Flying American Airlines out of DFW

[waffenmacht]

I know this comes up from time-to-time, and I thought I would post my latest experience flying with a handgun. Please remember, you experience flying with a handgun may be different if you use a different airport, or airline, also procedures change occasionally. This weekend I flew from DFW to ATL via American Airlines. Took my handgun (as always). Went to check-in and notified the desk clerk that I needed to "declare a firearm". She hands me the proper small form, that basically says I am carrying a gun, its unloaded, ect, and it gets my signature, date and flight number. This form is to be put in the box (a hard plastic case that can be locked) with the firearm... but rather the open it up in front of everyone standing in line I decided to wait till later.
At this time the desk clerk notifies another airport employee that I need to be escorted to TSA for a firearm check....This genius walks in front of the whole crow and yells "Who has the gun?". Way to get a crowd's attention...I just walked over and told him quietly it was me. We then walked over to the dedicated TSA room, this is where they will inspect the weapon. At this time I put the card in the box. The inspection is pretty simple, they remove the weapon from the case, make sure its a lockable case, make sure the weapon is unloaded, make sure the ammo is in its origonal packaging, and wipe the weapon with some sort of invisible mystery chemical... I don't know what this is, but its never marked or stained my Beretta. However, for those of you that may want to fly some super chrome-plated gold trimmed show gun, your results may vary. After no more then 15 minutes the TSA guy is done, and the weapon is placed under the plane, in the cargo area. Then we are done, I board normally and fly out to ATL. Its inportant to point out that when you arrive at your destination you baggage is unlaoded ina non-secure area. This means there will be no one assigned to watch your firearm, it comes onto the carosel just like everyone else's baggage.

[WillieD]

I flew round trip to Orlando recently and they were pretty easy on me.

For my departing flight I told them I was declaring a firearm and they asked if it was unloaded, locked, etc and had me fill out the form. I was told to place the form in my suitcase next to the gun case. At the TSA line they just ran the entire suitcase through the x-ray machine and did not even open it to inspect the gun case inside. After 3-4 minutes they gave me my boarding pass back and I was on my way.

The return flight was similar except I was trying to be descreet when I told them I was declaring a firearm as I had several work associates nearby. The guy responds with a loud voice "You are declaring a firearm?" which was followed up with an associate stating I was hardcore for traveling with a gun.

Between the departing and return flight I was never once asked to open the case or to remove the locks. I even had 2 firearms in the case with 2 boxes of ammo. I was never instucted on either end to place the small form inside of the gun case, and to simply place it in my suitcase on top of the guncase.

[jimlongley]

The inspection is pretty simple, they remove the weapon from the case, make sure its a lockable case, make sure the weapon is unloaded, make sure the ammo is in its origonal packaging, and wipe the weapon with some sort of invisible mystery chemical... I don't know what this is, but its never marked or stained my Beretta. However, for those of you that may want to fly some super chrome-plated gold trimmed show gun, your results may vary. After no more then 15 minutes the TSA guy is done, and the weapon is placed under the plane, in the cargo area. Then we are done, I board normally and fly out to ATL. Its inportant to point out that when you arrive at your destination you baggage is unlaoded ina non-secure area. This means there will be no one assigned to watch your firearm, it comes onto the carosel just like everyone else's baggage.

If TSA personnel handled your firearm, they are, or were, in violation of TSA rules and regulations and should be fired.

The swabbing of your gun left no chemicals on it, the swab is a, nominally, clean piece of linen cloth to run through an explosive detector. The explosive detector works by heating the sample to a temperature where ionic products of explosive residues would be detected passing through some screens inside the machine - the fact that it didn't alarm on your gun means one of two things, either your gun wasa clean enough, or their machine wasn't working right.

On a trip to San Antonio a couple of years ago, the TSA person handled my gun, for which I filed a formal complaint, and swabbed it. I was amazed that the swab didn't alarm because I had fired the gun the evening before and had not cleaned it. I also complained about that.

