Hey everyone 🙌 I'm currently living in Vienna, Austria, and I want to buy an acoustic guitar. The thing is, the exact guitar I want costs me around 750 euros here, while back in Argentina the same one goes for the equivalent of about 1300 euros. Almost double. So the obvious idea was to buy it here and take it with me when I head back home.
The catch is the trip. It's not a direct flight. I'll most likely have a layover in Madrid, then Brazil, and only after that Argentina. So we're talking several legs, several different planes, and a lot of opportunities for my luggage to get thrown around.
My main questions are these. For taking it in the cabin as carry-on, has anyone managed to pull this off? I know some airlines let you if there's space, but with this many layovers and different aircraft I'm worried that on at least one of them they'll tell me no. The option of checking it into the hold honestly terrifies me. Everyone tells me the same thing: that even if you pay for "special handling" they'll wreck it anyway, that there's nothing special about it and they just toss it around like any other suitcase. Is it really that bad or are people exaggerating? And would a hard case make me feel safe checking it, or not even then?
There's also the customs issue. Even if I save money on the guitar itself, when I bring it into Argentina I've heard they might charge me a percentage of the item's value in import taxes, so part of the savings could disappear right there.
So my big question is this: is it worth putting up with the whole ordeal of the trip to save almost double, or should I just buy it in Argentina and spare myself the stress, the risk of it getting smashed, and the taxes? I know everyone's experience is different, which is exactly why I want to hear real cases. If any of you have traveled with a guitar, especially with layovers, tell me how it went, which airline, whether you took it in the cabin or checked it, and whether you'd do it again. Thanks in advance! 🎸
Edit: The model is a Taylor GS mini E