Heading to bulawayo in early sept. Dulles is my home airport and i have always done saa straight to jnb and over nighted there and on to Bulawayo the next morning. I am considering the flight out of jfk. So i would fly jet blue to jfk and then to jnb arrive 8:30 and fly out to bul around 10:30. Seems tight to me, and no chance to sctually see my gun/luggage at jnb. Save some time and headache at jnb though.
Has nay ody done it this way and what are your thoughts?

Two hours connection time seems rather short, especially if you have to change airlines. If you are flying on SA Airlink to Bulawayo, it might have different rules regarding firearms than SAA.

Are you 100% sure, the rifle case will go straight through?

Good luck!

BH63

JFK to BUQ, no problem. Did it in 2010 and again this October. Saves you the day in JNB. Just make sure your bags are tagged BUQ.
No problems whatsoever with the Port Authority Police.
The ticket agent supervisor will most likely call for them before you get to the counter, she even opened a counter just for us.
The process in BUQ is painfully slow. Smile and be happy!!

Keith

I did JFK-Bulawayo twice last year with no issues whatsoever. As mentioned by others please MAKE SURE that your luggage and firearms are checked all the way through to Bulawayo.

I've done JFK to Kasane and Maun in Botswana and Vic Falls in Zim. No problems and the early arrival of the flight lets you check your bags all the way to your destination without overnighting in Joberg. That way you avoid the SAPS stuff with someone trying to shake you down for a bribe.

The same flights work on the way home as well without any overnight in Joberg. No problems in NYC when traveling with guns.

I've done it 7-8 times, works great. The SAA flight from JFK lands at 8:05 AM in Jo-berg. No need to do SAPS if you're taking the SAA flight to Bulawayo at 10:30-11:00 the same morning. Save overnight costs and SAPS hassle.

Biebs - Great minds think alike.

I did the LAX to JFK to JNB to BUQ in 2008 and checked my bag and gun at LAX all the way through to BUQ.

When I arrived in Bulawayo my bag showed up but my gun didn't. SAA doesn't care if your gun doesn't show up and will not check where it is. They just told me to come back tomorrow and see if it comes in on the next day's flight and wouldn't call SAA in JNB to check on it.

There was another hunter there also who's gun didn't show up and he was told the same thing. I spent the day in Bulawayo and Martin Pieter's staff tried to call SAA for me but the airline people would not even check on it.

Luckily my gun arrived the next day on the 1:00 PM flight but it was too late to drive to the Omay so it meant staying another night in Bulawayo.

quote:

Originally posted by brent ebeling:
Heading to bulawayo in early sept. Dulles is my home airport and i have always done saa straight to jnb and over nighted there and on to Bulawayo the next morning. I am considering the flight out of jfk. So i would fly jet blue to jfk and then to jnb arrive 8:30 and fly out to bul around 10:30. Seems tight to me, and no chance to sctually see my gun/luggage at jnb. Save some time and headache at jnb though.
Has nay ody done it this way and what are your thoughts?

Going in August myself. Will probably take the JFK route myself...have done it before...always worked out fine.

I flew SAA to Bulawayo Sep 2016. Make sure you e-mail them if you will be taking a gun so they can e-mail you pre-approval. At least that was what their website stated when I flew in Sep.

Have a great trip and a greater hunt!

I meant South African Airlink, not SAA. I assumed you will be flying South African Airlink.

BH63

Yep...it is always Airlink from ORTambo to BYO. My agent always handles those specificis. (Linda Schrader Falcon Travel...San Antonio)