I have just returned from a great Safari to Cameroon and am now sick as a dog (too cold in Pennsylvania). The problem is that my rifle stayed behind in Douala. I was informed in JFK that the gun was to be shipped in the next day and that I should make a claim at my final destination in Pittsburgh. I did make the claim and was told that the gun would be duly shipped to my home. I've been through this before so I didn't foresee any problems.

I then got a call saying that I needed to arrange for the pickup of my "cargo" at the Air France Cargo Building in JFK. There's also an eighty dollar fee. I live in rural Western PA. The problem is that the rifle was treated as cargo rather than checked on baggage. Whether this was on purpose or not I don't know. I have been told that because I wasn't there with my 4457 the rifle couldn't be cleared and was moved into this situation. There is the possibility that the rifle can be moved to Pittsburgh "in bond" and I can pick it up there. I've never had any problems with Air France before but this one is a doozy. Anybody have any comparable experiences? Stay tuned for the hunt report later in the week. Chetroy

had a similar demanded that they bring it into customs in mpls. which they did, then all fees were off

This is their mistake and they should accommodate you at their cost. Don't settle for anything less than that.

I went through a similar nightmare with Delta last May. They lost my gun and I finally located it in Denver (13 hours RT from my house) in the hands of Delta cargo. They told me that if I didn't pick the gun up by the next day I would be subject to daily storage fees on top of the cargo fees already assessed. I convinced them to ship the damn rifle to my airport of departure, only 5 hours round trip from my house, but they refused to deliver the rifle to me. When I drove to the airport they would not release my rifle until I paid the cargo fees. I fought with them for months and finally got a refund. No one at Delta could ever explain to me why my lost bag ended up in cargo in the first place.

The really scary part is that once the rifle entered the cargo system, Delta seemed to have absolutely no way of tracking it. I had to locate my own baggage and If not for a cryptic message from US Customs in Atlanta I'm quite sure I would have never seen the rifle again.

When I asked the moron supervisor in Delta cargo why they had never called me to let me know my rifle had been sitting in their warehouse for three weeks, he informed me that there was no contact info on my gun case. My friggin number and full address was on the case in THREE places. Idiots.

Chet,

Sorry about the gun problem. I'm sure it will get handled just don't let it give you a rectal bleed. I'm very interested in your hunt report. Did you run into Mike Curry by chance. Iknow him from when he hunted for Garry kelly in RSA. Very nice guy!

Mark

Thanks for the info Butchloc, mrlexma and roxby. The situation is worsened by the fact that Air France cargo rarely answers the phone about 10% of the time. I do feel better about things now. Mark, Mike Curry is indeed in Cameroon now. He had no client when I was there so he was doing some anti poaching, fishing and frequently accompanied me and my PH (Guav Johnson). He is heading down to the forest soon. He is a good guy.
Chet

Chetroy1,

I sure hope this works out for you. Please keep us informed.
I am very interested in reading your report. Please hurry.

I know it doesn't really matter but I will point this out for Mike's benefit.--- It is "Currie" not "Curry".

Please report soon, I really look forward to hearing from someone who hunted the very same spot I did only 2 months ago. I hope you had great luck.

SG

My guns did not make a tight connection in Paris in November of 2007. When I got to Houston they paged me overhead and told me they would forward to my final destination. The tuffpak did show up a few days later. Customs (or someone) had drilled out the lock to inspect the guns then drilled a hole in the top and base and installed a pad lock (which they did not provide) to "relock" the case. Got my rifles but my tuffpak was ruined.

This is a good reason to clean your rifles thoroughly before your return trip. Also, I put my 4457's (a color copy) in the case.

A similar but different thing happened to me in 2006. The Tanzanian folks did not allow me to take rifles with me because my safari company had not gotten an export permit when the got the import permit.

The safari company said they'd take care of it when the government offices opened. I left copies of my passport, the Dutch Transit Permit and the 4457 in a zip lock taped to the outside of the TuffPak. Also put copies inside. Gave the outfitter a key to it and prayed for the best.

Rifles were delivered to my house by the airlines 3 or 4 days after I arrived.

this kind of crap is why i no longer fly with a gun. camp rifles are just fine by me.

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
this kind of crap is why i no longer fly with a gun. camp rifles are just fine by me.

That's cool if you're a right handed shooter. Some of us generally don't shoot right handed rifles. Besides, after 1100/1200 rounds through my favorite smoke stick, I'll take the chance. That's what gun insurance is for.

------------------------------------------------

I will continue to fly with guns and I am sure there will be issues.

Not going to get sand in my underoos over it.

If you hunt and travel you put up with a lot of bullshit to do it. Another bit of bullshit is expected Weatherby Award winner Ken Mellon says that it's all part of the adventure. If everything went 100% perfect how boring would life be.

Air France delivered my trophies to the wrong city, Toronto instead of Edmonton. 4000 kilometres.

Status report?

Hello Everybody-Thanks so much to all of you for your input. Sorry to take so long but I have been busy with tax accounting and serious flooding in my garage. But those are other stories. The gun situation may have finally worked itself out. I contacted a freight forwarder in New York and they have collected copies of all my documentation i.e. baggage claim chits, case number, Customs certification etc. They will pick up the gun and then Air France will return it to me. This is not an ideal solution because it will cost me a couple hundred bucks but it's the best chance to get the rifle back. I will certainly file a claim with Air France. There is extensive documentation to show that I am in the right. I believe that I will continue to take my own rifle with me on trips, although this experience makes me wonder. I think I have taken my guns on about twenty five airplane trips and this is about the worst experience I've had. Thanks again everybody and stay tuned for the hunt report in the next few days. To S.G. Olds-Mike Currie says "HI"