I was going to rant and rant but, nah, I’ll just ramble along….
First, I’d like to point out that I will never, ever, fly into or depart from Miami International Airport again. Not ever. As in never. It’s a nightmare to get around there. Nuf sed…….
So, you know how procedures change from time to time, right? Well, I have not flown with a handgun for quite some time, so I was ready for anything. Having lost ALL of my hard, locking cases in last year’s fire I ordered a couple of new ones, so I would have a choice. I didn’t have a lot of time to get the one I really wanted so I chose ones that would come quickly and the two were VERY similar and quite small but for one Beretta 950 BS they were more than adequate. Small, aluminum cases, black sides, one locking combination lock. Good to go.
At the ticket counter I told the gent that I had a firearm in the little case (SURPRISE!! Really, he was surprised – and I was nice about it – what does this case LOOK LIKE it has in it would have been my snide remark, but I let it go).
Then I get a surprise – he asks to see it! Last few times that went either way but mostly I expected ticket agents to NOT want to see it – let TSA handle it. But, nope, it’s show me time, so I open the case and show him the little pistol. No big deal, he hands me the little white card, I sign it, he fills out his part, we toss it in the case, I lock it, and then he looks at me funny when I tell him I am checking it separately from my large luggage. “You don’t want to put it into that case? You’ll save 40 dollars!”. “Nope”, says I, “I am prepared to pay the forty bucks”. Lo and behold, my decision is a good one – new procedure I have never seen before – he puts a big red tag on the case that says, “Special Handling”. Seriously? It doesn’t look like a gun already and now you’re going to flag it? And you wanted to put that flag on my suitcase with all of my personal items inside? GET OUTTA DODGE!
Then he calls TSA, the TSA guy comes, asks me to unlock the case, takes it somewhere, comes back ten minutes later, says he locked it and it’s off! Weird!
Anyway, the gun came through the special handling baggage gate with no issues in Miami so score one point for that airport, I reckon.
Then, on the return trip the lady at the ticket counter AGAIN thinks I am planning to stick this little case into my soft sided luggage. So, it must be standard practice that flyers do this, and they probably use the cheapie black plastic gun cases with little padlocks and just toss the guns into their soft sided luggage. Personally, I think that is a misreading of the rules but, also, I NEVER want to stick a red flag on my personal, checked luggage.
This agent also wanted to see the gun but after the whole rigmarole was over she sent me to a TSA door. There, a non-TSA person took it, delivered it to a TSA persona, and he took FOREVER to tell me I was good to go! HOW HARD IS IT TO CHECK A TINY, UNLOADED, TIP OPEN, MAGAZINE OUT, BERETTA 950-BS? Like I said, I am done with the Miami airport – I almost missed my plane this guy took so long!
Back home the little luggage came off the plane, the handlers looked at it several times, shook it (we watched from the aircraft window), then tossed it onto the rest of the baggage. It came though the special handling doors. No big deal except I couldn’t get the agent to check – he kept telling me it would come with the rest of the luggage. Dunce!
All’s well that ends well I reckon!
First, I’d like to point out that I will never, ever, fly into or depart from Miami International Airport again. Not ever. As in never. It’s a nightmare to get around there. Nuf sed…….
So, you know how procedures change from time to time, right? Well, I have not flown with a handgun for quite some time, so I was ready for anything. Having lost ALL of my hard, locking cases in last year’s fire I ordered a couple of new ones, so I would have a choice. I didn’t have a lot of time to get the one I really wanted so I chose ones that would come quickly and the two were VERY similar and quite small but for one Beretta 950 BS they were more than adequate. Small, aluminum cases, black sides, one locking combination lock. Good to go.
At the ticket counter I told the gent that I had a firearm in the little case (SURPRISE!! Really, he was surprised – and I was nice about it – what does this case LOOK LIKE it has in it would have been my snide remark, but I let it go).
Then I get a surprise – he asks to see it! Last few times that went either way but mostly I expected ticket agents to NOT want to see it – let TSA handle it. But, nope, it’s show me time, so I open the case and show him the little pistol. No big deal, he hands me the little white card, I sign it, he fills out his part, we toss it in the case, I lock it, and then he looks at me funny when I tell him I am checking it separately from my large luggage. “You don’t want to put it into that case? You’ll save 40 dollars!”. “Nope”, says I, “I am prepared to pay the forty bucks”. Lo and behold, my decision is a good one – new procedure I have never seen before – he puts a big red tag on the case that says, “Special Handling”. Seriously? It doesn’t look like a gun already and now you’re going to flag it? And you wanted to put that flag on my suitcase with all of my personal items inside? GET OUTTA DODGE!
Then he calls TSA, the TSA guy comes, asks me to unlock the case, takes it somewhere, comes back ten minutes later, says he locked it and it’s off! Weird!
Anyway, the gun came through the special handling baggage gate with no issues in Miami so score one point for that airport, I reckon.
Then, on the return trip the lady at the ticket counter AGAIN thinks I am planning to stick this little case into my soft sided luggage. So, it must be standard practice that flyers do this, and they probably use the cheapie black plastic gun cases with little padlocks and just toss the guns into their soft sided luggage. Personally, I think that is a misreading of the rules but, also, I NEVER want to stick a red flag on my personal, checked luggage.
This agent also wanted to see the gun but after the whole rigmarole was over she sent me to a TSA door. There, a non-TSA person took it, delivered it to a TSA persona, and he took FOREVER to tell me I was good to go! HOW HARD IS IT TO CHECK A TINY, UNLOADED, TIP OPEN, MAGAZINE OUT, BERETTA 950-BS? Like I said, I am done with the Miami airport – I almost missed my plane this guy took so long!
Back home the little luggage came off the plane, the handlers looked at it several times, shook it (we watched from the aircraft window), then tossed it onto the rest of the baggage. It came though the special handling doors. No big deal except I couldn’t get the agent to check – he kept telling me it would come with the rest of the luggage. Dunce!
All’s well that ends well I reckon!
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The last time I came home from Europe the only good experience of the whole trip was a TSA agent in Philadelphia about my age who took one look at my passport and one look at me and said, “Welcome home!” - with a little chuckle. He knew. What a mess flying has become... 
What a joke! 
