Folks,

last night I had a panic call from a client transiting Dulles on the way to Lusaka via Addis Ababa. They checked their guns and bags in Dallas to not have anything arrive Dulles. With a little insistence at the baggage office they found that the baggage was in fact in Dulles but was tagged for Lusaka so it was not off loaded. They finally got their luggage and are happily on their way to Addis at this writing.

You need to physically check those bag tags yourself. The airline counter people will robotically check your bags to their final destination and argue with you about tagging them otherwise. It's happened to me twice and in both cases it caused a royal PIA.

Gracy Travel sends out a detailed package to its clients meticulously laying out what to do on each leg of your flight. Keep that in mind when booking your next flight to Africa. These folks did not use Gracy.

Mark

Confused.

If checked into Lusaka and with the right airline codes and transit codes, why do you need to get it back at Dulles to recheck in again?

quote:

Originally posted by tanks:
Confused.

If checked into Lusaka and with the right airline codes and transit codes, why do you need to get it back at Dulles to recheck in again?

I was researching flights a couple of weeks ago, the flight from DFW to Harare had a 13 hour layover at Dulles, the layover was more than 12 hours and that required rechecking luggage. Chose not to book the flight mainly because of that.

quote:

Originally posted by tanks:
Confused.

If checked into Lusaka and with the right airline codes and transit codes, why do you need to get it back at Dulles to recheck in again?

Another aspect may have to do with Ethiopian Airlines and checking baggage all the way through. Ethiopian seems to require more inspections of your guns than other airlines. Not necessarily a bad thing, but know what to expect.