On Sept 30 I left Harare with a checked bag and rifle case checked through to Milwaukee, eg. Harare-JoBerg-Atlanta-Milw. On Oct 1 my checked bag arrived, but not my rifle case. So in the afternoon I called Shawn at Gracy and she said that she would contact Bruce in JoBerg to look into the problem. Bruce, who really knows Tambo, found the rifle case in the SAP office. Bear in mind that the checked luggage should have been in transit. So He got it scheduled for the Delta flight to Atlanta on Oct 3.

This is where it gets interesting because the rifle case disappears from the Delta computer records. Unbelievable, I know, but I found out Delta did make an effort to find that case. Since I have the rifles in my possession, I can now probably fill in the blanks. The rifle case was delivered to customs, and when know one claimed it, then they shipped it by freight to the Milw customs, again where no one was available to claim it.

Meanwhile I was in contact with Gracy Travel all the time. Finally, I inquired if now was the time to claim the guns lost and claim insurance. The response was give us a chance to track them and they put Ari, the office manager on the task. To make a shorter story, Ari located the rifles last Tues at a independent Contractor, which is off line from the Delta and customs computer systems. She did it by relentless pursuit and dozens and dozens of tele calls. How she located them at this independent baggage contractor I will never know. But what is important, is my name, address, and telephone number were on my documents attached to the rifle case. Was it a plan to purloin my custom rifles or just government incompetence???

Anyway I am indebted to Gracy Travel and the ladies there and I wouldn't travel out of this country, even on vacation, without booking with them.

By the way one of the rifles was my beloved 600 OK on a GMA action.

DAK

Dak

Good for you ... Gracy Travel has been good to work with over the years...

The group in Joberg do go out of there way to help you.

Another endorsement for Shawn at Gracy Travel. She has taken good care of my travel needs.

Shawn has always done right by me as well.

The only time I had a problem it was with Delta losing a case once it got back to the US, but they found it and got it back to me within 48 hours.

Same with me. Shawn has taken care of me when I have used Gracy.

Dak,

Glad that all worked out for you. Gracy having that team on the ground at O.R. Tembo can make a huge difference if you have a problem. Personally Shawn at Gracy is the only travel agent I deal with and I recommend her to all my clients.

Mark

On our 1st safari to Namibia we had a screw-up with Air Namibia & could not get our local travel agent to respond to us.
Our hostess, Marina Lamprecht contacted Gracy (not sure which agent she worked with) & they solved our problems for us & we were not even their clients.
The next 2 safaris we used Shawn at Gracy & if & when we go back, we'll use them again.

One question I neglected to ask.

When my gum case arrived in Atlanta in customs with no one to receive it, is it the owner who is at fault because I didn't show??

And when they shipped it to the customs in Milw., were they obligated to at least notify me or Delta??

If yes and no, in order, to these questions, then any hunter is in trouble at customs should they get separated from the gun case. Anyone??

Dak

Same thing happened to me a couple of years ago. I had to pay for the priveledge of AA losing my gun box. Once it finally shows in Atlanta Customs and no one claims it, it becomes freight and the expense was on me to to either fly back to Atlanta or have it shipped to El Paso (nearest customs to my home) and pick it up there. I'm told that they don't do this for normal luggage, only firearms. Just another way they've found to screw with the hunter.

quote:

Originally posted by Pancho:
Same thing happened to me a couple of years ago. I had to pay for the priveledge of AA losing my gun box. Once it finally shows in Atlanta Customs and no one claims it, it becomes freight and the expense was on me to to either fly back to Atlanta or have it shipped to El Paso (nearest customs to my home) and pick it up there. I'm told that they don't do this for normal luggage, only firearms. Just another way they've found to screw with the hunter.

Is this a new policy? In 2001 I had a gun not make it on a NWA flight (had a pretty tight connection from Zurich) from Amsterdam, but NWA told me they would make sure it cleared customs and they delivered it me at my house the next day.