Queen’s Brian May Reportedly Paid Five Figures To Fly Guitar First Class

The Daily Mirror is reporting Queen guitar legend Brian May found a way to insure his favorite guitar made it undamaged, flying from London to Los Angeles.

May paid about 10,000 pounds, or 16,000 dollars to fly the guitar in a first class seat.

According to the newspaper, May's Red Special guitar originally was going to be stored in the airplane's cargo hold, but he decided to get it an upgrade because he was worried it might get damaged.

"There is no way he would have allowed it to be treated like any other piece of luggage," a source close to the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer explained to The Mirror.

"A member of staff and the guitar were bumped up to first class where he had to purchase a seat for it as it couldn't go in the overhead locker…It was the only option so he made sure it was treated to the full VIP works."

May built the Red Special with his father about 50 years ago, and the guitar helped define the sound of Queen.

May and Adam Lambert were on hand Tuesday at the Classic Rock Roll of Honour ceremony to accept the Band of the Year award for Queen's collaborative performances with the one-time American Idol finalist.  Queen and Lambert are scheduled to hit the road again in January for a European trek.  In addition, Queen will release the new compilation Queen Forever this Tuesday.  The album includes three previously unreleased songs featuring the band's late frontman, Freddie Mercury.