Flying them on my return from Jo-Berg and am staring the painful approval process. I was working with the Continental Elite desk and the poor lady was getting the runaround from Air France. First was told that the total limit was 5kg...got past that, then want weights and dimentions of each of the rifles and the case SEPERATELY...what has been the process who have gone through this recently....gotta love the French!

Bwana,

Did the same with me last January but the actual firearms process in the airport was very easy. Heck with a 4457 you can just walk out of the airport in Paris with your guns.

Mark

Been there, done that. AF only lets you carry 20kg of baggage even on long hauls -I wound up paying about 500$ in fines for overweight. I flew them from Paris to Joburg and back and every leg of the trip there was a problem and explanations -Monsieur ! bla bla bla!

I´ll never use them again.

Thanks gents. Should be interesting.....

Air France to South Africa weight limits are: economy class - 20kg, business class - 30 kg, first class - 40 kg. I don't really understand what the fuss is all about, overweight is overweight. I have always "made weight" but then I don't take the kitchen sink with me.

Wink, is that 20 kg (44 pounds) per bag or a total of 20 kg?

PSmith, that's total luggage weight.

From the Air France US Web site, if I'm reading it correctly it appears to allow 2 bags checked - each 23kilos, [or +$50 each to increase it to 32kilos] and +$150 for an additional bag checked.

[rifle case is 1 of your 2 allowed checked bags]

Standard 1 bag + "accessory" [handbag, computer, camera ] all total 12kilos for carry-on baggage.

Les

quote:

Originally posted by LHowell:
From the Air France US Web site, if I'm reading it correctly it appears to allow 2 bags checked - each 23kilos, [or +$50 each to increase it to 32kilos] and +$150 for an additional bag checked.

[rifle case is 1 of your 2 allowed checked bags]

Standard 1 bag + "accessory" [handbag, computer, camera ] all total 12kilos for carry-on baggage.

Les

I think herein lies the trap. Air France flights out of the USA seem to have one set of regulations, but out of other cities the same does not apply. If you are checked through all the way this will not be a problem on the way out. The problem might be on the way back when checking in at Joberg where they might rather apply other limits and make you pay the difference.

quote:

Originally posted by Wink:
I think herein lies the trap. Air France flights out of the USA seem to have one set of regulations, but out of other cities the same does not apply. If you are checked through all the way this will not be a problem on the way out. The problem might be on the way back when checking in at Joberg where they might rather apply other limits and make you pay the difference.

I suppose that could always happen depending on which check in agent you get and how they feel that day.

Another good reason to have your airlines rules printed and in hand when going through that process.

"Reminding" them that you are traveling on an "International" ticket, from and to the US, has worked for me so far, with other airlines, even on Domestic connections or internal flights.
[Though have not been on Air France, yet.]

Les

My wife returned from Paris last week on a non-stop Air France operated flight code share with Delta and cleared US Customs in Philidelphia. No bag! She checked in in plenty of time in Paris. Now more than a week later no sign of the bag and our local Delta folks can't get Air France to even correspond with them. At this point it does not look good. So much for the airline's "seamless" code share and marketing arrangements.

I shouldn't be surprised though since this summer returning from Namibia using frequent flyer miles tickets on SAA/Lufthansa/United I did not get my rifle for seven days and my bag for eight days after my return. Shouldn't complain I guess just be awfully glad to get them back period-especially the rifle!

Sam,

SAA is terrible with luggage and this year it is even worse according to the safari operators in Zim. I think they were probably your problem.

BA still has the best record of luggage and guns arriving with the passengers.

Mark

Wink: 20kgs isn´t much when you´re transporting a rifle and ammo. But I should have checked but how was one to suspect that AF penalizes folks in economy?

Oh yeah, I forgot! Their generally shitty attitude comes from them being French! Voila!

quote:

Originally posted by Wink:
I think herein lies the trap. Air France flights out of the USA seem to have one set of regulations, but out of other cities the same does not apply. If you are checked through all the way this will not be a problem on the way out. The problem might be on the way back when checking in at Joberg where they might rather apply other limits and make you pay the difference.

International air tariff agreements provide that if your ticket is purchased in the United States then the U.S. baggage limits apply for the entire trip. Those limits are two checked bags of not more than 50 lbs each and one carry on that does not exceed XXX dimensions. If the tickets for a Europe-Africa flight are purchased separately from the U.S.-Europe portion, then the baggage limits of the European airline apply -- usually 20 kg total for checked baggage (in coach class) and 7 kg for carry on.

Be aware that even if your baggage qualifies for the U.S. weight limits, a gun case may exceed dimensional limits and is subject to the whims of the air carrier to charge an oversize penalty. My only experience was with a connection between Delta and Air Namibia, purchased as a single ticket in the U.S. Air Namibia happily took our oversized gun cases without additional charge.

I'm flying tomorrow on Air France, then KLM to Khartoum. I notice that the baggage allowance is printed on my e-ticket. I assume baggage allowances are printed on all tickets, whether e-tickets or otherwise. With this in mind, it shouldn't be that difficult to get a carrier to respect what is printed on the ticket. What baggage allowances are printed on tickets issued in the USA?