Accounts of Flying with Firearms

Accounts of Flying with Firearms
How have specific airlines and airports treated people who have flown with firearms?

Deviant Ollam

Have you traveled by air with firearms? We would love to hear, in detail, how it went for you. If you'd like to tell us about it, please just send an email to deviant [åt] deviating [döt] net and we're more than happy to publish your account here. All we ask is that you follow the format of the questionnaire below when summarizing the details for us.

Air Travel Accounts
The follow overviews give you a basic rundown of people's experience flying with firearms on different carriers via different airports. Air carriers should, in my opinion, take responsibility for errors that their employees make and that the TSA should work much harder to standardize airport operations and train their staff in the proper handling of firearm policies and procedures. Click any of the passenger names below to read their full story...

Dr. Tran An account of armed air travel from Dr. Tran, in his own words.	PHL --> LAX 2010-06-15		LAX --> PHL 2010-06-18

Deviant & Daisy It's always sunny in Philadelphia, but Detriot seems to conceal a few rainclouds.	PHL--> DTW 2010-05-24		DTW --> PHL 2010-05-27

W A very detailed account of airports that don't understand security and TSA staffers who think they're above the law.	FLL--> HOU --> DAL 2010-05-20		DAL--> HOU --> FLL 2010-06-02

RNH Some airline check-in agents seemed unaware of the proper procedures for flying with firearms, but the TSA set the situation right each time.	IAH --> MAF --> DEN --> JAC 2010-03-14		JAC --> DEN --> MAF --> IAH 2010-03-18

J & K One family shared with me their own unique take on my mortar case luggage. I absolutely loved the results.	a Baggage Story 2010-03-11

Deviant Ollam I thought my trip to San Francisco made for an interesting story... i had NO IDEA of the hassle i would be in for when i tried to fly back home!	PHL --> LAS --> SFO 2010-03-01		SFO --> LAS --> PHL 2010-03-06

J A tale of getting escorted deep into the non-public areas of the Baltimore airport.	BWI --> RSW 2010-02-01		RSW --> BWI 2010-02-13

Picch Trouble in Tucson... with bags opened completely away from the passenger, but no inspection notice placed inside of a gun case.	TUS --> LAX --> OAK --> PDX 2010-01-15		PDX --> LAX --> OAK --> TUS 2010-01-18

RNH Another successful trip (this time flying mere days after an attempted terrorist attack) on both Christmas and New Year's... with a wife, niece, and nephew, all of whom got to observe and learn.	IAH --> EWR --> PWM 2009-12-25		BOS --> IAH 2010-01-01

Ben Making sense of co-branded flights operated by partnered airlines.	IAD --> PDX 2009-12-21		PDX --> IAD 2009-12-27

RNH Safe travels through New Jersey with a non-permit pistol, exactly as the law allows.	IAH --> EWR --> PWM 2009-11-12		PWM--> CLE --> IAH 2009-11-15

T.J. San Jose inspection issues mar an otherwise good trip. SJC blatantly disregards federal law on a routine basis.	SJC --> DEN --> TPA 2009-11-05

Deviant Ollam Indeed, you can fly without ID even in a post-9-11 world... you can even do it with firearms, no problem. And that's the way it should most certainly be.	PHL --> ORD 2009-10-14		ORD --> PHL 2009-10-27

W From Florida to Texas on Southwest... and in neither airport was this passenger taken to a secondary screening area.	FLL --> MSY --> DAL 2009-08-04		DAL --> MSY --> FLL 2009-08-11

G-T A servicemember's absolutely wonderful and detailed summary of numerous flights taken over the course of many years. Despite being Army Brass, G-T goes through the same ins and outs of the process that the rest of us experience. It's good to see that matters haven't gone downhill over time, i must say.	ORF --> ONT multiple trips		ONT--> ORF multiple trips

Matt S. A flight to the most anti-gun spot in the nation... and all went swimmingly, thanks to smart preparation and a savvy traveler.	COS --> DWF --> IAD 2009-06-17		IAD --> DWF --> COS 2009-06-22

