Checking in for my flight from Baltimore to Seattle this morning, the ticket counter clerk clearly hasn’t gone through her post-9/11 “Declared Firearm” training yet.
Not only did she insist on checking each individual gun (nothing in the magazine well = empty, you know) but she also wanted to see each magazine and then each box of ammo! I couldn’t hide my surprise at that, to which she informed me:
“Yes, we always check the ammo boxes to make sure they are original. If you start flying with guns a lot, you’ll see this all the time.”
Then she didn’t know where the declaration tag was supposed to go, so she called her supervisor over. Before the supervisor could answer, I told her the tag goes on the outside if the locked case is inside another bag (as in my case) but on the inside if it would be visible to baggage handlers and people at the luggage pickup.
The cherry on top: When the supervisor asked if I fly with guns a lot, I said yeah, once or twice a month for the past ten years. The look on the check-in clerk’s face was priceless. To her credit, she then asked me if anyone had ever checked my ammo before, and when I said they had not, she told me she would check to see if she had been wrong all this time.
Train hard & fly safe! ToddG
There is absolutely zero consistency in training on this from my experience. If I get lucky and have someone who’s done it before it’s quick and painless – but odds are I wind up with someone who’s never done it and it takes forever.
On top of that, flying out of DFW requires you to (usually – depends on the terminal) walk over half way across the terminal to the only spot that the TSA checks baggage…
Love Field is painless, though I wish the TSA area was up top, so I can see them do it, rather then waiting to be called just in case.
I went through Nashville the other day. No issues except my ammo in one of my bags (about 200 rounds left from where I was going) trigger a TSA search. He couldn’t get his TSA key to unlock my TSA lock, but I was watching, and said I’ll enter the code. Swabbed it, packed it back up, put the lock on, and randomized the combo.
I avoid the northeast, but for the most part I haven’t had an issue flying with guns or ammo.
I certainly don’t travel as much as Todd, but each time I have this year there has been some mistake. Since these trips were with my wife, and she stresses if we are not way early, these occasions have provided time for a teachable moment. The airline people are poorly/improperly trained. The TSA people have without exception been pleasant and interesting to talk with. I even got a student lead from the Seattle TSA guy for someone who lived in Canton. I usually identify myself as an NRA Certified Instructor. Among us it’s no big deal, but it usually gets respect/pause with the airline personnel.
I do fly quite a bit, and very rarely do I run into problems at the airport post-9/11. Even today wasn’t a real problem. I wasn’t delayed, everyone was polite. The worst thing that happened is my clothes got a little wrinkled because I had to dig out some ammo boxes.
Trust me, I’ve had sone doosies over the years, though. The best (worst) was the Delta counter clerk in Seattle back in 2000 who decided to “check whether the gun is empty” by pointing my Beretta 92G over my shoulder at the crowd of people waiting in line and then pulling the trigger repeatedly.
… who decided to “check whether the gun is empty” by pointing my Beretta 92G over my shoulder at the crowd of people waiting in line and then pulling the trigger repeatedly.
Wow. Just wow.
I fly once in awhile. And I even bring guns and ammo every so often. Having had no shortage of problems, I print and hand carry both the airline regulations and TSA regulations for flying with guns and ammo. It has helped on many occasions to educate an airline employee or TSA agent. I have even had some ask if they could keep the copy, where I hand it over to them for their future reference.
San Diego is a pretty good airport. Norfolk VA not too bad. BWI surpises me a little, I have never had much trouble in and out of there. Midway is not terrible, but O’Hare is among the worst. The hands down worst so far though was Spokane, WA. Even with the printed regs, the TSA employee was hopelessly lost, and his supervisor was just as bad.
I’ve noticed of late that almost all of my recent flights have generated a TSA hand inspection prior to machine screening. One TSA screener lifted my boot out of the bag with my knife wire tied to it to ask my why I do that. He was really annoyed when I told him it was to discourage theft.
For me the most frustrating part is that whether it’s a ticket clerk insisting on checking my stuff or TSA hand checking bags they don’t have to check, the quickest and easiest way to get through is to smile and be polite no matter what they do.
I have a few skills… That’s not one of them.
The only problem I’ve had was when my flight got canceled and the airline wanted to put me on a flight where I would have to layover at Newark, NJ. There was a true horror story about a guy that had an overnight layover in NJ and when he tried to recheck his bags the next day, got arrested for having his handgun. The guys name was Gregg Revell if you want to google it.
Since the weather was bad up and down the east coast I decided not to chance it, spent the night in Burlington, VT and caught a direct flight to Dulles the next day.
Maybe you just have “that look” Todd.
Hi Todd,
I have a question for you but I do not know how to contact you? I cannot find any contact information e-mail or phone?
Thanks,
Goturback
That is classic. You are lucky you did not have an insistent know-it-all that decided to give you a cavity search. 🙂
Tony,
You never know when you might accidentally find yourself under the laws of New York City. One resource worth carrying is the letter to Congressman Young from the Attorney’s General Office on this subject. Link available here: http://pi-sd.com/Training.php
OK. Just when I was feeling good about flying with a pistol I read THESE stories.
Howard – To further complicate the situation there is a court ruling in NY that FOPA only applies to cars and not to air travel.
>>OK. Just when I was feeling good about flying with a pistol I read THESE stories.<<
It's a pain, but flying without one is far worse.
I’m glad I never had these issues going through Kansas City, although trying to get back home from Puerto Rico was a PITA.
Great presentation on flying with guns:
http://deviating.net/firearms/packing/
and
http://www