Recent American Airlines Ecperience

**LTCcarrier** · June 28th, 2017, 05:48 PM

I traveled with a firearm with American Airlines from PBI to PHL. At West Palm they made sure it was unloaded. I had non TSA locks on the firearm hard case in a larger soft case with TSA lock. They had put a big return to BSO red tag on the luggage. They stated that when I arrived in Philly go to the Baggage secured area. I went there and it was not there. Instead it was spinning on the carousel with the big red steal me tag. No one was around.

On the way from Philly it was the same. A big red tag. A lot of people were checking firearms as I was sent to a special area. One man was told he had to USA all TSA locks. I of course did not as that is not what is supposed to be done. The luggage was held by the baggage office. Another unusual thing is when I tried to get a boarding pass 23 hours before the flight they said I had to check in person as I had a firearm. I thought that was unusual because what if I left it in my Philly home. Very strange to me.

**Pilot321** · June 28th, 2017, 07:20 PM

Not only is the TSA incompetent, also many of the airline ground personnel are incompetent. Glad you got your gun. This new policy sucks.

**Sgt.K** · June 28th, 2017, 07:26 PM

Originally Posted by LTCcarrier

Another unusual thing is when I tried to get a boarding pass 23 hours before the flight they said I had to check in person as I had a firearm.

Does this get anybody else's attention? HTF do they know he's flying with one? I don't recall ANY place where that information gets entered...

**LTCcarrier** · June 29th, 2017, 08:47 AM

I found it very unusual. But obviously they do keep this info. It assumes that if I take a firearm to a destination that I will return with it to my prior destination. What if I legally left the firearm at a home in Pennsylvania? Why am I forbidden to print a boarding pass? What if I had no luggage to check on the way back and left my firearm in PA. They forbid me to check in on line. Also I am not sure about the use of the big red tag. When I arrived at PHL I went directly to the baggage office. They did not have it. Meanwhile my luggage with the big steal me tag was spinning around in the open by itself as everyone else picked up their luggage. The trip for many reasons with American Airlines was a trip from hell. They had my child as an unaccompanied minor even though she was traveling with me. When I arrived at PHL they claimed my child did not have a reservation. I had to call and yell for over an hour with reservations services because the people at Philadelphia were incompetent. I am writing a nasty letter to the CEO of American. I will not be flying with them again.

**Wilderness 1864** · June 29th, 2017, 09:24 AM

Originally Posted by LTCcarrier

I found it very unusual. But obviously they do keep this info. It assumes that if I take a firearm to a destination that I will return with it to my prior destination. What if I legally left the firearm at a home in Pennsylvania? Why am I forbidden to print a boarding pass? What if I had no luggage to check on the way back and left my firearm in PA. They forbid me to check in on line. Also I am not sure about the use of the big red tag. When I arrived at PHL I went directly to the baggage office. They did not have it. Meanwhile my luggage with the big steal me tag was spinning around in the open by itself as everyone else picked up their luggage. The trip for many reasons with American Airlines was a trip from hell. They had my child as an unaccompanied minor even though she was traveling with me. When I arrived at PHL they claimed my child did not have a reservation. I had to call and yell for over an hour with reservations services because the people at Philadelphia were incompetent. I am writing a nasty letter to the CEO of American. I will not be flying with them again.

None of this is designed to keep you or anyone else safe. It is about making your life difficult, infringing all of your civil rights and becoming conditioned to be treated as a serf with no rights.

**The Unknown 1087** · June 29th, 2017, 10:19 AM

Originally Posted by Sgt.K

Does this get anybody else's attention? HTF do they know he's flying with one? I don't recall ANY place where that information gets entered...

As someone who is flying with American next month, this has me curious.

Maybe they only did this because you had a firearm for the first part of the trip, right?

**djeuch** · June 29th, 2017, 11:59 AM

When you check in online, one of the questions is if you're travelling with firearms. They're entitled to ask, and answering legally yes forces you to check in personally. Inconvenient, but I do it.

The tagging of baggage to be picked up at a manned counter happened to me too, and found the bag on the carousel. In my opinion, that's worse than not tagging at all...

**Sgt.K** · June 29th, 2017, 12:39 PM

Originally Posted by djeuch

When you check in online, one of the questions is if you're travelling with firearms. They're entitled to ask, and answering legally yes forces you to check in personally. Inconvenient, but I do it.

But the OP wasn't flying with his on the 2nd flight, and I'm guessing he didn't indicate that he was. That means they stored that data. I don't like that...

Originally Posted by djeuch

The tagging of baggage to be picked up at a manned counter happened to me too, and found the bag on the carousel. In my opinion, that's worse than not tagging at all...

I flew round trip - via American - PHL to DFW and back over Memorial Day weekend. My bag was on the carousel both times, though it wasn't red-tagged. Arriving in PHL from my 06:00 Monday flight, it was the ONLY bag I saw coming off a <50% full flight.

I may be repeating the trip for another week in late Sept. If so, I will have more time to pick and choose my travel providers.

I'm all for boycotting the ones that violate the laws, but if we don't push back, that may be all that's left...

My 2¢