Deviant Ollam I don't like relying on firearms as a way to skirt issues of bag weight, but we had so much damn gear going to ShakaCon that it sure helped.	ATL --> PHX--> HNL 2009-06-07		HNL--> PHX --> PHL 2009-06-15/16

Deviant Ollam Heading down to SummerCon was a snap, and i got to give out a TTB business card to one airman who was getting a firearm-bearing bag screened next to me.	PHL --> ATL 2009-06-05

Deviant Ollam United Airlines finally admits to me in no uncertain terms that they do make special entries into their computer for bags containing firearms.	PHL --> CMH --> ORD --> CID 2009-05-28		CID --> ORD --> PHL 2009-06-01

Deviant Ollam A great trip. One potential incident fixed right away by a good supervisor. A scary lesson about claiming bags quickly, too.	PHL --> PHX --> LGB 2009-05-22		LAX --> DFW --> PHL 2009-05-25

C.M. Wow, what a bit of troubling travel. From bad to worse, almost no aspect of this trip was without difficulty.	PHL --> HOU 2009-04-13		HOU --> PHL 2009-04-16

Deviant Ollam Smooth sailing to and from Texas, despite travel on carriers not recognized for outstanding policies.	PHL --> DFW --> AUS 2009-03-22		AUS --> ATL --> PHL 2009-03-28

Air Travel Ratings
If you don't have the time or the desire to read the full text of someone's account of air travel, you can simply refer to the rating shown at the conclusion of each portion of that person's journey. The following criteria are used in assigning these ratings...

Four Stars	check-in - no hassle, no delay screening - in full view, lock and unlock yourself luggage - all on time and intact
Three Stars	check-in - some delay or mild hassle screening - somewhat obscured, locking and unlocking yourself or it's done directly in front of you luggage - all on time and intact
Two Stars	check-in - major delay or major hassle screening - in a room or area that you could not enter and could barely observe luggage - luggage opened non-destructively
One Star	check-in - flight missed or passenger delayed from flying, properly packed items denied as luggage screening - luggage unlocked and opened totally in another area fully removed from you luggage - destructive entry into luggage and/or tampering with firearms
Zero Stars	This is a special category for outright theft, loss, or damage of firearms during air travel
half-star results are possible... naturally, they involve partial or mitigated problems that somehow fall in-between the above categories

Firearm Air Travel Questionnaire

Have you traveled by air with firearms? We would love to hear, in detail, how it went for you. If you'd like to tell us about it, please just send an email to deviant [åt] deviating [döt] net* and we're more than happy to publish your account here. All we ask is that you follow the format of this questionnaire when summarizing the details for us.

* address obfuscated to prevent spam. PGP key on major keyservers if you wish to secure your traffic.

Background Details

1. Your Name - We can accept nicknames, initials, or just your first name if you'd like to remain a bit private.

2. Your Itinerary - This is your booked route and planned travel dates when you arrived at the airport, whether a simple round-trip or some other combination of stops. Mention of delays or re-routings can be done later when discussing specific legs of your journey. Airport codes are more helpful than city names (and are more respectful of your privacy... we only care about air travel, not where you spent the 4th of July or which family you visited for Thanksgiving.) Please feel free to specify any scheduled layovers, despite the fact that these typically do not affect firearm-related travel.

3. Your Airline(s) - On which carrier(s) was your flight booked? Please feel free to mention any reasons why you chose these airlines, as well as any partnering or "dual-carrier" flights that happened (that is so common these days, we understand it's difficult to keep track)

4. Luggage and Locks - What brand (or what style) of luggage did you use when flying with firearms? How were they packed? In what manner were they secured? (We are especially interested in what brand or style of locks you used.)

