On a longer hunt when you're using big bores, the ammo weight factor on airline flights can get to be an issue. They say they limit us to 5kg but I've never had my ammo checked before. How about you? If I'm over 5kg and the ammo is properly packed in my luggage, what's the chance the airline will check it? What has been your experience? If I was over, would they want me to simply hand them over a few cartridges until I got the weight down??

I have ALWAYS been questioned about it. I tell them the weight, then show them what their airline allows. After they pass the paper around a while among themselves, call their supervisor, everything is fine. I was stopped in Brisbane Australia for having excess the number of rounds that my paperwork showed. I handed them a box of 30-06's, my complements, and everything was fine. Most don't even know what it is supposed to weigh. (I would guess the Aussies went pig hunting as my guest that weekend)

Thanks, RB. Any relation to JB?

quote:

Originally posted by Spring:
Thanks, RB. Any relation to JB?

Actually, RBHunt stands for RaBid Hunter!

LOL..Well, for your sake, I hoped you were!

4 trips to Africa, never had my ammo weighed.

Regards,

Terry

I have been to Africa 14 times and have had my ammo weighed twice, very throughly. The container, fiber or plastic, holding the ammo also counts as part of the 5 Kilos. CHEERS

Only twice. Once when I was trying to sneak in about 40 pounds of shotshells. It didn't work.

Is there any tendancy among airlines that you've noticed that suggests which airline is more prone to weighing ammo? For the guys that have had their ammo checked, was it always with the same airline (Assuming you've traveled on more than one carrier)?
They can check me all they want on the way home, it's the getting there I'm concerned about!

Yep, on the way back in the Cape Town airport.
Bob

What about bringing it back?

Are there any problems with the rifles or ammo on the way back?

Thanks

Minkman

At of all places, gun friendly Houston IAH, they not only weighted mine, but looked at very bullet, looked at how it was packaged and inspected my bolt..........and droped my bolt on the floor. I never said a word, just grinned and played the dumb cowboy I am.

And before they ever put it on the scales, they said I could only take 11 pounds or whatever it was.............I said weight it, it only goes 8 pounds, I put it on the scales at home. So they put it on the scales and it went a little over 8 pounds. They sure tried hard to find something wrong, took for ever. And I've flown out of that airport with guns many times.

We used to give Alaska Airline counter people flowers and Choc candy.......you draw a bunny/tree hugger with a frozen bear in a box it can be tricky gettin that bear and guns on the plane............flowers and candy work real good with guns, or it used to.

Vic,
They weighed mine at Atlanta as I arrived and I was over. They had insisted at SAA in Joberg that our ammo had to be shipped separated. They wrapped mine and my brothers ammo up in one package. Of course, it was over weight, but I explained that it belonged to two passengers, my brother and I, and what SAA had done. They were miffed at SAA for shipping it separately, which is how the matter came up. They did not make me pay anything for the extra or do anything elese.

I want to say that they made me take it out and weigh it leaving one time, but I cannot remember where I was Atlanta or RSA. I remember having to dig around in my bag for it which really messed up my carefully packed bag. (With a roller duffel, always try to get your ammo low and on the bottom.)

Gosh, we are getting short. I packed this weekend. My bag is going to be right at the 70 pound limit I fear before I am finished. It is right at 60 now and I have to add about 30 375 rounds to it. If I don't get back to you, you and your son have a great flight and hunt. Kudude

I was not weighed.....only one trip however....from MPLS to Atlanta to Joberg to Port Eliz.

I bought home no ammo because of the BS involved.....Leave the ammo with the PH.....as a gift.

Same as White Hunter above. First time we got weighed was Houston Hobby last June. There were three of us in a family group and I packed all the empty spaces in our checked luggage with shotgun shells. I never weighed it at home but it was over a dozen boxes. I thought I would give it a try since no body ever checked the ammo on previous trips.

The TSA girl at the ticket counter declined to inspect the ammo but did look at the guns. I asked her a second time if she needed to see the ammo but she declined.

While we were waiting for the boarding call there was a page. The person on the other end of the line was very polite in informing me that there was a slight problem with the ammo weight. I pretended to be ignorant of the regs and the official very patiently explained the weight limit for each passenger and asked for they should remove the excess shotgun shells and leave the rifle ammo which was under the limit. I was happy to agree with that plan.

The next time I saw the ammo was in RSA. All the rifle ammo was there minus the shot shells.

On three trips over the big water, I have never had a problem w/ my ammo. One of my hunting buddies must have looked shady on our 98 trip to RSA. The ticket agent made him take out his ammo & they weighed it. As far as I know the container you put it in does not count as weight, especially if you take the ammo out & hand them the boxes to weigh.

