kleinkaliber
Member
I may be going on a hunting trip later this year that would involve flying. What can I expect as far as checking in firearms, in particular one rifle and one handgun? Will be staying inside the US.
Flying with Firearms.
- Thread starter kleinkaliber
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mohavesam
Member
print out the specifics from your airlines' website and after READING them ten or twelve times, carry them with you when you check in and travel.
You always have the option of shipping them to YOURSELF care of the purser or hotel manager where you are arriving (and your home on your return trip).
be sure to call the manager or purser and let them know the package is to be secured in the safe, and not opened by anyone but yourself. In many locales, the hotels are quite familiar with the process.
You always have the option of shipping them to YOURSELF care of the purser or hotel manager where you are arriving (and your home on your return trip).
be sure to call the manager or purser and let them know the package is to be secured in the safe, and not opened by anyone but yourself. In many locales, the hotels are quite familiar with the process.
As mohavesam The Big D said, READ THE INFO ON THE AIRLINES WEBSITE REGARDING THE TRANSPORT OF FIREARMS!!!
I do at least three trips a year where I have a rifle or shotgun and many more with a handgun. What you need is an FAA/Airline approved container to place the firearm in, i.e. a locking hard sided gun case. Put a luggage tag on the gun case. Put you name, address, departure and destination point, flight numbers and cell phone number INSIDE the case with the firearm just to be safe. I also put a rolled up piece of paper with the same info listed above in the magazine just in case the firearm should get separated from the case. Unload firearm, place firearm in case, place homemade ID card in case and in magazine. Buy the FAA/TSA approved locks to lock your gun case. No ammo can be transported in the same case/luggage containing the firearm. When you get to the ticket counter to check in, inform them that you are checking a firearm in your luggage. You WILL have to fill out a firearm in checked luggage declaration card (orange card) and place it IN the case with the firearm. It makes all involved with the transport of your firearm feel better if you have some sort of a trigger/safety lock on the firearm.
Get the smallest gun case you can, one that does not look like a gun case, and it will have a better chance of arriving at your destination when you do. Check with your airline to see if they offer excess value insurance on firearms when checked as baggage. If they do, BUY IT. When you arrive at your destination (going and coming) DISCREETLY check the contents of the gun case to make sure all is there, as most if not all airlines will deny your claim if you leave the airport and then discover that your firearm is damaged or missing from the gun case. Be prepared for “Extra” scrutiny from TSA when going through the security check points if you are wearing any type of camo.
Enjoy your hunt,
Class III
I do at least three trips a year where I have a rifle or shotgun and many more with a handgun. What you need is an FAA/Airline approved container to place the firearm in, i.e. a locking hard sided gun case. Put a luggage tag on the gun case. Put you name, address, departure and destination point, flight numbers and cell phone number INSIDE the case with the firearm just to be safe. I also put a rolled up piece of paper with the same info listed above in the magazine just in case the firearm should get separated from the case. Unload firearm, place firearm in case, place homemade ID card in case and in magazine. Buy the FAA/TSA approved locks to lock your gun case. No ammo can be transported in the same case/luggage containing the firearm. When you get to the ticket counter to check in, inform them that you are checking a firearm in your luggage. You WILL have to fill out a firearm in checked luggage declaration card (orange card) and place it IN the case with the firearm. It makes all involved with the transport of your firearm feel better if you have some sort of a trigger/safety lock on the firearm.
Get the smallest gun case you can, one that does not look like a gun case, and it will have a better chance of arriving at your destination when you do. Check with your airline to see if they offer excess value insurance on firearms when checked as baggage. If they do, BUY IT. When you arrive at your destination (going and coming) DISCREETLY check the contents of the gun case to make sure all is there, as most if not all airlines will deny your claim if you leave the airport and then discover that your firearm is damaged or missing from the gun case. Be prepared for “Extra” scrutiny from TSA when going through the security check points if you are wearing any type of camo.
Enjoy your hunt,
Class III
Good advice so far. I'll add: use so-called "TSA" locks on your rifle case or on any luggage that contains a gun case (a TSA lock is one that the TSA agents can open with a special key, but which otherwise operates as a conventional combination padlock.) Saves the TSA agents just breaking your conventional lock to inspect the baggage contents, and also has a little flag to let you know the lock's been opened. After subjecting your baggage to "inspection" by an overzealous, unqualified ticket counter clerk (a potential backstop, when no other safe one exists...) in front of God and everybody who will meet your baggage at the carousel several minutes before you get there to claim it, I suggest you volunteer to follow it to the TSA screening point, and be prepared to open the locks, manipulate the weapon, etc., to assure them that you can't use it to any bad end, or any end, once it's consigned to the cargo hold... My recent unpleasant experience of luggage gone missing with a gun inside came to a relieving end because I had slipped a business card into the provided pocket on my large carry-all luggage. I learned from this unhappy experience to affix on the exterior of my luggage a tag with contact phone numbers/dates for my complete itinenerary. No need to reveal addresses, etc., simply: May x-xx, 765-456-0987. Anybody alert finds your bag can contact you to route it to you --- otherwise, it's in limbo... You will from check-in on to be dealing with people of low skills, poor training, little concern, limited ability to deal with a vast, indifferent bureaucracy. The more you can do to idiot-proof the procedure will eventually accrue to your benefit.
