I'm hunting in Newfoundland later this month and traveling Toronto to Deer lake on Air Canada. I called their customer service about a week ago to have them put in my register that I was traveling with guns. The person I spoke to (clueless about guns) took down my ser #'s and told me someone would be e-mailing me a confirmation that my gun info was in my register. For those of you that might have traveled on Air Canada w/ guns did you get an e-mail confirmation in connection with your guns? Of course I'll check with Air Canada but was also interested in others experiences with this. The customer service rep did not increase my confidence that all would be fine on check-in with Air Canada in Toronto.

Mark

Hi Mark

It is my understanding the correct procedure is:

1. Call Air Canada and advise them that you will be travelling with guns a minimum of 24 hours before your travel. They will make a note on your file.
2. At check in you will have to fill in a declaration. Not a big deal but might take a while for them to find it! Add a good 30 minutes just in case.
3. The standard guns separate from ammo applies.
4. Last but not least they stiff you ~ $ 50 for 'handling' guns.

I will be traveling later this week, with guns on AC and will let you know if there are any other surprises!

ilw,

Thanks I'd appreciate a follow up.

Mark

Mark,

i do not know for long guns in Toronto but what i know is take spare time with the stopover in Toronto ...it took me 2 hours last january when i bring two handguns for a course ... from what i have seen they didnt see any differences between long or handgun ... the Canadian shooting federation did the booking and cant remember the fees but some were asked for sure ...

We've flown dozens of times on Air Canada with firearms and ilw has is dead on! It's taken us anywhere from 10-60 minutes to check in with guns on Air Canada depending on the agent.

Mark,

You might want to call the airline back to verify that they indeed received your information. It sounds like the person you talked to may have dropped the ball. Best to check on it.

Mark - You have received good advice already. I will add that 1. Returning from Canada on AC with meat was a royal pain... and expensive. 2. Check in on return flight took forever because of rifles, ammo, and meat. We almost missed our flight. I wouldn't take a lot of ammo, and I'd leave any leftover in camp. That could save you time and $$. 3. If you are connecting in Canada enroute home, they will make you wait to clear USA customs in the last Canadian airport you leave. We had to get all our meat and luggage at the luggage place in our connecting airport in Toronto, go all through US Customs there, and then re-check everything for our next flight which was scheduled to land in a US city. Not an easy process, and we nearly missed our connection there. For future reference I have gotten good reports on Westjet. But next time I fly to a western Canada hunt, I will be avoiding AC at all costs, and will drive from my Maine home to Montreal and confine my landings and take-offs to Canadian airports. Driving through Customs is alot easier, painless. Any hunt Manitoba and east, I will drive to. Enjoy the Newfie hunt.

The customs issue would arise regardless of airline. As long as you are under 5kgs of ammo there should be no issues or additional charges.

Guys,

Thanks for all the insights. I've scheduled long layovers in Toronto coming and going so I think I'm good. Called AC customer service yesterday to confirm that the gun info was in my register and there so swamped with passengers trying to get out of Florida and the reschedule from Harvey that they just are not answering the phone.

Mark

You'll be fine...they are used to dealing with guns and typically not that anti gun...they just like extra money for guns! Also, I've traveled through Toronto many times with guns and even dead things without any issues. Have all your paperwork in order and you'll be fine.

Hi Mark

A slight addition.

It is my understanding the correct procedure is:

1. Call Air Canada and advise them that you will be travelling with guns a minimum of 24 hours before your travel. They will make a note on your file.

2. At check in you will have to fill in a declaration. Not a big deal but might take a while for them to find it! Add a good 30 minutes just in case. Declaration is a four part form. AC retains one copy, one copy has to be placed in the case with the guns, one copy is to be placed in the ammo box and last copy needs to be handy to show security.

3. The standard guns separate from ammo applies.

4. Last but not least they stiff you ~ $ 50 for 'handling' guns.

Have a good trip.

You'll actually be directed to oversized luggage and you'll hand them one of the copies!

You might also want to have a trigger lock.

From Air Canada's website:
Must be rendered inoperable by means of a secure locking device mechanism (i.e. a trigger lock), but only after the check-in process has been completed.

I've flown out of Winnipeg on 3 different occasions the last couple of years and not once have they opened, or asked me to open my gun case. All they ever do is ask if it's unloaded, ammo packed separate and sign declarations for both the rifle and ammo.

But, like everyone says....it all depends on who's checking you in!

Yup, pull bolt and trigger lock for sure.

Guys,

Thanks for all the constructive info. I have it all handled, I think but it was nice to know the procedure for the 4 part AC declaration. Thanks ilw for the update on current travel.

Mark

I'm back. Air Canada was very disorganized. Lost two clients guns for 2.5 hours in Toronto. Two of us were not asked to fill out the the 4 part declaration when we checked our baggage to Deer Lake and when we took our guns to oversize baggage we were asked for the "pink" form. Then the goat rope started with a supervisor involved. It got squared away but it was a PIA. On the return I used Westjet the whole way and it worked perfectly. No hassles at all.

