How to fly with your weapon?

[jvanhoy]

I picked mine up at baggage claim but someone from the airline brought it each time and checked my ID before letting me take it.

It never came around on the luggage belt, was always hand delivered.

Was that at Denver? Thanks for the reply.

 

[Deleted member 40728]

Was that at Denver? Thanks for the reply.

Montrose and Pittsburgh. The airline personnel from Southwest was actually waiting on me at Montrose. I told them it was my case and they checked my ID and luggage tag and that was it. At Pittsburgh it took forever for them to show up with it. I actually thought they lost it.

Checking the firearm at Denver was the easiest. Very quick process. At Pittsburgh I was treated like a criminal.
I self tagged everything myself at the kiosk and when I dropped the stuff on the luggage scale is when they gave me the declaration card for inside the case and then taken to TSA.

 

[Jwill]

@jvanhoy Should be at or near baggage claim and they should make you show your ID to get it. Depending on the airport they sometimes have a little office where you go in and get it or sometimes just an airline worker brings out with the oversized luggage.

 

[Mainewoods]

Even flying into Bozeman, they bring your checked firearm to you at the ticket counter, or little office next to the baggage carousel. I fly out of Boston a lot with my firearm and have the TSA regs on the phone just in case there are questions. Once the ticketing agent who checked that my handgun was unloaded was not sure that I could have ammo in the same case, so I just showed her the regs.

Once they put the unloaded firearm label on the case, TSA should not be opening it again, and a reason why I use non-TSA locks on my pelican rifle and handgun cases.

 

[jvanhoy]

Thanks a bunch. Just landed. I remember the little office by baggage claim now.

 

[bucdoego]

STRONGLY recommend adding GPS tracker to gun case. I wish I did few years back. Case disappeared for almost 12 hours in Cincy. What a giant cf. I ended up contacting Delta VP that took charge of search. She was confident it was there but just not scanned in. She was right, it was in a secure area just not scanned. Make your own assumptions why it wasn't. If I had GPS tracker it would have been minutes instead of 12 hours. Rifle and accessories were in a double SKB roller hard airline case so it wasn't small at all. Rifle was delivered 12 hours later to house and gotta say nerve wracking for most of it. It was locked and I had HVAC heavy zip ties on it as well so it was secure when I got it. Props to a Delta VP that left no stone unturned to find it. But if I fly again, GPS trackers in all gear luggage for sure!

Apple AirTags for GPS tracking? I've read that someone found a gun this way. It was in another part of the airport and retrieved quickly.

 

[bucdoego]

Quick question for you guys. Where do you pick up your rifle. The person I checked it with told me baggage claim and I didn’t think that sounded correct so I just asked the person at the gate and they said at the ticket counter in Denver. That still doesn’t sound right to me. The only time I flew with a pistol I had to go to a special place to pick it up I just can’t remember exactly where. Thanks.

Baggage claim. Go to the specific airline office in the claim area and they will either have it or direct you where to find it. That is how it has worked for me anyway.

 

[OntarioHunter]

Boy you think you all have complications, try flying out of Heathrow to the USA with a rifle and ammo!

The really big issue for Heathrow seems to be arriving on a domestic flight at one terminal and catching an international flight at another terminal. A bonded courier must move the gun between terminals.

And gun handling fees for British Airways are ridiculous expensive.

 

[OntarioHunter]

Apple AirTags for GPS tracking? I've read that someone found a gun this way. It was in another part of the airport and retrieved quickly.

That would be me. Great investment but requires iPhone or iPad to track. I have a Samsung phone but my daughter is an Apple person. She monitored the gun case's progress and texted me satt images of where it was located. It was temporarily lost at Pearson in Toronto and the AirTag was invaluable for helping baggage manager find it in time for me to get it through customs/security and loaded on my flight.

 

[OntarioHunter]

I think US is the only country/airline that allows ammo in gun case. Some require locked cases so check the airlines you'll be riding. Look under sporting goods in baggage section of website.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

View attachment 246710

@jvanhoy Should be at or near baggage claim and they should make you show your ID to get it. Depending on the airport they sometimes have a little office where you go in and get it or sometimes just an airline worker brings out with the oversized luggage.

