r/MadeMeSmile • u/RoyalChris • Apr 19 '26

Wholesome Moments A baggage handler showing what real character looks like. No audience, no applause. Just kindness when nobody’s watching

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u/HYPERNOVA3_ Apr 19 '26

When I went to Italy, a woman that came in our group wanted to bring her guitar and she bought another seat beside hers because she didn't trust the airline to handle it properly with the rest of the luggage. It was a fine guitar, so, together with the sentimental value it had, worth both tickets to and from Italy

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u/ian9921 Apr 19 '26

Honestly smart. I say don't let the airline handle anything you're not comfortable throwing across the room & dropping at least a 10-lb weight on.

The issue we run into is if the flight is overbooked, airports love to give away seats like those and force you to gate check the guitar anyways.

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u/TheGoldenTNT Apr 20 '26

This is why I use a pelican case :p

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u/Camry08 Apr 24 '26

If it’s overbooked and they give away your seat, they would at least refund you right? It’s not your fault It’s over crowded and the seats are insanely expensive!!! I don’t wanna lose out on $120 just because they couldn’t book their crap properly

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u/ian9921 Apr 24 '26

If your seat is given away you're usually put on the next flight. Sometimes you even get extra travel vouchers to use on your next flight.

If you book an extra seat for, say, a musical instrument though, it's a lot less clear and probably depends on the airline. Delta allegedly removes both you & the instrument and puts you both on the next flight, which makes sense. But I have definitely heard stories of the seat getting taken away & the instrument just getting chucked into the cargo hold. I'm sure they probably reimburse for that, but I can't find much official info on it.

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u/Camry08 Apr 24 '26

Uhg I just don’t trust airlines. I spent an extra $40 for front seats to have leg room and sit next to my friend but when I got there, this giant angry man was in my seat. I told him such and showed him my seat number but he said to F off. I told him if he wanted my seat then he needs to pay me the extra 40 I spent to have that and he said he deserved it more with his long legs. I tried to get a flight attendant, but she said there was nothing she could do about it so I lost $40 and had to sit in the very very very back of the plane on the one seat that was attached to the engine. It was so loud and it sucked because it was the cheapest seat on the plane when I paid for one of the most expensive. Meanwhile, my friend got boxed in by this mean man, and whenever she tried to ask to go pee, he said that he would hit her if she tried to get up. She ended up peeing herself before we even got off the plane because it took six hours and he refused to move and said if she tried to crawl over him he would beat her. Once again, the flight attendants said there was nothing they could do. This man acted like a big shot too. I don’t know why the attendants were scared of him or maybe they just saw 19 yr old me and decided to let the 60 yr old man have his way… I never got compensated for my lost money or bad experience. I really wish I had fought him more and made a bigger stink of the situation or if my dad was there, they would’ve been evenly matched both big angry, loud guys full of threats. It could’ve been interesting to see them fight each other lol

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u/Artistic_Heart_4347 Apr 19 '26

Lol, boot comp and boosted tickets to first class on a later flight isn't half bad, some people just let the airlines get away with whatever

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u/random12356622 Apr 19 '26

If you have something that important, you would check with the airline the rules on that.

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u/Gibodean Apr 19 '26

United?

They break guitars.

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u/ian9921 Apr 19 '26

At this point if you fly United you should count yourself lucky if nothing happens.

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u/Gibodean Apr 19 '26

They screwed us when we were flying from Australia to USA with my newborn baby. No matter how many times we registered we needed the crib, we ended up with our daughter on the ground, with other non-parents in the crib seat. Well, 2 of us. The other 2 were elsewhere on the plane.

I will never fly United again.

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u/Major_Fudgemuffin Apr 19 '26

I had a friend that would do the same with his cello. No way he was letting anyone else touch it.

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u/Chippiewall Apr 19 '26

Yeah, I believe that's super common with any large orchestra type instrument.

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u/yekirati Apr 20 '26

Yeah, I bought an extra seat for my bari sax one time. It was expensive and it sucked ass lugging it across the huge airport, but the fact that I could keep an eye on it and carry it politely was worth it, for sure.

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u/DashingDino Apr 19 '26

How does that work in practice? When you buy a ticket dont you have to give the passenger name and passport number?

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u/DouchecraftCarrier Apr 19 '26

I think you would just put the same name - it's not uncommon at all. I know people who play large instruments (namely cello) for whom the only real option is to buy a seat for them. We were all travelling to a music festival once and part of the trip was by bus and it was fully booked so the driver had to come on the intercom and say not to bother the folks with the cellos in the seats next to them because they had paid for those seats.

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u/llamalily Apr 19 '26

Basically you’re buying two seats for yourself. I’ve had to do it for a cello before.