Flying and transporting a firearm

[dariks]

I meant to post this earlier, but I got caught up in work and life...

I recently had to fly to Austin, TX for 1 day training course on a Wednesday. The wife had the idea to turn it into a mini-vacation and take take the rest of the week off.

Before the flight, I checked to make sure that I could carry legally in Texas and then I looked at Southwest's website to see how big a hassle it would be to transport it. According to their website "Firearms must be encased in a hard-sided, LOCKED container that is of sufficient strength to withstand normal handling". I found a lock box at Guns and Leather for around $30 that would work perfectly.

The night before the flight, after the wife had packed the luggage, I added a full box of Golden Sabers, the empty lock box, and an empty spare magazine into the suitcase. I made sure it was the original factory box with the plastic holder for the ammunition because some of the information I found online indicated that anything less could potentially cause problems with the airline employees and/or TSA.

The day of the flight I went to work as normal with my carry weapon. When it came time to leave for the airport I took my full magazine out and put it in my desk drawer. Then I locked it in the lock box which was in turn locked to the metal spine of the suitcase.

At the check-in kiosk for Southwest I informed the lady there that I was transporting a firearm (make sure you do this!!!) and she had me fill out a little card with my personal info (name, address, phone #) and the card was then placed on top of the lock box inside of my suitcase. She told the TSA agents that I was transporting a firearm and then my suitcase was put on the conveyor belt and sent through the x-ray machine.

When we arrived in Austin, I claimed my suitcase as normal and left the airport. I had no trouble carrying in Texas. The only problem I had was at the Austin airport when I was trying to check my suitcase/firearm on the way back to Nashville. The TSA lady seemed VERY confused about the procedure for transporting a firearm. After talking with her and handing my suitcase over to her I was actually worried that it would get lost. She seemed to be pretty under-trained and that was not very comforting.

All in all it was pretty easy and straight forward to transport a firearm and it is something that I wouldn't hesitate to do again.

As a side note:

TSA is every bit as much a PITA as I thought it would be, BUT the procedures were relatively quick and painless.

My wife carries some pepper spray on her key chain. It's a big red cylinder that you just can't miss. TSA, however, never flagged it.

[LagerHead]

I had pretty much the same experience, except in both directions the ticket agent knew what to do. Not much hassle at all.

[Warbird]

I have never found it to be that much of a PITA. It is pretty simple and I have never had any problems at all. If you want to see PITA wait until you take your guns out of the country. Now that is a PITA. Then you have to fill out all sorts of forms, usually pay a fee to carry a gun into another country. They require to know the SSN# and such and then match it against the gun when you return. Every TSA office does things a bit differently. However, I have almost never even been asked to show that the gun is unloaded.

All in all though flying with a gun is fairly painless. In the past month I have taken mine to Canada and Texas and will be taking one next week on another flight to someplace. Some countries want the gun to be completely intact when entering, some such as the US want the bolt to be removed from the rifle when entering, if a bolt action gun obviously. Even still I have rarely had issues flying internationally.

[raydog1]

Same experiences here. BNA always makes it easy (especially Southwest), but coming back can be a different story. Detroit was pretty annoying for example. They had to call some guy from the back, I had to wait on him, he went to a different area than the one I was in so they had to call him back again, he actually went through the case with a fine toothed comb, he had to fill out some paperwork, blah blah blah.

[mac12]

I'm flying to Houston right after Christmas and was considering taking along my S&W 442. It is my cheapest gun in case it doesn't show up in Houston. How do you verify that the gun is still there when you take it off the carousel? If it gets stolen is the airline responsible?

[dariks]

I'm flying to Houston right after Christmas and was considering taking along my S&W 442. It is my cheapest gun in case it doesn't show up in Houston. How do you verify that the gun is still there when you take it off the carousel? If it gets stolen is the airline responsible?

The only way to verify it's still there would be to open up your suitcase and look. I wouldn't do that in a crowded airport.

I waited until I got in the rental car before checking.

[raydog1]

I could've sworn Southwest's policy once stated that they weren't responsible for stolen firearms/ammo, but I don't see it now:

Southwest Airlines Travel Policies - Guns and Ammunition

[Hidalgo]

Same experiences here. BNA always makes it easy (especially Southwest), but coming back can be a different story. Detroit was pretty annoying for example.

I travel and fly with my guns several times a year. Chattanooga is as easy as it gets. What I have found is that airports and carriers that are accustomed to seeing and handling people traveling with firearms do a WAY better job than places like Detroit, Cincinnati, Orlando, Miami ... well you get the picture. Going in or out of Dallas, Phoenix, Sioux Falls, etc are much, much easier.

[Guest Bill Lumberg]

It's not that big a deal. I can fly armed, but if I'm flying for pleasure, say for vacation, I check my sidearm. Never had a problem. Glad you didn't either.