Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Commercial Flight With Gun

Haven’t traveled in a long time with a gun in checked baggage.
I have to fly from Memphis to Lubbock Tx, with a change of planes in Houston

I’m concerned about theft

Any words of wisdom?

Look for a different, more secure way to send it.
Someone else might be able to address this since I don't fly.
I just know of knife collectors that had their collections stollen. Ken Onion had tens of thousands of $ worth stollen by baggage guys in the back.

Check with the competitors. The pros fly a lot and you might learn something on their personal forums.

Very secure locked case cable locked to inside of luggage.

It is my strong recommendation that you notify the airline (at baggage check) immediately when you arrive. Let them know that the gun and the ammo are locked in a case within one of your bags. Basically, follow the rules of the particular airline that you are traveling on. Some airports/airlines have a specific desk at the baggage check that will inspect your bag and gun. Get in the wrong line and it can cause you to miss your flight. We darn near missed our flight back in June. We had to do the “Home Alone” sprint through the airport to make the plane. We literally made the flight by about 1 minute. We were at the airport in plenty of time. We just didn’t get in the proper line at the baggage check. With American Airlines, there are no signs indicating which line to get in when checking a bag with a firearm. Pretty unfair if you asked me.

I second FatCity67s advice.

Oh the good old days. I took a commercial flight to Washington DC in the late 90s, Transported a Glock 23. No issues with check-in, just followed their rules. Interesting part was the flight home. Back then I was working at FedEx and they still had Freebird available (free jumpseat travel on any FedEx plane if there was an opening). I was the only passenger that Sunday, sat against back wall inside cockpit of a 727. When the crew showed up and came in, I calmly told the pilot I had the handgun in a case in my bag. He said “no problem, I’ll just hold onto it in my stuff OK”. We even played with it during the flight

Jumpseating at FedEx was the single best employee perk bar far. Being able to sit in the cockpit of large commercial jets and see everything that is going on inside along with a 180 degree view in the direction you are actually flying was amazing. Alas gone after 9/11.

Keith, we should meet sometime. Guessing you shoot at MSSA also.

Agreed. IF YOU KNOW WHAT THE RULES ARE.

Last year I traveled from Little Rock, AR to Denver via Frontier and back. In Little Rock, I stated to the inside check in agent "I need to declare a firearm"- she responded by handing me the orange tag to fill out and said stick it in the bag. Not a peep or raised eyebrow.

Returning from Denver, I stated the same "I need to declare a firearm" and had the tag already filled out. The agent immediately got on the phone and said "code (something) to check in" - then another agent appeared and said "you must not come to Denver much." He took us and our bag to an xray machine and waited (we chatted a few minutes - He was from Arkanansas too) for them to xray the bag to confirm the pistol was unloaded I suppose. We got the OK in about 5 min and we were on our way. I did not question him as to what was so special about Denver because I did not want to be tagged as an agitator. I am assuming you check in with firearms at the outside station and not bring the evil things into the building? When I got home, I scoured the Denver airport website - the only thing I could find was "follow TSA and airline rules." I guess reading the invisible signs is required.

I guess you could look for somebody to ask outside the terminal about where to go. It seems we are at the mercy of local whims.

PS - I also took my $350 SW J frame in case it disappeared I wouldn't take too much of a hit.

Not surprised at all. Denver is a DemoRat ran Schitthole.

This.

I lock mine in a pelican.

Then I run a cable lock through framework of roller bag attaching it to the gun case.

Makes it a lot harder to reach in and grab the case while luggage is going by.

Had zero problems.

Which airline? Some now are hand delivering at luggage pickup anything with a firearm.

Delta agent in

bna was no problem, not the same in
ABQ, but I got through just fine.

Bag had different tagging so I assume everyone in the system knows which has bag gun (handgun), rifles is pretty obvious,
From what I read, apparently all systems have employees that supplement their income.

I flew to El Paso a few years ago to pick up a vehicle I had bought from my nephew and drive it back to Tennessee. I mailed myself a big assortment of tools in care of "General Delivery" in the hometown of the person who was storing the truck a few miles out of town. There was a rectangular metal box in that assortment, with sockets, ratchets, extensions, and other "tools" inside, along with wrenches, screwdrivers, files, bolts and nuts, spark plugs, and a lot of other bits and pieces I thought would be necessary for a cross country drive in a 20 year old Chevy pickup.

That's about all you can do. I'm not saying it never happens, but I don't see gun theft from luggage as a serious risk.

There are USPS provisions for mailing it ahead to yourself at your destination.

It has been awhile for me but here is what I remember. Read and understand the TSA rules and your airlines rules. Print them both and have a copy with you. I have had problems with ill informed agents and pulling out the rules and reading them saved the day twice. Once the agent backed down the second time a supervisor showed up and they backed down. In both cases the airline employees did not even know the rules as written and they were not rude but without the rules I might have missed a flight.

The rest of the time I have not had any issues.

There are some weird requirements. Delta used to specify the locked firearm case can go in your unlocked soft luggage (I guess this makes it easier for them to steal it out of your luggage). Also all lock points need a lock in them. I have a hard rifle case with 4 lock holes that is plenty secure with 2 locks but I bring 4 so Iam compliant. Anyway read the all the rules and you should be good.

Just follow the rules for your particular airline and TSA.....they are all online. I have flown dozens of times with firearms on Alaska Airlines and have had zero issues. When I moved from AK to NM I transported all of my handguns in my checked baggage from Fairbanks to Albuquerque. I was allowed two bags that contained firearms, but they didn't care how many guns were in each bag....no one even blinked an eye at check-in. I locked 8 in a smaller bag which came out on the carousel like any other piece of luggage. In a Pelican rifle case I packed 21 handguns, and that was handed to me personally at the oversized baggage area in Albuquerque. There should be nothing on a normal piece of luggage that identifies it as having firearms inside and they should be as safe as any other piece of luggage....of course a rifle case may be kind of obvious.