I've been thinking about you, Steve, and know that you're truly giddy with anticipation at this point. We are certainly the same way, too as I look at all my stuff that is out and ready to go.
The comments so far on this topic aren't technically a representative sample, but so far it sounds like SAA seems to be a common denominator when it comes to checking ammo weight. It will be interesting to learn KLM's approach to this.
Shoot straight and have fun, Steve, if I don't talk to you before you go!

Many times axed, but never chopped.

In six trips, never asked.

Last year's trip to Namibia I was asked at check in in Idaho, and I told them I had 3 boxes of 375's which weighed 7#. They said fine. When I checked in on SAA in Atalanta the next day, they had me remove the box from my luggage and it weighed about 14#. I told them the same thing; they had me open it and looked at the ammo, extra knives, Leathermans, etc., with the 3 boxes and said "thank you very much, sorry for the inconvenience".

Only once-but only twice to Africa.Done politely,but with a bussiness as usual manner,in Bulawayo airport in Zim in 2001.

I've had my ammo weight checked once domestically (at O'Hare) when flying ORD-RIC in April 2000. Three trips to Africa (1999, 2002, 2004) and had my ammo weighed in RIC once (2002) and EVERY time in Africa - twice at PE once at JoBerg.

Of course, they never check inside the socks balled up within my bag

I had my ammo counted at check-in at Manchester airport but not weighed. I suspect that was because it was obviously within the 5kg allowed. I also had to fill out a "declaration form" for Virgin Atlantic saying what sort of rifle I was carrying and how many rounds. One copy goes to the captain of the plane apparently.

After all the worry about travelling with firearms before hand, the whole process was very easy and worked a treat; even transitting London Heathrow could not have been easier with the rifle case being hand delivered via secure courior from one plane to the other. As I boarded at the gate I was able to verify with the Loadmaster the riflecase was already on board..

Regards,

Pete

On 6 trips, I've been asked only a few times about the amount of rounds, where the ammo was and the weight. I always check my ammo weight before I pack, I know what each box weighs of the 416's & 270's. So I know what I can take. I don't need any problems at the airport.

The one time I really had a major problem was flying Delta to Alanta from Newark. Delta wouldn't check my bags through to Victoria Falls,Zim. (that's a whole different story). They questioned my guns & gave me a very hard time with them, they weighed my ammo & opened every box and checked each round, yes each round! I thought I was going to miss my flight!! Then they did a complete check of my bags. I got to the airport almost 3 hours early and I had to run to my gate!! First and last time I flew out of Newark, to bad Newark is 35 minutes from my home, JFK, (where I fly from most of the time) is 1 hour 40 minutes)

JFK, does a good job getting you checked in, I've really never had a problem with them, I always fly SAA there..

Have only had one trip to Africa, ammunition not weighed, but made the huge mistake of going through London. Absolute idiots!

Going, they somehow removed the tags marking my gun as a firearm and it came out on the carousel at (Johannesburg?) with the rest of the luggage. That earned me a ticket to the back room with about 5 officers.

On the way home I had a 7 hour layover in London and I informed the airline on arrival that I had a firearm if any inspection was needed. They told me to get to my gate 2 hours early. I arrived as instructed, informed the gate agent and waited. They pulled me and my rifle off the plane and said I would not be making that flight as they didn't have anybody to inspect my rifle! An inspector heard the conversation on the walkies and met us at the bottom of the gate stairs on the tarmac under the plane and gave me access to the ammunition and rifle at the same time so that I could walk him through what everything was and why it was inert. No JOKE!!! They put me and my luggage back on the plane while the gate agent followed close behind me asking how I dare killing little furry things and how I no right to do such things.

Will go through Atlanta on SAA next time.

Jeff,

I would be interested to know when this happened and at which London airport?

It all very strange as gates for flights simply are not opened 2 hours before the flight, so nobody is usually around?

My only minor complaint about my trip as that I had to remove my rifle from its case at the check-in at Manchester for the Airport Police to check its serial number matched my paperwork. I would have prefered if that had been done in private but it was no big deal.

The Loadmasters at both Manchester and Heathrow on both legs of the trip were very happy to physically check and confirm the case had been loaded in each instance and they were able to tell me which container and hold it had been packed in.

