Those of you planning on flying Qatar Airlines with a firearm might find the following information useful. We flew to SA in July on Qatar and used a travel agent to book our flights (we normally book our own flights) and the travel agent handled the submission of paperwork for firearms carriage approval with Qatar. Qatar, like several other airlines requires prior notification of firearms carriage, our DFW check in was pretty uneventful but our return check in at O R Tambo was a bad experience, the airkline said they had not been notified and it took an hour and 45 minutes to check in. Then, the last week of August we made another trip to Mozambique and had once again booked thru a travel agent. Our check in at DFW took almost 3 hours, the airline said they had not been notified, the travel agent said the airline had been notified and provided emails he had sent, but Qatar said nope and it took forever. Being a doubting sort of guy I had made copies of three out of four of the forms Qatar requires (the fourth form is an Airplane Commander Approval form that they must complete),just in case. Sure enough when we checked in on our return home, their computer system lacked any notification that I was checking a firearm. The agent paniced because she had no idea what to do,I whipped out the paperwork they needed, the agent called a supervisor and we were checked in within 20 minutes. Quite a difference.
So, in the event you want to increase the odds your check in will go smoothly here is a suggestion:

1)Have a copy of your "firearms license" Form 4457 and highlight the form number and issue date (they highlighted them)
2) Have a copy of your passport
3) Print Qatar "DECLARATION OF SURRENDER OF FIREARMS" form (QTR/SEC/018 REV01)and fill out evereything you can except seat number and PNR. Hint: when describing firearm, saying "rifle, Remington serial #123456" is better than saying "Remington Model 700 XTR .300 RUM", or whatever. They don't understand guns and less seems to be better. When checking in if you present those three items and tell the agent that they are theirs to keep, you greatly increase the odds of getting checked in quickly.
They will produce the fourth form and it takes only a few minutes for them to fill it out (with the info you provided on the declaration form).

I hope this helps those of you planning to fly Qatar!

ALWAYS, ALWAYS carry copies of all relevant documents regarding your guns.

I do that all the time, and it makes life so much easier.

Traveling with firearms on Qatar Air is pretty straightforward.

1. Starting at least two (2) weeks before you fly, submit a copy of your passport, your 4457 form, your booking reference number with flight details, firearm declaration form, and an invitation letter to specialservices@us.qatarairways.com.

2. Wait for a reply email - they will send a confirmation of your paperwork. If you don't get the reply, resubmit or contact them directly.

3. Pack your firearm and ammo (5 kg limit) as instructed.

4. Make copies of everything including your confirmation email and carry with you as you may need to present all the paperwork to the ticket agent when checking in.

5. If you are using multiple carriers, you will need to claim your firearms and present all your paperwork to the Qatar Air ticket agent. It will not be checked through from your originating carrier to Qatar Air.

Qatar Air is firearm friendly, but don't expect ticket agents to understand the process.

If anyone needs a copy of the Qatar Air Firearm Declaration form, they should contact specialservices@us.qatarairways.com or call Tel: +1 877 777 2827 and they will send you one via email.

quote:

Originally posted by Opus1:
Traveling with firearms on Qatar Air is pretty straightforward.

1. Starting at least two (2) weeks before you fly, submit a copy of your passport, your 4457 form, your booking reference number with flight details, firearm declaration form, and an invitation letter to specialservices@us.qatarairways.com.

2. Wait for a reply email - they will send a confirmation of your paperwork. If you don't get the reply, resubmit or contact them directly.

3. Pack your firearm and ammo (5 kg limit) as instructed.

4. Make copies of everything including your confirmation email and carry with you as you may need to present all the paperwork to the ticket agent when checking in.

5. If you are using multiple carriers, you will need to claim your firearms and present all your paperwork to the Qatar Air ticket agent. It will not be checked through from your originating carrier to Qatar Air.

Qatar Air is firearm friendly, but don't expect ticket agents to understand the process.

If anyone needs a copy of the Qatar Air Firearm Declaration form, they should contact specialservices@us.qatarairways.com or call Tel: +1 877 777 2827 and they will send you one via email.

Exactly what we did, good advice. But even with the confirmation emails in hand it took much too long to check in, the email confirmation was not in their system, nevermind we had copies.

We just had an interesting experience with firearms carriage on Qatar. Turned out that the counter agent in Windhoek, along with her supervisor, exercised commendable judgment and initiative and it came out well.

My wife broke her arm and we were headed back to the States for surgery, with my firearms hopefully coming along. She broke it on September 19th, the flight arrangements were made by Global Rescue (see my other post - grrr!!) on the 20th and the flight was on the 21st. The strict policy of Qatar is 72 hours notice. My PH and I called the Doha offices on the night of the 20th and were told in no uncertain terms that the firearms would not be permitted on the flight. I asked that since this was an unavoidable emergency, who could approve an exception to that policy and could I please be connected to them. Was told they were busy and not to bother - anyone I talked to would just give the same answer. That's clearly not the commendable judgment and initiative I was looking for ! So I decided to wait until we got to the airport.

At the Windhoek airport, the counter agent listened to my story, I presented medical records, and my wife was sitting miserably in a wheelchair with a cast on. The agent said the policy was 72 hours but in this case it had not been possible for us to follow their procedure in this respect. She said if I got on the flight, my guns would as well, assuming the other paperwork (4457, import permit) was in order. Her supervisor came over, concurred and escorted me to the firearms check-in. The firearms carriage came off without a hitch.

It was really good service and a pleasure to deal with them.

We had exactely the same issues with Quatar as K Evans in march this year...all info provided by e-mail....wich they did not find..one hour plus check-in at Oslo Airport and almost missed the return flight out of OR..

Their staff dont know to handle guns and apparently are terrified to do mistakes..WHEN WE WHERE ABOUT TO BOARD THE RETURN FLIGHT THEY CAME RUNNING WITH OUR RIFLES AND DEMANDED TO KNOW WICH RIFLES WERE IN WICH CASE...SOMETHING I HAD TOLD THEM ABOUT 50 TIMES...JESUS CHRIST...!!!

Bunch of retards working for all these airlines
Let=me tell you
Emirates took my little flashlight in Dubai...fuck... go figure
I can’t for the life of me understand all these issues.
What? We the hunters are gonna start war somewhere?
No end to employees...
people stupidity
So tiresome...

quote:

Originally posted by boarkiller:
Bunch of retards working for all these airlines
Let=me tell you
Emirates took my little flashlight in Dubai...fuck... go figure
I can’t for the life of me understand all these issues.
What? We the hunters are gonna start war somewhere?
No end to employees...

people stupidity
So tiresome...

We've flown Emirates several time (I prefer Emirates over Qatar) and never had any issues. Coming home from SA this past July one of the guys in our little group placed an empty .270 case in his carry on...I warned him but he ignored the warning, I thought he was going to jail in Doha and he and his wife thought so, too. He spent nearly an hour trying to come up with a good reason the brass was there and why he should be allowed to continue on his trip. Security in Doha is awfully strict, no jail and no fine, they examined every single article he had in his carryon though.
Maybe he will listen next time.

If you've never had problems with a given airline, you simply have not flown them enough. They all have warts, it's how they go about resolving the problems that really counts.

I expect and anticipate Murphy at every turn when traveling to, from and within Africa. Someone, somehow is going to fuckup along the way...