I have flown Emirates several times. I find it to be a great airline . However , part of the process puzzles me.

I have had customs inspect my guns BEFORE the flight . This doesn’t happen on other airlines that I fly .

Why is this happening?

I’ve seen that happen at DFW with Emirates and Qatar, seemingly random passengers (random to me, anyway). Hasn’t happened to me, yet.

It has happened to me on multiple airlines, although not recently, not even on Emirates.

An Emirates representative in Seattle inspected my firearms before flying to Africa via Dubai in 2015. He stated it was to verify the weapons were accurately represented on the import/transit paperwork. He was polite and very efficient.

Better experience than the British Air counter person in 2010 that treated us as criminals requiring us to stand at the counter for over an hour to wait for CBP to arrive and "check our paperwork". The CBP was really pissed off at the counter lady telling her, "I've told you multiple times you do not need to call us to inspect anything leaving the USA". She then put about 20 staples in our bag tags through the bar code that caused me to be escorted off the plane after boarding in Heathrow because the scanner would not work on the bar code and I had to visually identify my Tuffpak and ammo case.

I have had experiences from one extreme to the other.

Often, at least these days, no one opens my rifle case from the time I enter the airport until I arrive at my destination. I think it's because of x-ray machines, but who knows?

Other times, I've been asked to walk with security and my rifle case from the check in counter to a back room, where I was asked to open my rifle case for inspection of its contents.

I have stopped trying to figure out the whys and wherefores.

I just build in lots of time and go with the flow.

Like the man who jumped off the building said as he passed each floor, "So far, so good."

Every single time I fly out of SFO I have to be escorted to a TSA counter where an agent inspects my guns and then sends them down to baggage handling. Doesn’t matter which airline, it’s a part of the routine every time. The TSA guys are pretty good, as are most of the Customs officers. Funny thing is, it’s in an area that is open to the public.

DLS, same here on departing SFO.

LAX as well, there's a little TSA area over in the corner. Airline staff walk you & the rifles over there after check-in.

They check the rifles there, and like SFO they rub some wipe around the cases to check for explosives, which seems odd but whatever.