Account of Flying with Firearms

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

Luggage & Gear
As always, i was traveling with three of the army surplus steel mortar cases that are my customary luggage. After major error by the TSA in Newark when I was making some overseas travel (they cut locks of some of my luggage) i made the switch to Abloy Protec Puck Padlocks which are uncuttable as well as wholly un-pickable. On this trip to Austin i had my Springfield 1911 in one case, while the other two cases bore merely flare guns, in order to leverage the law to my advantage. I used my preferred model, the inexpensive yet rugged Geco flare gun from Germany.

Outbound Travel
I fly frequently in and out of Philadelphia, however I hadn't traveled via American Airlines in quite some time. Their staff wasn't as familiar with firearm policy as, say, US Airways... but they gave me no incident during check-in. I filled out three declaration cards and demonstrated that the guns were all unloaded.

I should note that during the declaration process, i always make a point of lifting the weapons up out of the luggage in order clearly and plainly display that they are empty and safe. I do not brandish them wildly or hold them pointed in an unsafe direction, but i always hold them in a way as to indicate that possession of firearms is perfectly normal and healthy. It amuses but also disheartens me slightly when the check-in staff becomes uncomfortable at the idea of other passengers seeing my firearms. This was one such occasion... the American Airlines staffer even spoke up a bit, saying something to the effect of "ok, that's fine... you don't need to hold them all up so much" after the second gun was displayed.

The TSA screening area was a short distance from the counter, and i still had my $3 Smart Carte so getting there was an absolute breeze. The staff at this area seemed somewhat experienced in dealing with firearms, but they still asked for me to unlock all three cases. They may have asked for the key, but i'm so experienced at this (along with the fact that i keep the key tethered to me via a process that would take a while to remove it) that they instantly demurred and allowed me to unlock the cases. This was ok with me, given that the inspection area was a series of tables behind a low, semisolid partition. While i was not standing directly next to the luggage, i could observe the whole process as they performed their screening. They did a little bit of direct inspection, lifting the top layer of clothes or equipment in some cases, but this may have been predominantly for the purpose of swabbing multiple surfaces. Explosive reside swab tests came back negative, the cases were presented to me for locking, and I was on my way. All three cases arrived on-time and unmolested in Texas.

Homebound Travel
I was on the first Delta flight out of Austin on Saturday morning (the 05:40 to ATL) so I arrived at the airport before any airline staff were present. Even the automated check-in kiosks weren't open. Systems began to come online around 04:30. I was able to have my bags weighed and tagged in short order, but then had to wait at the TSA screening area (which was at the end of the long check-in hall... easily walkable but it would have been difficult without a luggage cart) for the staff there to become ready.

There appear to be many steps in their "opening up" policy. While a few of these make sense (calibration of machines, disinfection and cleaning of work space) a great number of them appeared to be wholly mystifying... scribbling short notes into ragged-edged loose-leaf binders, endless radio calls that produced no discernible results, staff appearing and disappearing, etc. Travelers please note... if you are flying somewhere with firearms and are on the first flight of the day, your time might be a bit crunched here. I was waiting in line behind one individual, a young man in his mid twenties who was flying with a pistol. His packing was nothing short of awful, in my opinion. He had a small plastic manufacturer's case secured with a TSA-accessible padlock and this was placed inside of a half-filled soft bag that was stained, torn, and which bore no locks at all. He outright told me that his policy was to simply have his bag look as unappealing as possible. I explained that even in this case (which, i pointed out, was not a good plan anyway) he should use a non-TSA lock. He was surprised and stated that he always use this one since that's what he had been instructed to do in the past. Sigh.

The TSA inspection area was a pair of tables behind crowd control ribbons of the sort seen at other airport queue zones. There were two residue test machines but no x-ray devices. Screening of my luggage went smoothly (albeit, rather slowly) with the TSA folk concerned more about the appearance of doing something to my items as opposed to actually working efficiently. They removed, for example, all eight pieces of PVC pipe from my Gringo Warrior case and peered down inside each one... what were they expecting to find? These are short bits of pipe open at both ends. They pawed through all of the locks and picks, but didn't actually do anything meaningful to anything. They swabbed a few spots, apparently at random, and everything turned out green. I re-locked the cases myself and departed. There still weren't many people in the airport at this time so i was able to get through security and to my gate in about 30 minutes. My flight was fine and all three cases arrived in Philadelphia on-time and without incident.

Final Details & Thoughts
While I am displeased at the lack of efficiency displayed by the TSA in Austin, that is an institutional matter (and part of a much larger problem concerning the "being safe" vs. "looking safe" issue) unrelated to firearms travel. These flights went well for me and -- in spite of traveling with highly conspicuous luggage through large, busy airports for my layovers -- all equipment arrived safe and sound on both ends of my journey.

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