My outfitter wants me to fly to Richards Bay. He is unsure if I can fly to Richards Bay with guns. Does anyone have experience with flying to Richards Bay with guns?

If this is an issue, what advice do you have?

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What airline?

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We haven’t purchased our tickets yet, but it appears that the only option is SAA Express

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Have flow with guns on SAA Express to PE from Jhb. Should be ok but check their website.

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barryw,

Flying to Richard's Bay should be no different than any other internal RSA flight. Having said that though I would engage the services of a travel agent familiar with flying with guns such as Gracy Travel or Travel With Guns. They are expert at handling these situations and will take all the angst out of your travel plan.

Good luck!

Mark

P.S. I find it surprising your outfitter would suggest you do something that he's not sure is possible. That means to me he's not done it before and wants you to be the test case. This would not endear me to this operator.

I was looking into this recently....

This is from this page: http://www.flyexpress.aero/travel-info

Where SA Express flys with guns:

Johannesburg
Port Elizabeth
Hoedspruit
Cape Town
Kimberly
Gaborone
Walvis Bay
Durban
Windhoek
East London
Lubumbashi
Bloemfontein

Richards Bay; (Passengers need to call SA Express at least about 2-3 hours before landing in or flying out off Richards Bay. We will then contact the independent company (Bay Sports & Arms) to arrange with them to collect the firearm between the aircraft and the passenger. Payment will be made directly to Bay Sports & Arms. They charge R350 per firearm handled. Contact Bay Sport & Arms – Bill Fourie cell 083 258 8103)

Thanks so much for the information. Seems like Richards Bay has an unusual procedure for handling guns. I have also flown to Port Elizabeth and had no problems with guns.

Guess it is just another issue to deal with.

Thanks again for the information.

Years ago I flew in and out of Richards Bay with firearms without any problem. The procedures with flying into there with guns were the same as everywhere else in South Africa. However, I heard sometime back that SAA was going to stop allowing firearms on some of their domestic flights. Therefore, this does not surprise me at all.

South African Airways and SA Express are currently the only two carriers that allow firearms on domestic flights.

True that one. While I was getting ready to fly from Joburg to Port Elizabeth last year, a couple who was also staying at Africa Sky and was booked to also fly to Port Elizabeth rode to the airport with me. I checked in seemlessly with SAA with my firearms. However, the couple had been booked on another airline to fly to Port Elizabeth. Unbeknownst to them, and as never explained to them by their booking agent, the other airline did not fly firearms to Port Elizabeth. They had to buy new tickets with SAA in order to get to Port Elizabeth with their firearms. Thankfully, the Africa Sky representative stayed around and helped them get on my same flight.