Flying with Guns

[HUYTERII]

How many guns can one fly with at a time? Can`t say that I have so many of them but I would like to know for some of my friends have asked me this question not once

[HUYTERII]

How many guns can one fly with at a time? It`s really interesting for me to know that! My friends have asked me this not once

[yoshidaex]

No limit on amount of guns in checked luggage but airlines will charge extra fees for luggage weighing over 50 lbs. 

 

disregard those links......

[SWprotected]

Check each airlines policy, I was looking at one of the low cost airlines and they limit you to 1 firearm per locked case. So yes you could take more but it would require additional locked cases and as others have said weight will add up fast and that is where they will ding you for extra money.

[shred]

Yeah, each airline has their own rules.  These days most US airlines don't even want to look at the guns, let alone count them however.

[Swanny10]

Flew with my kit for the first time last week. I was a bit surprised at the lack of hoops to jump through. They asked me to open the case and asked me if it was unloaded. That was it.  And with regards to the 11 pounds of ammo, it was a complete non-issue. They showed zero interest in the amount of ammo I had with me. Now, the one round I had in my backpack that showed up on the X-ray was another story. I was a little impressed by that actually. But they didn’t freak out or anything. The whole process was painless. 

[bigdawgbeav]

So when flying with guns do you opt for the most direct route, non-stop or do you opt for a flight that might have a stop, plance change, etc. if it gets you in a better, easier airport?  I would think that direct flights have less of a chance for lost luggage.

 

Here is my example:  I'm looking to fly to CMP in Talladega.  I have heard good things about the Birmingham airport, but for me to fly there via Southwest (my preferred) it would require a layover and plane change either in Chicago or Orlando.  Whereas I can get direct, non-stop flights from Philly to ATL and then drive the hour+ to Talladega.

[hitman_usmc]

I’ve flown with guns many times. Most of the time with a layover. Never had any issues so far. Most airlines mark the bag because they usually get sent to the office to be picked up instead of being tossed on the carousel. 

[motosapiens]

5 hours ago, bigdawgbeav said:

So when flying with guns do you opt for the most direct route, non-stop or do you opt for a flight that might have a stop, plance change, etc. if it gets you in a better, easier airport?  I would think that direct flights have less of a chance for lost luggage.

 

Here is my example:  I'm looking to fly to CMP in Talladega.  I have heard good things about the Birmingham airport, but for me to fly there via Southwest (my preferred) it would require a layover and plane change either in Chicago or Orlando.  Whereas I can get direct, non-stop flights from Philly to ATL and then drive the hour+ to Talladega.

 

I never flew with guns before last year, but did it 3 times last year, including twice to birmingham and once to atlanta. birmingham is a MUCH easier and faster airport to  navigate. we were literally driving away in our rental car within 20-25 minutes of stepping off the plane. I was mildly nervous about layover in chicago knowing that our guns might be illegal to possess there if something weird happened (like a canceled flight), but we didn't die.

 

I remember when I was younger it was pretty routine to have luggage lost. It seems like that very rarely happens now. I'm planning on flying into birmingham again for WSSC this spring, although a non-stop flight to atlanta *might* cancel out the time savings.

 

Of course if I lived in philly, I would probably just drive and chillax, but maybe a 13hr drive back east is worse than a 13hr drive here. with layovers and delays it took more than 13 hrs the last couple flights to nats/worlds.

[bigdawgbeav]

13 hours ago, motosapiens said:

 

I never flew with guns before last year, but did it 3 times last year, including twice to birmingham and once to atlanta. birmingham is a MUCH easier and faster airport to  navigate. we were literally driving away in our rental car within 20-25 minutes of stepping off the plane. I was mildly nervous about layover in chicago knowing that our guns might be illegal to possess there if something weird happened (like a canceled flight), but we didn't die.