Regards,

Pete

Pete E

I have my diary in front of me but it just says London airport. You are right we did have to wait for somebody to show up but it wasn't long, maybe 30 minutes. They told us somebody would have to come for us and I checked in with them several times when nobody called for me. My flight out was 12:30 and they pulled me at 12:10 from the boarding line to let me know I wouldn't be making that flight. They had pulled my bags already. The flight out we had was to Chicago and the date was 9/26/03. The only kind thing I will say about that situation was the baggage handler that was there told me that I could be sure the bags would be on the plane because the pilot had to be told where they were stored on the plane. I can tell you absolutely that the agent in no way checked serial numbers against my paperwork!!

Glad your trip went so well but I won't give them another shot at me.

Jeff

Pete E

Thanks for pushing me back into my diary! It let me go back and enjoy the hunt all over again.

Jeff

Jeff,

I can understand how you feel; I would have felt the same in your position.

What I can't understand is that if your luggage is in "transit" ie checked through to the States, there should have been no reason to inspect/check serial numbers on the rifle at London.

As my riflecase was being loaded onto the Manchester flight at Heathrow, the loadmaster explained that the case was only scanned just before it was loaded and when I eventually got the case back, it did have a big "scanned" sticker on it..Perhaps they have introduced these portable scanning devices since your trip?

Regards,

Pete

In 30 or so years never once in the USA, always counted in Tanzania, guess I have an honest American face, not so in Tanzania, they must visualise me as a demon!

Pete E,

The scanning he was referring to is the LIBRA scanning system that is done in the baggage hall and at the head of stand prior to loading......it's used to compile an electronic baggage manifest so that the airline complies with regulations that were introduced after the Lockerbie bombing and the idea is that no bags can travel unless the owner is on board......

In the case of firearms at LHR, firearms are usually scanned at head of stand. This scanning doesn't check serial numbers it checks the bar code on the baggage tag that is linked on the computer check in system with your personal booking. If you're checked in for the flight then the bag or firearm etc can travel - if you're not checked in then it can't.

There's not usually any requirement to check serial numbers or ammo on through checked firearms..... but maybe it was a cock up.....wouldn't be the first time an airline official has overstepped his authority.

On no trip flying anywhere has my ammo been checked anywhere but Africa. It was no big deal but it took a little while. Otherwise I have been questioned about it but that was all.

My feeling is that if you have problems at Heathrow it is the same as having problems at any airport. Sometimes you run into uninformed or over jealous personnel and they can cause you trouble. I personally have been treated with nothing but courtesy there and customs and BA personnel have been very helpful.

Regards,

Mark

Pete E

In all fairness I had a bad time at LAX also going to Chicago and on to Heathrow. The clerk at LAX determined that I needed some kind of transit permit/tag to go through London. He was convinced that he shouldn't let me fly without it. Finally contacted somebody at the British Consul by phone (I think in New Orleans) that told him it was unnecessary.

Don't really know anything about the why-fors and what-fors at London but if your really interested I will PM you the flying details of all the connections etc I can from my diary on this trip.

Jeff

I flew on 11/30/01 out of Newark (shortly after 9-1-01) my flight was canceled as the ongoing mess of air traffic after 9-1-1 and I was put on another flight with a different company altogether...brother you talk about a RED FLAG going up and traveling with a firearm too boot!! At each airport in the USA I was pulled from the line at the gate escorted to a curtained area with security present. My carryon was searched and I was made to strip down to my boxers....seems they just could not believe that some idiot would be flying to Mexico with a rifle to hunt whitetails!!!!!!!

The only time I can remember the ammo getting weighed was coming BACK from Namibia two years ago. I was under weight going and even further under weight coming back but the woman at the counter was convinced my remaining ammo was too heavy. Finally she got her supervisor and everything was straightened out quickly.

Kyler

Never had my ammo weighed, but I always put it in a checked suitcase or duffel (in its own locked case). Never been looked at on they way out either but haven't gone out through Tanzania after a safari.

another good reason to take your wife along, whee gets another 11#'s

I've been flying around Africa and between the UK & Africa pretty often for the last 25 years and have only had my ammo weighed once - that was at Heathrow about 20 years ago when I was checked in by a newly trained check in agent. As soon as her supervisor saw what was going on he told her not to bother. - Guess I've just been lucky.........

Had mine weighed at Cape Town on the way home.

Counted but never weighed. Once when I arrived in Dar a customs lady started to count my ammo. It was in one of the 50 ct plastic boxes. After three tries to get them counted I showed her that there were ten in a row and five deep, so 5 X 10 equals 50. She smiled at me like I had just made here day and off I went. It was hard trying not to laugh as the poor thing struggled to count to 50...no BS. Patience is the key.