Hi,
I am looking for VIP service at Johannesburg airport. Assist with Firearms Import Permits prior to arrival.

I have used PHASA in the past but someone suggested that I should give the VIP service a chance as well. Please post their website if you are familiar with them.

Thanks in advance.

check with Steve (shakari) Robinson. he has a guy he who can fix you up. Aubrey Kent. I dont have Aubrey's contact info here now but Steve has it

If you are booking your tickets through Gracy Travel, I can recommend their permit services.

I believe they actually fill the forms out for your signature.

And they have Bruce waiting for you in Johannesburg to help you get around with all your stuff.

Les

Collector;

For several safari we used Air2000 who provided a service to meet you at the disembarking airline gate, take you through the whole arrival process and even to your hotel or connecting airline. In 2004, I believe, the meet and greet services could no longer meet you at the disembarking gate, however, last year in Jo'burg the service was re-instated. We used Gracy, who provided the service to meet us at the disembarking airline gate, take us through immigration, pick up our luggage, customs, and rifle permits. I know, a lot of hunters don't need this type of service and prefer a DIY, but after a long international flight, it was nice to just be escorted through the entire process in Jo'burg and the cost was minor when included into your entire safari. We would use this type of service again for sure. I believe most of the meet and greet services can arrange this now.

Best regards, D. Nelson

I've used Air-200 many times,and they do a great job.

I'd highly recommend Aubrey Kent who posts here as 458Aubs who can be contacted at aubrey@pelandabisafaris.com.

Aubrey can even meet you as you step off the aircraft and of course you're also supporting a fellow AR member!

Thank you for all the help and emails. I really appreciate it. Great bunch of folks here at AR !!!

I always use Anne Gaines-Burril (Air 2000) and everything always goes perfectly.

quote:

Originally posted by Terry Blauwkamp:
I've used Air-200 many times,and they do a great job.

Yup

Another vote for Air 2000-great help with customs,passport control etc.We had been 16 hrs on the plane from Sydney,wife and I and three children-eldest boy uses a wheelchair.They saved us so much time I would use their services again to help with clearing customs even if I did not have rifles with me.

It's worth the money, believe me.

What do they charge?

Unless you are the PH's very first client shouldn't this be part of his job. When I went to Zimbabwe in December of 2008, Myles McCallum asked me to Email a picture so he would see me when I got off the plane. Thirty (+/-) minutes later I was at the Gecko getting the cottage door unlocked.

Rich

I second using Aubrey Kent. He did a great job for me last September in Joberg.

I just got an Email from my PH about did I want to use the $140 USD PHASA service? I told him I was good to go either way, but the $$$ had to come out of his gratuity. He said he could handle it...

Rich

quote:

Originally posted by Idaho Sharpshooter:
Unless you are the PH's very first client shouldn't this be part of his job. When I went to Zimbabwe in December of 2008, Myles McCallum asked me to Email a picture so he would see me when I got off the plane. Thirty (+/-) minutes later I was at the Gecko getting the cottage door unlocked.

Rich

Paperwork and process in Zim is a lot easier than South Africa. It is nce to be able to land and have your permit ready in advance and someone to ensure you are not in the SAPS office forever.

We used HOLA SA in 2007, it went very well.

AIR 2000!!!!!

Great luck with Henry at www.riflepermits.com

Well worth the $90 to have your permit in ten minutes instead of 1-3 hours!

Jim

I have found that doing it in advance through a service doesn't buy you much. First off, you have to supply all the info required and all the backup paperwork has to be scanned and emailed, including your passport and ticket/itin, and by the time you have done that, you may as well just fill in the form yourself. Second, you have to get this going a good month in advance, and you can't make any changes in the interim. If your rifle craps out on you the week prior to your leaving, or you decide to take the 416 and not the 375, you are back to square one.

The one thing advance permitting buys is you go to the head of the line, if there are a lot of hunters at the SAPS office when you get off the plane.

If you fill out the form yourself in black ink, and if you make photocopies of all the required backup docs, you can get your permit pretty fast at JNB. If you have been there before, all your info is in the computer so they don't have to re-enter everything. Assuming the computer is working.

The times it's most useful is if you arrive to find a loooong queue of guys waiting and/or if you have a tight connection to make.

Then it's worth it's weight in gold.

quote:

Originally posted by Russ Gould:First off, you have to supply all the info required and all the backup paperwork has to be scanned and emailed, including your passport and ticket/itin

Really, you can scan and email the required info for the advance permit? For me at least, this would be much more convenient than DHL'ing. You have done this and they don't need "original/signed" paperwork? Thanks!

I went to Jo.burg 2 weeks ago, and we did our homework. We hadd filled out all the paper as it should be, and when we got to the bagage carusel the security meet us with our rifles, the job at SAPS took about 20 minutes with 5 hunters with their rifle and ammo. I`m satisfied with the SAPS jobb at the present.

Much more noise and struggle at the airlinecompany, just because of incompetence at the check in desk and clerk who works there, we used British Airways from Oslo, Norway thru Heathrow.
And we will never use British Airways again, never.