My experience has been really hit or miss on asking for IDs

Denver - Yes on Alaska no on Southwest
Boston - Never
Anchorage - Always
Kalispell -Never
Bozeman - Never

 

[Jwill]

My experience has been really hit or miss on asking for IDs

Denver - Yes on Alaska no on Southwest
Boston - Never
Anchorage - Always
Kalispell -Never
Bozeman - Never

Interesting, I think I've only had one experience where they didn't ask for an ID and that was because my case ended up on the regular carousel.

 

[buffybr]

I've flown on a dozen or more international hunts and have taken my rifle(s) on all of them. Like others have posted, each airline and each airport can and usually is different.

For the last 25 or so years I have used a Cabela's two rifle aluminum case. I always lock it with non-TSA locks. Even with only one rifle in it I'll utilize the extra space for shooting sticks, trecking poles, maybe a fishing rod, and recently I have a 3/16" dimeter x 3' brass rod in it to help remove anything that might get stuck in my rifle's barrel (which happened on one African trip).

I also always take a soft case for each rifle. When packing your rifle make sure that it is unloaded! I also remove the bolt from my rifle and pack it separately in a zip lock bag inside my rifle case. My aluminum case only uses two locks, and I also have two spare locks in the case, just in case. I also pack an extra copy of the US Customs Form 4473 (Proof of ownership) inside the firearms case.

I have also painted the corners of my aluminum case bright orange so that it stands out among other cases.

For ammunition, most regulations require that all cartridges must be carried in their original factory boxes, but can be in the plastic (MTM type) boxes. They just can't be loose or in detachable rifle magazines. I have a thin strip of foam in the top of the plastic cases to prevent the cartridges from rattling. Many regulations also require that the ammunition must also be in a separate locked container, with TSA locks. Some airllines may allow ammunition in your gun case, other airlines and many foreign countries will not.

I've always had my ammunition in a separate locked container inside my main checked bag. Airlines will not allow any ammunition, parts of ammunition (like a fired case) or any gun part, including a spare scope, in your carried-on bag.

As for checking in your firearms, like others have posted, you first take your gun case to the check-in agent. They will have you unlock the case and they may or may not look in it, but they give you a card stating that the firearm is unloaded, that you must sign and put it inside the case.

You then have to take your gun case (or like in Denver, an airline person takes your case) to a TSA inspector. There the TSA inspector will xray or open your case to inspect it. Then they will put your gun case on the baggage conveyor or (like in Denver) the airline person will take your case to a baggage conveyor.

Most airlines treat rifle cases like oversize baggage and they don't put them on the baggage pick up carousel so you have to get them at the oversize baggage areas, like the ones Jwill circled on the picture he posted. Most airports require you to show an ID to pickup your gun case. Last year coming home to Bozeman from an Alaskan hunt, our flight must have been the last one that night and my gun case was the last piece of baggage to be unloaded. I had time to take all of my other baggage out to my car then come back in and finally my gun case came onto the baggage carousel. All of the other passangers had left and there were no airline personnel there either.

 

[OntarioHunter]

Right. NEVER trust that someone will be checking baggage tags at oversize OR the baggage area exits. I missed my connecting flight out of Pearson when returning from Africa last year because the gun case wasn't put out at oversize baggage until two hours after I arrived. I wasn't leaving there without it. This year I had someone track it down after it was lost in the airport and then my daughter tracked the AirTag to my departure gate. I switch to airplane mode and don't discover till I get home that the gun was never loaded on my plane. My daughter could see it was still in Toronto.

 

[devon deer]

The really big issue for Heathrow seems to be arriving on a domestic flight at one terminal and catching an international flight at another terminal. A bonded courier must move the gun between terminals.

And gun handling fees for British Airways are ridiculous expensive.

Actually it's because the airlines at Heathrow aren't used to handling weapons and don't liaise well with security.

As for BA, they are a disgrace and the fee's are obscene, basically they just don't want to deal with the transportation of firearms, so they make it very, very expensive.