Well, should have listened.

Arrived in jberg, ensconced at Africa Sky but rifles are gawd knows where. Luftwaffe swears they were loaded in Frankfurt but now are not sure where they are.

Have delayed departure to Windhoek to see if they arrive on morning flight. Quite curious that No One seems to know where such Dangerous Items are located.

And my fleece is in the rifle case. Poor planning on my part.

At least there is plenty scotch here.

Mike,

Very sorry to hear this.

But, I understand Lufthansa is having some problems lately - this is from one of their own employees last week, in Munich, as our flight to Dubai had a technical problems and was cancelled.

I asked "what is the problem?"
The answer was "I don't know, but we have been having this sort of problem very often lately"

I have been flying Lufthansa for many years, and have never had any problems.

In the past 3 weeks, on 4 flights, I have had one cancelled completely, one was delayed long enough for me to miss my connecting flight.

I am going to think twice before flying on them again.

Thanks Saeed, I did have a word with someone at Jberg that there was trouble at Luftwaffe. Yes I misspelled that on purpose. Normally great airline seemed a bit, surly last two days.

Steve at travel with guns has been most helpful, getting reschedules done on a weekend holiday.

I saw on a Hunting Site 2 or 3 years ago, some hunters taking flights out of Frankfurt to Africa were having their guns put on airlines going somewhere else.
Airlines investigated and found they had some luggage handler "Greenies" doing this on purpose. I understand all were dismissed and now the airlines keep a close eye on this.

MauserK98

so much for German efficiency!

I just returned from Namibia,via Frankfurt,with
Delta , then Air Namibia to Whk.,same as four times previously, with no problems. Delta / Frk. did re-tag my duffel and gun case, but all was well on arrival in Atlanta.
US Customs inspection was prompt and efficient,in contrast to some reports. Most onerous was the security check in Frankfurt on return. I really got the "third degree" there,including a SECOND "random" inspection of my person and all my carry-ons.I may be lucky,but in 6 trips now I have experienced only aggravation but no lost or delayed baggage or guns.

Damn Mike, sorry to hear that. Look at it this way, you are just getting all the problems out of the way on the front end clearing the way for a trouble free and wonderful hunt for the balance of your trip!

These same people held my firearms in FFurt on my return leg ... when they got to Chicago, they were checked in by the baggage people and then all hell broke loose. Cop called me from Chicago demanding to know why I had not declared my guns to United. Anyway, when they finally showed up here someone (not TSA) had broken all 3 combo locks on my brand new gun case. There was a computer printout inside the case that looked like it was airline generated. United.

Ok so sorry not to reply earlier. Rifles arrived one day late, they were delayed in Houston, apparently courtesy of TSA. They scan rifles at east end of terminal D, oversized and guns, then place on plane. They did not.

Safari went well, two elephants, one well over sixty, two hippos, one hell of a buffalo, a probable number two waterbuck (35+" horns), a red lechwe, more to tell.

Sitting in Katima drinking, eating after day fishing tigers on Zambezi. I'll send report soon when I get back. No internets here!!!

THANKS all, Mike.

On my trip to RSA this year I flew Lufthansa from the U.S. to Frankfurt where after a long day we transferred to SAA.

While waiting at the gate, in a moment of slight paranoia decided to ask one of the SAA employees to check on my baggage. She first asked what time we had arrived while punching away on her keyboard. When I told here it was early that morning, she assured me there should be no problem. About that time she looked back at here monitor and realized my concern. She went out of her way to make sure my gun case was on board.

I will for all future trips make sure I'm at the gate well ahead of boarding time now that I know they can track the baggage claim check numbers.

In my experience one can "ALWAYS" ask the person on the check in desk to check and see if your bags have been loaded onto your flight. Bags are scanned when loaded so never had a problem confirming they were on board prior to takeoff. This has been my experience dating back almost 20 years and was the same in July of this year. Never had a bag/gun delayed because it wasn't on the flight with me.

Larry Sellers
SCI (International) Life Member

Several of the airlines have smart phone apps that allow you to follow the progress of your baggage.

Just last week, flying Delta and leaving from Brunswick, GA, I checked and got info that my bags were scanned in for ATL, then while in the Sky Lounge, I checked again and confirmed that they had arrived and were on DL200 for JNB.

You can even "read" the baggage receipt with you smart phone so you don't need to type in the numbers.

Larry, Judge, that is a great idea, I was wondering why there wasn't an app for that. Can you share the name of the one you use sir?

Lufthansa, could not even find my tag number in their system. I was told it was loaded in Frankfurt, then told it didn't appear anywhere, when it did appear the original tag was on it, but so was a new tag, and it had traveled under that one, labeled as lost in Houston.

Checking at the Houston gate, would have been a good idea. An app to confirm it myself, even better.