The friendly (SW) skies

Flew out to NYC today, and after much agonizing about whether or not to bring my 3/4 size Yamaha, I didn't. I was congratulating myself on this decision when I found that it was a completely full and delayed flight (bad tempers, full bins). Then one of the last people to board was a teenager with an electric in a gig bag. I quote the flight attendant: "You can put your guitar wherever you can find space." And trust me, at that point they weren't going to make him gate-check it. He found space, and I was annoyed with myself. If he, a teen with an overly pretentious hat, could get space, surely a more respectably dressed young lady who looked like a "serious" musician could do just as well. Moral of the story, take the risk and fly Southwest. They have a great reputation with guitars on guitar message boards, and this looked like proof.