the available flightcases for electrics are bigger than that. Forget about acoustics and basses. I bought the biggest latching Samsonite I could find and screwed the neck off my Fender. Padded with clothes it's pretty safe. This wasn't an option for the bass guitar, neck still too long. he found some other flightcase type thing that fit the neck diagonally. That case arrived destroyed but the neck was fine. For the way back he found another case that fit the neck, when we got back home that case arrived destroyed too. And the website for klm says "we welcome musicians and their gear" or something like that. Sure. As long as you pay for an extra seat.

You should swap notes with Herman Li. Flying from USA to Spain, his guitar ended up in London. 🤷

Everybody talks about AirTag already so I won't bother. lol. My tip would be "fly light". Try taking smallest amout of gears and smallest sizes of gears. I have a Spirit by Steinberger where I change out the pickups and put a 5-way megaswitch on it. I can put it on the overhead bin no problems (subject to the airlines). I also use a FlyRig-size pedalboard like M-Wave Tank G which not only super small but comes with LiOn battery. I can just fit the pedalboard in the guitar case just fine. With these you can have your gears with you all the time, although I doubt you can play on the plane. My problem now is I don't have any fly gig lol. Well these can help when you ride a bike to rehersal as well.

Bro 4 days?! Unreal man. Sorry you had to deal with that, but glad it all worked out.

Thanks for this ,I was wondering should i take the neck off the guitar and that way the guitar fits in my regular luggage ? I need to travel in a few weeks

They "lost" my Strat in Germany, yep Frankfurt airport, for two weeks. Tried to contact them many times and said they were looking for it. I was back in Canada before they eventually found it. Found out they held it because somebody thought it was a firearm and they could not get ahold of me about it until I returned to Canada and received the call. It was in a black Fender deluxe hard case and yep, it said Fender, had a TSA lock and they could Xray it, and made it from Canada to Frankfurt no issues, but it was held because somebody thought it was a firearm because of the black case. At least I did get it back and had the D'Addario auto humidity packs in the case to help it out. They damaged the case and it took two weeks for them to reimburse me for that, but the guitar survived.

I'll never understand the way airlines handle lost luggage. I've read so many stories where people had had Airtags and knew exactly where their luggage was supposed to be, but unhelpful airlines, with bureaucracy and red tape, stupid rules and roadblocks make it impossible. In one story a woman's daughter had her lacrosse sticks and gear bag lost with an airtag inside. Her daughter was a champion player and had expensive fancy gear. They knew which airport is was sitting in, but it could not be sent to them, nor could the office of one airline call the other airport's office to confirm the bag was there and have it shipped or transported any other way. Why?!? Why was that a rule? So after arguing with the office, and customer service she got no where. She literally had to buy a plane ticket and fly to that airport, go to that office, get the bag, and fly right home again. Luckily the airline corporate office found out what happened and refunded her round trip tickets, but still. The stupidity of one office not being able to communicate with another in nuts! 'Yes ma'am. We know the bag may be there, but we can't talk to them on the phone.. That's not allowed. You have to go there in person.." And what if an employee is a their and stealing shit? Would they lie to your face even if you knew they had your luggage? Also, how much lost luggage is in each office that it takes that long to find it? My god!

I'm glad you got you r gear back.

I have an Airtag inside the control cavity of 6 of my expensive guitars in case they are stolen. There are also credit card sized versions of a tracker that run on the Airtag system that are rechargeable on a wireless charger. They are less obvious if someone is purposely looking for an Airtag.

Glad you got them back .

glad you got them back, my anxiety would have been off the chart

That is a nightmare. And gets in the way of your music. Airtags is a great idea. An extra layers is that securityID chemical fingerprint stuff too, in case guitars actually get stolen in transit. I do think it's worth booking that extra seat, when you can. Especially if just moving your most precious guitars, rather than regular gigging. That can mean booking as far in advance as is possible. I did that when moving my valuable and delicate concert classical guitar. Even then, they kept trying to take it off me, even on the plane, but I just stayed stubborn and wouldn't let go of it. But for regular gigging, it's more complicated. Sometimes, especially if you are the guitar makers artist, and you are travelling to a major cit , they can arrange to have your requested artist model at the gig. Some artist models guitars are so finely well-spec'd to artist needs, that any one will do. The PRS DGT is like that, and I can imagine your Musican Man Sabre is like that too. A plus point for that is the maker can use that to show off all the different finishes, even custom ones - and it focuses their attention on absolute consistency of setup quality.

FYI: Samsung trackers are called "SmartTags".

Connecting flights are always a hard pass. Back in 2015 I had to go home to Bristol for my Grans funeral from the US. Our connection was late and the bags never made it, had to do the funeral in my my street clothes. Total ball ache.

I 100% agree about the airtags. But, i dont fly anywhere. If i cant get there by car, train, boat, or bus, then i dont need to be there. It can take a lot longer for some trips (im in the states), but im willing to rent a car and drive to get where i want to be in order to avoid air travel.

Scott Dixon?! 6 time IndyCar champ and winningest active driver... And builder of instrument flight cases.

About to fly home with a brand new very nice guitar in an ordinary ohsc. Wish me luck!

Nice case. I haven’t seen one like that.

Had this twice with KLM and one completely destroyed fender ABS hardshell case. It had literal tire tread marks on the corner where it had been crushed. Thankfully the guitar survived. KLM didn't want to pay the full value of the case and wanted a repair shop (do they even exist?) for the case to state that it was beyond repair. Really frustrating!

I'm glad it worked out. Tip 4) Insure all your gear.

That's cool case

I have an airtag inside my Strat. I worry the shielding limits the range but it showed up on our trip to Thailand, so I guess it sufficed.

It’s funny, because I shared a post recently of a local artist around my area. They had all their guitars, completely destroyed from the employees throwing them around. I don’t think I would put my trust in a airline ever cause I would be crushed if my guitar got wrecked

good advice, gonna look at android tags for my own stuff

56-11 set you say?? That's the entire reason I've been team daddario for so long so if EB finally do it I might be back on board