Flying with firearm to protect luggage

[Dreaming100Straight]

To me this is a novel idea. If you wish to reduce the likelihood that your checked luggage will be lost or stolen, include a firearm in it. You will have to declare the inclusion of the firearm and track both TSA and airline rules, but that piece of luggage will now receive special handling and tracking throughout your trip. This was a suggestion I ran across for those flying with expensive camera equipment.

 

[2ndsojourn]

I dunno about that one. Seems to me it will just invite a problem with less than honest baggage handlers.

 

[rickyrick]

You may get on the flight... And it's perfectly legit.... But if you land in some place that doesn't allow your firearm, you may have someone waiting for you.

I'm also not sure what happens if you're diverted to a not-so gun friendly state.

But if I'm traveling to a place that allows my gun, I'm taking it...

 

[Microgunner]

It'll get special handling all right. Someone will beat the bag against the wall until it pops open and your firearm vanishes.
"The bag musta got caught in the conveyer."

 

[jmhyer]

I'm not sure that's good information. When I've flown with a checked firearm, I've never noticed that the bag received any special treatment. It goes on the conveyor just like all the other bags. There is nothing on the outside of the bag to distinguish it in any special way from all the others.

 

[Derbel McDillet]

^^^This.

I frequently fly with guns. Many times the airline's baggage tag is printed out before I have a chance to declare. It's not re-printed afterwards. The firearms declaration tag goes in the bag or the gun case inside the bag. There's nothing external identifying the luggage contains a gun. I lock my bag (usually a large soft duffle-type bag) and the gun case inside with a TSA accepted padlock. Been doing this for years and never encountered a problem.

The situation is different when I fly with a long gun in an obvious long gun case. It gets special handling and I have to go to the carrier's baggage claim office to pick it up.

Although I prefer flying on Southwest, I like Alaska airlines' firearm declaration form as it has a duplicate (receipt) that they staple to your ticket sleeve.

 

[johnwilliamson062]

If there was any markings the baggage handlers could see your gun would not make it.

 

[Hidalgo1]

Not make it? Really? I've flown all over the USA with handguns and long guns and have never, ever had a problem. And that includes over 50 flights.

Have you actually had a firearm "disappear" on an airline as you suggest?

 

[Glenn E. Meyer]

If you fly with an identifiable gun carrier case:

1. I have had taken to the office at the arrival point and paged. This was to avoid it being lifted the from luggage conveyor.

2. I have had the entire case disappear. I then told the baggage office I want the police and TSA to come here to report a theft. Uproar ensued.

The case was found the next day. The airline rep told me that the plane was overweight so they decided to put the dangerous bag (mine) on another plane. Yeah, that's the story. Someone had a suspicion of the thief and got to them before they all were sold - betcha.

 

[FITASC]

I dunno about that one. Seems to me it will just invite a problem with less than honest baggage handlers.

How are they going to know?....Fact is, they don't.

 

[2ndsojourn]

"How are they going to know?....Fact is, they don't. "

If you want special handling of your luggage, it will have to be identified somehow, most likely on the outside. So you go right ahead and advertise that your luggage contains firearms and see what happens.

Others above have already noted what happened to theirs when it was identifiable.

 

[Glenn E. Meyer]

You don't think that the check in folks don't contact the handlers inside? Not hard to do.

 

[FITASC]

And how many have the time when they need to load about 500 bags on a plane and most all look the same - medium sized, and black?

 

[Mainah]

So you don't actually want to bring the gun, you just want to protect your checked bags? No thanks. I'd just pack less and put it in a carry on bag, my stuff is in my control through the whole trip.

I live in the northeast, I've been on several flights that involved diversions to NYC that then required me to take a shuttle to Newark, NJ. Once I got diverted to Newark and my only option was renting a car and driving (through NY) back to Maine. Multiple unexpected trips through security in states that can put you in jail for having a gun... Not worth the risk.

And I don't trust TSA or the airlines with anything of value, no matter how they classify my checked bag.

 

[johnwilliamson062]

And how many have the time when they need to load about 500 bags on a plane and most all look the same - medium sized, and black?

The time to find a bag they know is carrying an item that can be easily removed and is valued at close to a weeks pay?
My guess is quite a few.

 

[Onward Allusion]

Outside of the additional scrutiny and handling during check-in by the TSA, there isn't anything on the outside of the luggage to identify it as holding a firearm. Also, after the explosive swabs and the bag is placed back onto the conveyor and is treated like any other bag; you know where the luggage handler has a running pool on how far a particular piece can be thrown. . .

I'll be blunt. Whoever originally came up with this idea is a moron who has not traveled much with firearms - not to mention the PITA it would be if your flight got diverted to someplace like NYC or Newark, NJ.

 

[Glenn E. Meyer]

500 bags? You flying in a C-5B?

If you are flying with a rifle - I think that is obvious.

 

[WC145]

I've flown with handguns in my checked luggage many, many times and there is nothing to indicate that a particular suitcase has a gun it. The tag you sign declaring that the gun is unloaded goes inside the suitcase, the exterior is not tagged or labeled in anyway. Once it goes from check in and TSA inspection (I they even look at it) it is treated like any other piece of luggage, subject to the same abuses and random checks as everyone else's.

Initially, I thought that perhaps there was something embedded in the declaration tags that would allow them to trace them but I took one and had it xrayed (my wife is an imaging tech) and tore it into little pieces and it's nothing but a piece of thick paper.

 

[Spooler41]

About 6 years ago , my wife and I went to Florida to visit her son. We also
took a Winchester 94 that his grandpa left to him, it was packed in a locked Pelican case. All went well until we changed planes in Atlanta Ga., the gun didn't transfer as expected. After arriving in Florida we recovered our luggage
minus the gun, filled out a missing bag report and continued another 90 mile
to our destination. Two days later an airline courier showed up in a van with
my stepsons Model'94, it was put on the wrong plane in Atlanta.

......................... Jack

 

[zach_]

I was told I could not have gun parts in my luggage when I attempted to check bags when I flew out of Indy in late 2012. I had taken 2 rifles apart and had them in different bags dissassembled. From what I now know, it looks like I got hosed by the airline in Indy. I was told to take the items to a UPS hub to ship them. My family member that was dropping me off was not happy about having guns in their possession back to their home, and in their home until I was able to get them at a later time. I have yet to hear the end of that one. I will admit that I am related to an anti.