Dont forget to separate ammo. There are limits as to how much ammo a commercial passenger flight can carry and it's small. You might want to seriously consider shipping a modest amount of ammo to your location, especially if it is an oddball caliber, just in case you can get the gun on but not the ammo.
And you can bet the people "checking" your fireamrs will almost certainly be incompetent, maybe dangerous, and may even sabatoge something, depending on where you are flying through.
And you can bet the people "checking" your fireamrs will almost certainly be incompetent, maybe dangerous, and may even sabatoge something, depending on where you are flying through.
mohavesam
Member
forgot to add I use only a good multi-locking golf-club case for long guns when checking . Deterrent as camo. Even the best metal gun cases scream "GUNS INSIDE", but a hard locked golf club case (it is amazing how much other stuff will fit in with your guns) only says "golf geek" to handlers. Only TSA knows for sure.
billdeserthills
Member
I was at the airport last week, a guy was checking in his handgun at the counter. The attendant said he had to empty all his mags and that he could only take the loose ammo if he had an original factory box to put it into.
BarbC
Member
The only problem I have ever had is the last flight I took was cancelled. I rebooked to a neighboring airport and was assured my bags would arrive when I did. They did not. The bags didn't even go to the original destination; they went to Pittsburgh and were delayed until the following day. Needless to say, it was a nerve-wracking interim.
Get and keep on your person a signed, second copy of a red tag to prove you did indeed check guns through. There is insurance on your luggage but you might need to PROVE you actually had guns in there.
Get and keep on your person a signed, second copy of a red tag to prove you did indeed check guns through. There is insurance on your luggage but you might need to PROVE you actually had guns in there.
Landpimp
Member
I am amazed you can fly, but if so....guns might make it harder to stay up..but let us know how that works
truckemup97
Member
Originally posted by Landpimp:
I am amazed you can fly, but if so....guns might make it harder to stay up..but let us know how that works
There's one in every group.
beemerrider
Member
1. Expact a hassle and be pleased if it goes smoothly.
2. In my experience, Airline people have little knowlege and less experience with firearms handling in baggage.
3. Buy a top of the line $300* case and perhaps one with 2 padlock hasps if required by the airlines. My wife had to make a made dash to a hardware store in Honolulu to buy 8 small padlocks to "secure" Yeah right, 4 cases with misc rifles, shotguns and handguns for our sons and I when her father died. They weren't letting her on the plane without those locks. Then, when she got to Portland OR, the cases made it to the oversize luggage area, where they sat unattended while she waited for her luggage before eventually finding the guns.
If something does happen to your guns; the Airlines suddenly won't know who you are, so do your advanced research in detail.
2. In my experience, Airline people have little knowlege and less experience with firearms handling in baggage.
3. Buy a top of the line $300* case and perhaps one with 2 padlock hasps if required by the airlines. My wife had to make a made dash to a hardware store in Honolulu to buy 8 small padlocks to "secure" Yeah right, 4 cases with misc rifles, shotguns and handguns for our sons and I when her father died. They weren't letting her on the plane without those locks. Then, when she got to Portland OR, the cases made it to the oversize luggage area, where they sat unattended while she waited for her luggage before eventually finding the guns.
If something does happen to your guns; the Airlines suddenly won't know who you are, so do your advanced research in detail.
Landpimp
Member
there are plenty in this group
Originally posted by truckemup97:
There's one in every group.
Jolly
Member
I just did it from South Texas to Baltimore on Continental and it was a piece of cake. The lady at the counter checks your firearm to see if its unloaded and places a tag inside. Close and lock the case and gave it to TSA and told them what it was. They never opened it. Ammo was in a seperate bag. Piece of cake. Follow the instructions and you'll be fine. Always a chance it will get stolen but its also insured since it is baggage.
BarbC
Member
As I said before, you'll need to prove there were firearms in there. I was sweating it when my suitcase with two guns in it was AWOL for 24 hours. Get the desk clerk to sign a separate red tag for you to keep as proof they went in there.
Never had any problems, but it probably depends on the airport used.
Flying in/out of Lewiston, Idaho during hunting season it is the rare traveler without a rifle or shotgun.
Couple of years ago, I saw a moron with a bunch of loose ammo be provided with a plastic container for them by the counter agent so he could take them home.
What was more interesting was this guy had a duffle bag with a green bear hide and skull inside.
I have had no problem in Phoenix or Tucson either.
Flying in/out of Lewiston, Idaho during hunting season it is the rare traveler without a rifle or shotgun.
Couple of years ago, I saw a moron with a bunch of loose ammo be provided with a plastic container for them by the counter agent so he could take them home.
What was more interesting was this guy had a duffle bag with a green bear hide and skull inside.
I have had no problem in Phoenix or Tucson either.
chillypepper
US Veteran
last time i flew i went to the airport an extra hour early (on top of the extra hour i usually do) expecting a big todo about my hand gun. ticket agent said to take my bags over to this table over here, uniformed somebody or another looked at the gun. checked it's not loaded, put it back in the box and allowed me to put my lock on it. then that box went into by suitcase. no problems no b.s. 'till he found the lighter in my tool box. thought i was goin' to jail for sure over a 99 cent yellow bic lighter. so by all means take a gun. there safer and easyer than smoking.
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