I returned a couple of days ago from a hunt in New Zealand and happened to fly from Dallas Love Field this trip. Reverse flight was into Dallas Love also. The flights went thru Los Angeles and on the way home, you clear customs, 4457 check, etc., and have to recheck your firearm and luggage carrying ammo. I had no problem but there was a hunter at the ticket counter next to me getting a load of crap from the ticket agent, she was calling him everything but a SOB and actually told him that if she thought he was going to shoot a Zebra or Giraffe (don't know where that came from; we were heading back to Dallas and they don't let you hunt in the zoo...unless a gorilla gets out and then no one knows how to load the rifle they have there for such emergencies {Model 70 Winchester .458 Win Mag} and have to wait for a cop to come and shoot the beast)that she wouldn't let him board the plane. I asked the guy that was checking my baggage if she could do that and he replied that any of them have the authority to deny boarding and that by the time a supervisor was located who could over ride the ticket agent, the plane would be long gone. I don't think I will be flying Virgin America on any more hunting trips.

Simply amazing. Someone needs to send some strongly worded letters to Virgin.

Just imagine if she made such comments about a queer!

There would be war!

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Just imagine if she made such comments about a queer!

There would be war!

Just so! Very observant.

If things functioned correctly, she should get canned. But the negativity towards hunters seems to be gaining ground in the airline industry.

Lets face it, traveling by air is anything but fun these days. Security is extremely annoying with their constantly changing list of dos and don'ts. Their hiring practices leave a lot to be desired and far too many of the security agents in the airports are wannabe cops that couldn't make the grade, but really get off on wearing the uniform and treating people like crap.

More and more people are going to quit flying and I know many that already have. Now throw in all the hassles with transporting firearms and everyone jumping on the "we won't ship big game trophies" bandwagon........ even more will just say to hell with it.

It is of course exactly what they want, but at some point just about everyone says to hell with it as we all have a limit of how much we will put up with. I already know several long time hunting acquaintances that have quit traveling internationally and will only hunt where they can drive to.

If things continue on this path it is going to really affect international hunting in a big way. Better hope all hunters start to yell and scream and make their voices heard.

Now we have commercial businesses helping the EU and the USFWS types in their apparent quest to thwart the legitimacy of CITES. What good is CITES and everyone coming to agreements, when certain bodies will just ignore it and do what they want anyways, regardless of who it impacts.

We are dangerously close to a tipping point where there will be no way to stop the momentum of the antis.

As a percentage of those that fly, hunters make up such a tiny minority any boycott, strongly worded letters, etc., won't make a difference. Our days are numbered.
Cal

Planes are full and profits are soaring. They couldn't care less and they have reduced the number of line supervisors.

There's little to be done but be polite and grit your teeth.

if you raise enough hell far enough up the line by the time it flows back downhill they will fire her.

I had one many years ago give me a ration about my guns and ammo. I finally got her supervisor out there and got it straightened out. I thought. Biatch sent my guns and two duffle bags to three different cities while on my way to Colorado to hunt. Lucky we had several days before we started hunting and eventually got all our stuff collected. On return I took the baggage claims to their Birmingham office and raised more hell. They fired the woman.

the ticket counter at LAX left a lot to be desired but the Customs guys were great. The lines were very long and there were people directing passengers to one of several long lines. I had slowly progressed thru the assigned line for about 10 minutes when a Customs officer left his booth and walked up to me and asked if I had a rifle in my rifle case (no joke), I said I did and he asked me who placed me in that line. I pointed out the guilty lady and he proceeded to tear her a new butt right in front of hundreds of people and then walked back up to me and said "follow me" and took me around all of the lines and up to a separate area with no line where my rifle was checked and I was cleared...took all of about 3 minutes. The Customs officer who cleared me said the persons directing passengers have instructions to send anyone with a firearm thru a different line; one with no waiting.
I guess it's hard to get good help in California, too.