Anyone who has moved the above on hunting trips without snags, or had impediments to travel removed by officials, please can you post details? names? , contact numbers? If we can log a few bits of really solid info it will be to the greater good of all of us who wish to hunt abroad! Steve.

Maybe I should kick this one off with CALMAC ferries, not strictly "abroad" but a friend & I were in deep doo doo a while back, we were told to hand over our ammunition on boarding, but made them settle for rifle bolts instead, we fell foul of not reading the "small print"

Steve,

Where were you taking the ferry trip?

If it was Arran, I've made the trip twice with no problems, but there again, I didn't declare that I had firarms in my vehicle..

Regards,

Peter

quote:

Originally posted by Pete E:
Steve,

Where were you taking the ferry trip?

If it was Arran, I've made the trip twice with no problems, but there again, I didn't declare that I had firarms in my vehicle..

Regards,

Peter

For the first time in around six or seven trips we were asked a direct question, "were we carrying any firearms?", me being an honest upstanding pillar of society answered "yes", this then opened a can of worms as regards possesion of expanding ammunition, (for them) hence the stopgap of rifle bolts,

Steve,

Griff ? BASC should be made aware of this as if the policy is enforced rigidly, it will scupper the stalking scheme on the island..

I can see why in this day and age the company don't want people carry firearms and ammo together, but it would be simple enough to set up a work around like they managed with you..

Regards,

Peter

Calmac official policy, certainly on the routes I've travelled, is that they don't allow you to carry ammo. However, once you are talking to the people in the ferry ports and providing you have the correct approach my experience is that they find ways to ensure the safety of the boat and all concerned while assisting the traveller. The stalkers I know who travel with Calmac on a regular basis are always very positive about their service and I've found them excellent.

One interesting situation I've encountered with FlyBE is that they book firearms onto the plane as some sort of "additional luggage" type thing and inform you that if the plane is full then your firearm may not be put on. I've never had this happen but would imagine it is a lot more hassle for them being left with an orphan firearm than it is to just slip the thing on. Worth looking out for though.

I've also found that luggage delivery at Edinburgh airport can be slow even on a good day but if carrying a firearm then you need to allow maybe another half hour to get the rifle back. I think it would be safe and not unreasonable to say to allow an hour to get your rifle in Edinburgh. Worth bearing in mind if you are connecting through Edinburgh as I would often do.

quote:

One interesting situation I've encountered with FlyBE is that they book firearms onto the plane as some sort of "additional luggage" type thing and inform you that if the plane is full then your firearm may not be put on. I've never had this happen but would imagine it is a lot more hassle for them being left with an orphan firearm than it is to just slip the thing on. Worth looking out for though.

What I did when I went to RSA was waiting until nearlast when going through the boarding gate and then ask the person checking the boarding passes to confirm if the rifle had been loaded on the plane or not..I explain that "for security reasons" if the rifle was not confirmed to be aboad, I could not travel...Bearing in mind the rest of your luggage will already be on the plane at this stage, and it would have to be unloaded if you refused to board, this really does put the pressure on them to help you.

At Manchester, the girl radioed the Loadmaster down on the tarmac, and he went and checked personally if my rifle case had been loaded and then came up the ramp to verify that with me...

I am sure one day somebody will call my bluff, but once you start using the words "sporting firarms" and "security reasons" it seems to push the right buttons to get a positive response..

Regards,

Peter

All hold baggage is tagged with a bar code so when boarding the plane the ground staff can scan the abs and check if the item has been loaded. Like Pete, when traveling on a plane with firearms I always request the confirmation before boarding. I do the same with connections.

The other thing is that individual airlines need a licence to handle firearms in the terminals/airport grounds. If their licence has expired then none of the ground crew can touch the guns even thought the airline is happy to carry them. I had this problem with Iberia on the way to Argentina and on the way back. I had to wait 2 hours for someone to be able to bring me my guns, which were 20 metres away. In the end the guy took pity on me and just went and got them as he could see how ludicrus it was.

Heathrow as a rule I have found to be very good providing I am flying with BA , Virgin, Cyprus Airways. Inverness and Edinborough were great but they get a huge volume of visiting sportsmen.

Easy Jet was always good with guns but I haven't used them in the last couple of years since they started charging extra.

Rgds,
K