Mark

glad you enjoyed our national carrier adventures ...

luckily all went good at the end.

if you can use Air North one day you will see really what a gun friendly airline is.

medved,

Thanks! I'll keep that in mind about Air North.

Mark

Mark,

Did I miss the part where you told us if you got your moose?

Dean

Dean,

Thanks for asking. We were 4 for 4 in 2.5 days. Rut was not on but we saw plenty of moose. I'll write the whole thing up once my client that went in today for caribou/moose finishes up.

Mark

Here is my experience with Air Canada on a recent mountain goat hunt in British Columbia. Flights booked long in advance, I notified Air Canada more than 24 hours ahead of departure that I would be carrying a firearm and ammo (honestly, this worked pretty well, the lady on the phone was helpful and notated my itinerary both ways that I was carrying firearms and ammo), and the problems began upon checking baggage at DFW. There were 2 gate agents and neither had a clue how to check a firearm and had no interest in doing so. The one that drew the short straw had to look on their website to see what needed to be done to comply with their regulations. I asked to check my bags thru to Kelowna, which is an international airport, and the agent said he did. Finally got declarations signed and placed in the appropriate bag/case and the agent placed both bag and gun case on the baggage conveyor. I asked about clearing thru TSA and was told that Air Canada didn't have to do that. So, we arrive in Vancouver to change flights into Kelowna and we are walking towards the connection when a Air Cananda employee comes up and asked if my name was Evans, yes, I said and he told me that my bags would be coming out at oversize baggage and I must claim and recheck them. 50 minutes later (had a 2 hour layover) my wet bags pop out at oversize bggage and we make our way to Canadian Customs to get a firearms permit and recheck baggage. There were 9 customs officers standing/sitting/reclining in the customs area and it took 20 minutes for one of thwm to rouse himself long enough to check my paperwork...and send me to a cashiers window to pay the $25.00 firearms permit fee, none of the 9 officers could process payments. It took 40 more minutes for someone to show up that could take a payment. Our outbound plane is boarding by this time and we still had to re-check bags. Same routine as DFW, the guy didn't know and didn't care about checking a rifle, but this time there was an additional step in that some Canadian official wanted to check serial numbers, count ammo, etc. I will give the security guy credit for one thing, when he found out our flight was boarding, he called someone at Air Canada and told them to hold the plane, that the manifest was showing a firearm was being carried on the plane and it couldn't leave until they had verified the gun case was on the plane. I flew DFW-Calgary in 2016 and had none of this BS from Air Canada, I'll be looking for another carrier if I hunt in Canada again.
Our return trip was much different, no problems at all, had to clear US Customs at Vancouver and the officers could not have been nicer, didn't have to open my guncase, simply checked my 4457 and said we were good to go.

Karl,

There's just no figuring out how its going to go when traveling with guns. Every trip is a new adventure. On my trip Canadian Customs could not have have been more welcoming. The whole process was very pleasant. Perhaps the Canadian Customs agent who was a young women had a soft spot for old men but I didn't even have to open my gun case. Air Canada as I previously mentioned was very disorganized and Toronto Airport a confusing mess.

Mark

I went with air north last year from Inuvik to Alberta. My bags weighed in at 99kg including a polar bear skin, wolf skin and two skulls.


When one of my bags was 5 kg to much for the airport personal to handle I had do some switching of items in my bags. So out with the raw polar bear skin and bloody skull (standing first in line with 20 people in the back). The girl In the register asked her supervisor to come and check my papers and she asked him if this is legal ? The supervisor just said all papers are in order let him through and gave me a big smile

Like I said, if you live outside of Canada and are going to a hunt in Canada you are in for a world of confusion if your RETURN flight involves a connecting flight in Canada before the last leg back to USA. You are better off driving across border and confining all your flights within Canada. This is not an AirCanada issue. But you cannot clear US customs at your departure airport. You have to go through US Customs with meat,guns, and luggage at the last Canadian airport you go through. God forbid you have less than 2 1/2 hours to make your connection in Toronto or wherever. I can only imagine that any traveler that isn't totally patient, polite, and humble in the face of bureaucratic bs might need at least double that time.

As they say" That ain't no shit"

quote:

Originally posted by A.Dahlgren:
I went with air north last year from Inuvik to Alberta. My bags weighed in at 99kg including a polar bear skin, wolf skin and two skulls.


When one of my bags was 5 kg to much for the airport personal to handle I had do some switching of items in my bags. So out with the raw polar bear skin and bloody skull (standing first in line with 20 people in the back). The girl In the register asked her supervisor to come and check my papers and she asked him if this is legal ? The supervisor just said all papers are in order let him through and gave me a big smile

Air North is not Air Canada and an exception.

so glad we have them.