TexasCHLforum.com

mloamiller wrote: ↑Fri Feb 07, 2020 9:45 am Just got back from Denver yesterday. Overall, the experience traveling with a pistol was uneventful, and basically as described earlier (see below). However, there was one unusual event. I was on a business trip, traveling with a colleague. The tickets were booked by our company travel agent, and they put both of us on the same reservation/record locator. When my colleague tried to check-in electronically for the return trip, he wasn't able to. He received a message indicating that since his traveling companion (me) had a firearm in their luggage, he had to check in at the ticket counter. He didn't have to check his bag, and he didn't have to wait for my bag to be x-rayed, but he did have to check-in at the airport, not electronically.

My experience:

* In DFW, the ticket agent asked me to open the suitcase and the lockbox, and even looked to confirm there wasn't a magazine in the pistol (she didn't check the chamber, however), then asked me to sign the "unloaded" card. She also asked that I open the box of ammo, I guess to confirm the ammo was actually in the plastic tray, not just loose in the box. At that point, I was done; she took the back just like any other checked bag. Having a pistol didn't extend this process at all.

* In DEN, the ticket agent had me sign the "Unloaded" card, then took my bag (with me following) to another station to have it x-rayed. To ELB's note, it was pretty close, not across the airport, but that probably depends on which airline you're using. I waited about 10 minutes for that, then they took my bag; I wasn't allowed to touch it, but I did not have to go back to the ticket agent. This process did add about 10 minutes to the normal bag check-in process. The airport wasn't crowded at the time; if it had been, it could have been much longer. One guy I talked to, waiting in the same x-ray line, said most airports are like that; DFW is the exception.
While it didn't take long, it puzzles me what the point was - I had just told them there was a pistol in my bag; did they x-ray it to see if I was lying? If I had something more dangerous than a gun, say a bomb, why would I tell them there was a gun it? Just doesn't make any sense.

When arriving in both DFW and DEN, I had to wait for my bag at the Over-sized Bag counter so they could check my ID; I couldn't just get it off the carousel. This also added a few minutes, since OSBs are usually the last to come off the plane.