 

I remember when I was younger it was pretty routine to have luggage lost. It seems like that very rarely happens now. I'm planning on flying into birmingham again for WSSC this spring, although a non-stop flight to atlanta *might* cancel out the time savings.

 

Of course if I lived in philly, I would probably just drive and chillax, but maybe a 13hr drive back east is worse than a 13hr drive here. with layovers and delays it took more than 13 hrs the last couple flights to nats/worlds.

I drove this past year and it was a long 14 hours of driving... I'm looking at flying for the WSSC next year since I have enough SW points to fly for free.  While SW has not released their schedule for that weekend yet a general idea is that a nonstop i leave at 1pm and land 3:30pm at ATL.  If I take a flight to Birmingham it would mean going to CHI first, change planes and land later.  Same with Orlando except a longer layover.  Plus both of those flights leave at 6am... so it might be worth the extra time at ATL... of course this is all in theory.

[DavidSeavey]

On 12/2/2021 at 2:22 PM, bigdawgbeav said:

So when flying with guns do you opt for the most direct route, non-stop or do you opt for a flight that might have a stop, plance change, etc. if it gets you in a better, easier airport?  I would think that direct flights have less of a chance for lost luggage.

 

I do try to go direct any time possible to avoid layovers, especially flying into the match as i generally can't spend a day or two before the match at the destination should something happen, but it seems from Boston most flights to match areas around the country west of the Appalachians are not direct. 

 

I did have one episode flying back from vegas through chicago with my 3gun gear, nothing was rescheduled or anything odd, had enough of a layover to sit down and eat, yet when i arrived my guns never arrived.  they couldn't even tell me where they were. i got a call at 2am that they'd arrived and i had to go back after work to get them.  that couldve screwed me if it happened flying into the match. 

 

Last year i started putting Tile luggage trackers inside each case.  It lets me track some of its movement in the airport, but i have always been able to see if they are loaded under the plane before takeoff.  now it doesn't get me my luggage if they didn't make it but i can start planning if things are going wrong.  the apple version is much better but it only works with apple stuff.

[bigdawgbeav]

18 hours ago, DavidSeavey said:

 

I do try to go direct any time possible to avoid layovers, especially flying into the match as i generally can't spend a day or two before the match at the destination should something happen, but it seems from Boston most flights to match areas around the country west of the Appalachians are not direct. 

 

I did have one episode flying back from vegas through chicago with my 3gun gear, nothing was rescheduled or anything odd, had enough of a layover to sit down and eat, yet when i arrived my guns never arrived.  they couldn't even tell me where they were. i got a call at 2am that they'd arrived and i had to go back after work to get them.  that couldve screwed me if it happened flying into the match. 

 

Last year i started putting Tile luggage trackers inside each case.  It lets me track some of its movement in the airport, but i have always been able to see if they are loaded under the plane before takeoff.  now it doesn't get me my luggage if they didn't make it but i can start planning if things are going wrong.  the apple version is much better but it only works with apple stuff.

 

That's a good idea... I forgot about luggage trackers.  Good tip.

[Triggerslapper999]

I use a pelican 1450 for my open gun

Edited December 19, 2021 by Triggerslapper999

[shred]

On 12/2/2021 at 4:30 PM, hitman_usmc said:

I’ve flown with guns many times. Most of the time with a layover. Never had any issues so far. Most airlines mark the bag because they usually get sent to the office to be picked up instead of being tossed on the carousel. 

True overseas, but not so much in the US for pistols inside regular luggage.  They get treated like regular old luggage.  Long guns and obvious gun cases may differ, but plenty of Pelican cases drop onto the belt.

 

I use a tracker and it's very nice to know where your gun bag is after a snafu with a case of my Glocks going to Tokyo instead of Dallas like I did and the airline claiming they had no idea where the bag was (long ago, pre trackers).  The tracker worked great in Serbia to figure out which door to bang on as well.

 

FWIW, 3G trackers like the Gego are going to stop working next year in the US as the phone companies sunset it.