Hunting rifles for sport use Air, hunting and safari rifles are regulated weapons. Transportation of these items requires specific authorization and an accord. If you plan to travel with any of these items, please indicate so when reserving your trip (by telephone or at a ticket office) to obtain the required transport authorization. You must then declare these items when you check in.

You may transport a rifle under the following conditions:

the rifle must be unloaded, the rifle and its ammunition may be transported in the same baggage item but must be packed in separate bags within that baggage item, the rifle and its ammunition cannot be transported in a baggage item(s) containing other personal items, ammunition must be packed in a single container (fiberboard, wood or metal box) weighing up to 5 kg / 11 lb per passenger, cartridges must remain in their original packaging, and any empty spaces must be filled with stuffing material to avoid slippage during the flight.

Please note: each firearm is considered a single baggage item and will be included in your baggage allowance. If you exceed the maximum number of baggage items allowed, you will have to pay a fee for all additional baggage items.

If you read the regs, it state you can't have the gun and or ammo in a bag that includes any clothes or personal items.
It appears to allow the gun and ammo in the same case but nit to include anything else.

Am I reading that correct?
What kind of gun case is there out that can hold a rifle and a locking ammo box big enough to hold 3 boxes of 300 ultramag shells.
Does this policy "mandate" 1 bag for personal items, 1 bag for the gun case and a third for the ammo case?
I do get two bags, but this seems different than when I went before in 09.

Any Air France flyers out there care to weigh in?
It would be greatly appreciated!!!!

Seems as though with this trip, every stumbling block I get over leads me to two new ones...

Thanks in advance!

I traveled Air France last September/October so the following answers are based on what was in effect at that time. I believe that you are reading the Air France web site correctly but that's not the way it really is:

1. Air France must be informed in advance, I believe 2 weeks in advance, of your intention of flying with guns and ammunition. You might assume that they would know you were flying with ammunition if you're flying with guns but this isn't so. Be sure they're aware of both the ammunition and of the guns.

2. The ammunition MUST be in a locked case. I bought a small Pelican case for this and may be packed in the suitcase with your clothes and MAY NOT be packed with your gun. My Pelican case held 3 boxes of 444 Marlin cartridges and 3 boxes of 300 Weatherby Magnum cartridges so you should easily get your 3 boxes of 300 RUM cartridges in one. I packed some socks around them to keep things from moving around and there was no objection to that.

3. Air France actually looked at my ammo AND weighed it! Be sure it's packed in appropriate boxes and that the weight doesn't go over 11 lbs. I had factory ammo boxes for mine; it's possible they'd accept plastic aftermarket boxes but I didn't want to confuse them. Also, they way it's written, it could be construed that both the ammunition and the locked container it came in could be weighed together to come to the 11 lbs. but they only weighed my ammunition in it's cardboard boxes with out the socks and Pelican case.

4. There is a form that must be filled out and turned in at EACH leg of your trip. You would think that if you turned one in at Washington Dulles it would be good all the way to Joberg but that isn't so. If you had a layover in Paris, another form would be required. Save yourself some trouble and fill out several forms so you have them available and be proactive in turning them in.

5. Air France is very picky about their forms and the personnel at the Air France desk in Joberg was incompetent and didn't have me turn in the form to board the flight. This caused a great brouha in Paris and delayed our departure about an hour. I'd be sure the appropriate paperwork was filled out in RSA before the return home; the Air France people there should know this but it ain't always so.

I used Kathi Klimes of Wild Travel to get some tickets and she made sure Air France's notification was completed.

I have seen a Tuffpack used on Air France with no problem. Two rifles were in their soft cases, both in a Tuffpack. Ammo was in a small Pelican case.

We flew from Joberg to Paris then Atlanta, in Oct 2012, with a T-pak only had one rifle in a soft case, ammo locked in small box in the T-Pak , no problems at all. I gave them the form when we checked in at Joberg, they checked the rifle as soon as they saw me in line(we got thru check in faster)never looked at ammo in the small locked box, also had clothes , boots, and wifes makeup bag in the T-pak. The new Airbus was the best Jet I have ever seen.

Thank you for the responses...

I got some information from a support organization that helps hunters through SAPS in Johannesburg.
It was their opinion that the regs are rarely followed, but a tuff-pak packed with any clothes items is in violation of the policy and "would" be at risk of not being able to travel.

Which would lead to problems of having to ship the case back home.
I bought one thinking it to be a good way to transport my firearms.

To be honest, I was confused before I bought the tuff-pak and now I am even more confused.

How can an airline have a policy and then only randomly apply it to paying customers?

For those that did (or do) take the tuff-pak on Air France:
Did you now that if packed with personal items (including the ammo) it was absolutely in violation of the policy?
If you did, did you have a contingency plan if they made you unpack it?

I am not trying to flame anyone for anything, I am just trying to understand.
I honestly WANT to use my new case, but after spending time in the Munich airport jail... i have learned that I travel under what people often r refer to as "Murphy's Law".

I appreciate the stories of your use of the TP.

But I don't know I have the stones to take it from home to IAD and then have them reject it as it doesn't meet their baggage policy.
What options does one have at that point.

How effective is a tuff-pak with only one gun in a soft case and nothing else to protect it?
What would you do with the items formally in the tuff-pak?
Would you take an empty suitcase/bag to use in case you have to unload the gun case?
What would you do if they accept the packed gun case with the empty suitcase/bag?

Confused more than ever!!!!!!!

Thank you all in advance,and for the feedback.

Earlier this year I traveled on Air France with a connecting flight in Paris and carried a TuffPak. I had two rifles in soft cases inside the TP. The AF folks never looked inside the TP at check-in. They just sent me to the security folks to check the rifles.

I have added foam padding at each end of my TP. Every gun case they've seen has some type of foam padding. No one has ever said a word about it. You could PROBABLY get by with a jacket or other bulky item wrapped around your cased rifle but I certainly wouldn't load my TP with a bunch of clothes, gear, etc.

I carried my ammo in a Pelican case. When I left Houston, the gate agent told me to put the ammo case in my duffle bag. The other three legs of my trip, I was told to check the ammo case as a separate piece of luggage. No matter what the online regs said, no one at AF wanted me to put my ammo in my rifle case.

Air France seemed quite gun friendly so long as it was documented on my reservation that I was travelling with firearms AND ammuntion. I triple checked this prior to departure and still had issues. There is a certain place in the AF reservation system for this information and on my reservation it was just mentioned in the "Traveler Notes" section. Even though the agents could see the information in the Notes section, it didn't meet their criteria and caused a delay on each leg of my trip. If you're using a travel agent, make certain they know what they are doing when they add your arms and ammo information.

Also, print a firearms declaration (on the AF website) for each leg of your trip so you can be ready either at check-in or at the gate when an agent requests the form. I'd wait and sign this form in their presence.

This is just one traveler's experience but I hope this helps. Have a safe journey.

AF is a bureaucracy, as long as you have the form + registered in advance they won't check anything at all. I always put ammo in main bag, as they're quite capable of losing the smaller cases.