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Over the last two years, I've pretty well become a pro at flying with one or more handguns. My home state has reciprocity with the other states where I generally travel and I have used "Mac's guide to flying with a firearm" as my blueprint for success with the airlines and the TSA.
I just had a chance to combine business with pleasure on a recent trip for a conference in Denver, CO. The plan was to fly from Charlotte to Denver for the conference. Then fly Denver to Austin for visiting family and wrap it up by flying from Austin back to Charlotte.
So, I plan and pack carefully and have ZERO issues flying on US Air from Charlotte to Denver. The only "issue" is that the ticket agent is supposed to verify the handgun is unloaded -- but she did not want to see inside the case. We simply put the unloaded firearm declaration tag inside my checked bag (on top of the locked gun case) and sent it down the conveyor belt. TSA must not have had an issue with it because I didn't get called back and the bag made it to Denver with no issues.
I finished up the conference in Denver with no issues and head to the Denver airport to fly to Austin. WOW! Denver has a difference procedure than Charlotte! First, the ticket agent knew the rules well enough to know that she was supposed to verify the handgun was unloaded. Good for her! Then she called a man with a baggage cart to come take my bag to a TSA screening room. I followed him to keep an eye on my bag and saw the TSA agents wave an explosive sniffing wand over the bag and then send it through a huge scanner. Then the baggage cart man took my checked bag to a special conveyor belt. I was allowed to observe but not touch the bag during this process. Everything went smoothly.
At the end of the family visit in Austin, I went to the airport to check in. This was NOT my first rodeo in Austin for flying with a firearm. I KNOW the drill. Clearly, US Airways does NOT give consistent training to their ticket agents and supervisors at each airport... Why do I say this? Well, the ticket agent tried to act all cool about the firearm, including making comments about her boyfriend's gun as she was verifying my handgun was unloaded. However, as we were wrapping up, she told me to put the unloaded firearm declaration tag INSIDE the locked case. I told her that was not the proper procedure and showed her the TSA regs and the printed US Airways policy on traveling with firearms. She and her supervisor were getting hung up on the statement that the declaration tag was to be placed in the checked bag OR the locked firearm case. I tried to explain to them that the tag would only be placed in the locked firearm case if the case ITSELF was the checked bag. Otherwise, if the bag was misrouted through the airport's baggage system and someone opened my bag, they would never see the declaration tag -- which would result in me being called back to the ticket counter or the TSA office or the local law enforcement office or worse! They argued with me and argued with me, insisting that they had 17 and 13 years of experience and they ought to know better than me. So, I said "Okey-dokey". I put the declaration tag into the locked handgun case. The procedure from here is for the passenger to carry his own bag to a TSA screener in the middle of the ticketing terminal.
The TSA screener was within 30 yards of the US Airways ticket counter, and I could see they were still huddled together talking about it. The TSA screener starts to swab my bag for explosives and then opens the bag to see the firearm case. She doesn't need to open the case and they never do -- but she asked me why I didn't have a declaration tag in my bag!!! I told her that the US Airways ticket agent and supervisor insisted the tag needed to be inside the locked handgun case. She just about fainted. After she finished laughing, she asked me to open the locked case and put the declaration tag on top of the locked handgun case in my checked bag. Once we got that done, I was good to go. Thankfully, no call-backs to the ticket counter or the TSA office.
Just a lesson-learned for my fellow KahrTalk members -- read the TSA regs and the airline policies and "Mac's guide to flying with a firearm" so you know how it's supposed to work and you'll be better prepared than the idiots behind the ticket counters.
I just had a chance to combine business with pleasure on a recent trip for a conference in Denver, CO. The plan was to fly from Charlotte to Denver for the conference. Then fly Denver to Austin for visiting family and wrap it up by flying from Austin back to Charlotte.
So, I plan and pack carefully and have ZERO issues flying on US Air from Charlotte to Denver. The only "issue" is that the ticket agent is supposed to verify the handgun is unloaded -- but she did not want to see inside the case. We simply put the unloaded firearm declaration tag inside my checked bag (on top of the locked gun case) and sent it down the conveyor belt. TSA must not have had an issue with it because I didn't get called back and the bag made it to Denver with no issues.
I finished up the conference in Denver with no issues and head to the Denver airport to fly to Austin. WOW! Denver has a difference procedure than Charlotte! First, the ticket agent knew the rules well enough to know that she was supposed to verify the handgun was unloaded. Good for her! Then she called a man with a baggage cart to come take my bag to a TSA screening room. I followed him to keep an eye on my bag and saw the TSA agents wave an explosive sniffing wand over the bag and then send it through a huge scanner. Then the baggage cart man took my checked bag to a special conveyor belt. I was allowed to observe but not touch the bag during this process. Everything went smoothly.
At the end of the family visit in Austin, I went to the airport to check in. This was NOT my first rodeo in Austin for flying with a firearm. I KNOW the drill. Clearly, US Airways does NOT give consistent training to their ticket agents and supervisors at each airport... Why do I say this? Well, the ticket agent tried to act all cool about the firearm, including making comments about her boyfriend's gun as she was verifying my handgun was unloaded. However, as we were wrapping up, she told me to put the unloaded firearm declaration tag INSIDE the locked case. I told her that was not the proper procedure and showed her the TSA regs and the printed US Airways policy on traveling with firearms. She and her supervisor were getting hung up on the statement that the declaration tag was to be placed in the checked bag OR the locked firearm case. I tried to explain to them that the tag would only be placed in the locked firearm case if the case ITSELF was the checked bag. Otherwise, if the bag was misrouted through the airport's baggage system and someone opened my bag, they would never see the declaration tag -- which would result in me being called back to the ticket counter or the TSA office or the local law enforcement office or worse! They argued with me and argued with me, insisting that they had 17 and 13 years of experience and they ought to know better than me. So, I said "Okey-dokey". I put the declaration tag into the locked handgun case. The procedure from here is for the passenger to carry his own bag to a TSA screener in the middle of the ticketing terminal.
The TSA screener was within 30 yards of the US Airways ticket counter, and I could see they were still huddled together talking about it. The TSA screener starts to swab my bag for explosives and then opens the bag to see the firearm case. She doesn't need to open the case and they never do -- but she asked me why I didn't have a declaration tag in my bag!!! I told her that the US Airways ticket agent and supervisor insisted the tag needed to be inside the locked handgun case. She just about fainted. After she finished laughing, she asked me to open the locked case and put the declaration tag on top of the locked handgun case in my checked bag. Once we got that done, I was good to go. Thankfully, no call-backs to the ticket counter or the TSA office.
Just a lesson-learned for my fellow KahrTalk members -- read the TSA regs and the airline policies and "Mac's guide to flying with a firearm" so you know how it's supposed to work and you'll be better prepared than the idiots behind the ticket counters.
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