Outbound Departure Experience

5. Airline Check-In Staff - From the time you stepped from your airport transportation (car, cab, shuttle, train, etc) to the moment you received your boarding pass, how were you treated? How did the airline staff (both ticketing agents as well as any additional people like baggage staffers) react when you declared your firearms? Did they seem accustomed to this? Did they follow all the rules? Of particular interest to us...

i. Locked Bags - Did the check-in staff make any criticisms of your desire to lock your checked bag(s)? Did they inform you that you had done anything incorrectly? Did you have to escalate the matter to a supervisor, etc?

ii. Firearms Indication - Did the check-in staff attempt to mark your luggage in any way due to the presence of firearms? That would include... affixing the "declaration" tag to the outside, writing on the printed luggage tag, the computer marking the printed tag with special characters (a row of "F" characters has been reported in the past), or (we realize this is hard to discern without asking outright... something we encourage) any special indicator on your passenger record in their booking system.

6. Secondary Screening Area - Was there a secondary area for your checked bags? How far was it / what was the experience of getting your bags there? Our key interest... Were you able to observe your luggage during screening (was it right in front of you on a table, behind a rope or low partition designed to keep people back, or behind a wall/in another room such that you could not observe your bag at all during screening)?

7. Departure TSA Screeners - How available were TSA screeners when you arrived (did you have to wait)? Was the TSA familiar with proper policy and law concerning air travel with firearms or did they give you any attitude or cause difficulty? To the best of your knowledge, what techniques were used in screening your bag (x-ray, explosive residue test, etc.) Our key interest... Did the bag screeners have to open your luggage for any reason and, if so, were you (not the screeners), the one who performed the unlocking and subsequent re-locking?

The Flight(s) Out

8. Flight Experience - Strictly from a firearms perspective, did anything of note happen from the time that you left your bags at the departing airport until you claimed them again at your ultimate destination? (We are not asking about your experience at passenger screening, changes to seat assignments, or how bad the in-flight movie was... but if something happened requiring you to speak to the gate agent about your luggage or if an announcement was made paging you back to speak with the TSA again, we'd surely be interested.)

Destination Arrival Experience

9. Baggage Arrival and Condition - This is fairly straightforward... Did your luggage arrive on-time? Was it in good condition (we aren't asking about normal wear and tear... we want to know if it was tampered with in any way)? Our key interest... Were your firearm-bearing items still locked and were there any signs that someone had opened or accessed them in any way?

Homebound Departure Experience

10. Airline Check-In Staff - Same as above... did the airline staff seem to know the rules and treat you with respect or did they show confusion, have a bad attitude, or present difficulty? Again, our primary interest is...

i. Locked Bags - Were you able to lock your bags properly without difficulty?

ii. Firearms Indication - Did anyone attempt to mark any of your bags marked on the outside in any way?

11. Secondary Screening Area - Please describe the secondary screening area, if it was part of your process, specifically mentioning how well you could observe your bag(s) any time they were being opened.

12. Departure TSA Screeners - Did screeners at this airport have to open any of your luggage for any reason and, if so, were you the one who performed any unlocking and subsequent re-locking?

The Return Flight(s)

13. Flight Experience - Anything worth reporting from a firearms perspective, say it here. Again, we're not asking about the dismal portions and exorbitant price of your in-flight "meal" or the cleanliness of the airplane's lavatories.

Return Arrival Experience

14. Baggage Arrival and Condition - Did your luggage arrive on-time? Were your firearm-bearing items still locked and were there any signs that someone had opened or accessed them in any way?

Final Details

15. Post-Flight Matters - If your story as recounted to us involved damage to luggage, cut locks, loss or theft, or incompetence/rudeness so extreme as to necessitate contacting superiors or customer service departments (and you have our sympathies if that was the case) please feel free to let us know how any follow-up was/is being handled. Did anyone admit that they (or their staff) were in the wrong? Were you compensated? Have you received any satisfaction after a wrongdoing? You can include this now or follow-up with us later and we'd be happy to update your entry in our list of air travel accounts.

One Last Note... Contact Preferences - As a matter of policy, we do not publish your email address anywhere on this web page. However, we will on occasion receive email from 3rd parties asking if they can follow-up with a particular traveler who has published an account here. We will never divulge or give out your email, even in such instances, but we will sometimes pass along that 3rd party's inquiry and contact details to you privately. If you already get enough email and do not wish us to do so, please let us know so we don't bother you.