Airline travel with firearm

**Malinois** · February 15th, 2013, 06:25 PM

I am planning to take a trip later in March that requires me to take a firearm, and 250 rounds of ammo. I have already researched the airline regulations as well as the TSA regulations...but I am not a very experienced air traveler to begin with, and this flight will be pretty much all the way across the US. SW air offers a flight that has 1 stop, but does not need a plane change which sounds like a good plan. What I am asking for here is any advice or tips from someone that has flown with a firearm...such as how much earlier to check in, did you encounter any delays, what types of containers you used (brand, etc) as far as a gun safe goes, etc. and any other advice you can offer. thank you in advance!

**Arch007er** · February 15th, 2013, 06:32 PM

You will need to declare it is a firearm when you check your luggage. I always had my bolt out of the rifle - they might require that but I just did it anyway. They will have someone come out and inspect and I think they put a sticker on it. Make sure that you use a case with a lock. I put fragile stickers on my aluminum case and it still got banged up so make sure the case will be sufficient for typical airline abuse.

Edit: I also had ammo in the same gun case in the original packaging and there was not problem.

**hawk87** · February 15th, 2013, 06:42 PM

There was an extensive thread on this not long ago. Use the search function, you should find it.

**MT1** · February 15th, 2013, 07:03 PM

If possible it is best to go talk to the airline personnel at the counter before showing up the day you fly. I did this prior to my first flight with a firearm and still do it periodically. They will fill you in on all of the latest requirements. Remember, these are the folks that get you baggage through the process so work with them and follow their instructions.

My most recent flight was a return trip in Sept from Missouri. I was there for military training and wanted to take advantage of a gun show in Springfield. I often travel with an empty .30 ammo can with a hasp and padlock. This provides me with a "secure container" as required by United Airlines. The can is large enough to fit handguns or ammo. I use a piece of bubble wrap to fill any empty space.

All you have to do is tell the ticket agent exactly what you have in the bag. Sometimes they will take a look so have the key ready. In my experience they want to confirm the following:

1. Firearm is not loaded
2. Firearm is in a locked container
3. Ammo and firearm are in separate locked containers
4. None of the items are prohibited from commercial air travel (pepper spray, flammable liquids, etc)

Lastly, some airlines have gotten away from placing "FIREARM" stickers on luggage. I always ask that this not be done to avoid drawing additional attention to my bags, especially if they are lost or riding the baggage conveyor for any time.

**ShooterInPA1** · February 15th, 2013, 07:44 PM

Originally Posted by hawk87

There was an extensive thread on this not long ago. Use the search function, you should find it.

Virtually everything has been talked about at some point. Why bother posting at all if there is a Search function?

No offense, but get a clue.

**daschnoz** · February 15th, 2013, 08:29 PM

http://forum.pafoa.org/general-2/203...ml#post2272742

**hawk87** · February 15th, 2013, 08:35 PM

Originally Posted by ShooterInPA1

Virtually everything has been talked about at some point. Why bother posting at all if there is a Search function?

No offense, but get a clue.

Ah, really? I found it in ten seconds. How hard is that? Geez...

http://forum.pafoa.org/concealed-ope...ce-page-2.html

And there's another one.

**Xringshooter** · February 15th, 2013, 09:15 PM

Originally Posted by MT1

Lastly, some airlines have gotten away from placing "FIREARM" stickers on luggage. I always ask that this not be done to avoid drawing additional attention to my bags, especially if they are lost or riding the baggage conveyor for any time.

By regulation, an airline is not allowed to put anything on your checked bags that would indicate that there is a firearm packed inside.

Also, DO NOT ALLOW a TSA person tell you that the lock on the container that is holding the gun has to be a TSA approved lock (those locks can be opened by the TSA). The law is that the lock can only be opened by the owner and no one else.

The ammo can be in the same container as the gun, but must be in a separate container, it cannot be loose. The airlines would like it to be in the original container. If you don't have the original ammo container, one of the plastic containers made by MTM or other company are perfect and allowed.

It's really not a big deal to fly with a gun, I do it quite often.

**Yellowfin** · February 16th, 2013, 12:07 AM

1. Use combo locks--keys can be accidentally left at home. Also, they'll let you use TSA locks (had to do this on the spot recently), but I agree I don't like anyone being able to override my locks and they don't need to so get a regular set of Master combo locks.

2. If at all possible, travel only with firearms that can be readily disassembled, e.g. autoloading rifles and pistols (shotguns of most kinds can have the barrels taken off, so that's easy) , as such to be instantly obvious to someone who doesn't know jack **** about guns that they're not loaded and not immediately capable of being fired. You will occasionally run into people with sesame seed sized brains who just upon your lucky day happen to work at the airline desk instead of pushing a mop like they deserve, and their whole family of sesame seed size brained people have told them all their lives that firearms are the devil and touching them is like ripping off a thumb sized piece of flesh off of a corpse and eating it. So the less you can make what you present to them look scary and threatening the better.

3. Dress nice, suit and tie preferable. Why? The more sophisticated and respectable you look the more you will be treated as such, and you want them to treat you well with this matter--less than VIP treatment, well...you just don't want to go anywhere near that.

4. Act calm but know more than they do, and stay a step ahead but polite about it. YOU be ready for what needs to be done, not wait for them to ask, instead you're helping them by being on the ball. Because if they're pulling YOU along, YOU become the annoying thing they'd rather not do instead of the easiest thing they did that day. Bureacrats don't treat things/people they find annoying well, and in this matter less than well treatment means people with a lot of capacity to make your day VERY NOT GOOD get to do pretty much what comes to their mind. Be someone they like instead.

6. Smile, be warm and polite--be a 5 star restaurant waiter, not Joe Pesci. Do not be ANYTHING like Joe Pesci. There are millions of people unaware of this--were they not unaware of it, well, neither you or I would run into them with the disturbing frequency that we do, usually accompanied by the desire to give them the treatment afforded to Joe Pesci at the end of Casino.