How did I know so much about the procedures and rules? I was an active TSA screener at the time, and had no compunctions about turning in my fellow employees for rule violations, particularly when they went ahead and continued to violate them after I pointed out that what they were doing was a violation.

Swabbing a gun is just asking for trouble, if it alarms, it will continue to do so on subsequent tests, and will generate a response that involves physical inspection (by a LEO, TSA personnel are not trained to handle firearms and are not allowed to do so no matter what their other qualifications.) and paperwork. Guns are generally not good concealment for explosives of the IED variety.

[Texasdoc]

Well thanks for the info , as I will be flying to Northern Va. in March with 3 guns my 1911, 870 shotgun and my M-4 , I was wondering how Delta airlines are like. now the question is how is Ronald Reagan Int. Airport like for the return trip as they have a gun ban in the DC area.

I will let you know how I made out in DC area with guns.


Doc

[DoubleJ]

Oooooooooooooh, Jim, have I got a story for you.

so, a month ago I had to fly out to NashVille, Tn to pick my mom up. She had fallen while visiting friends and had broken her arm, thusly leaving her incapable of driving back to Kalifornia (I know, I know, that's just where the folks live...).
anyway, I had flown SouthWest out to Phx before, with no problems, everyone was professional, really cool, blah bla bla.

This time, I'm flying American, out at DFW. Well, that ticketmaker checks my guns to assure they were empty, and then tells me to take it (myself, unescorted) to the TSA guy. I waltz over (I'm a sucker for the three step), and the TSA gentleman asks how I'm doing, to which I respond in the affirmative to good days. He then asks me if I have a loaded bomb.

yes. he asked me if I had a bomb. no joke.
I blurt "No!" to which he responds, "Ooops, Freudian slip!!" and we both had a good chuckle. He then asks me if I'm one of the Good Guys (literally, that's what he said), to which I responded that I was. he asked me if I had any undeveloped film, No.
At that point he took my suitcase, tossed it on the conveyor belt to oblivion, and sent me on my way.

so, There I am, standing in front of the metal detector, shoes off, worldly possesions in my arms, when a stout (and ) TSA agent comes walking up to the screening line. now, this guy didn't just walk up, leisurely, he was Moving With Purpose and yells to God and Everyone, "Is Mr DoubleJ here? Double.... J..... where are you?
stupidedly, I raised my hand and called "Here I am! Garsh!"
He says to me, "DID YOU DECLARE A FIREARM IN YOUR LUGGAGE TO THE TICKET AGENT????"

Yes, as a matter of happenstance, I did.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL THE TSA SCREENER ABOUT IT????"

He didn't ask. asked me if I had a b-word (I was NOT about to say the b-word in front of all them little scared peoples!).

"HE SAYS HE DID AND YOU SAID NO!!!!! (no, he didn't cuss, but his eyes did)

at this point, I nearly coughed up my spleen, liver, and heart, because the TSA guy further went on to say

"DO YOU KNOW I COULD CHARGE YOU WITH A $10,000 FINE AND PUT YOU IN JAIL FOR ELEVENTY MILLION YEARS?????"


okay, he din't say eleventy million, but may as well have.

course, I stammer and recount the whole incident about the MIS-COMMUNICATION with the other agent, and He goes on to further say,
"THERE'S NOTHING TO MISUNDERSTAND, EITHER YOU DO OR YOU DO NOT HAVE A FIREARM."

yes, sir, thank you sir, I'm sorry sir. mmmm, crow is good.

Thankfully, He let me go, and I took all my worldly belongings, and went outside to smoke an entire Camel. not just one cig, no, an entire Camel.

Lord
rest of the trip was much less eventful.

[tboesche]

It's been a few years but When I retired from the NAV, we flew from Virginia Beach to DFW. I don't remember which airlines, I THINK it was AA. Anyway, I declared the CZ-75, TSA guy had ME remove it from the case and show that it was unloaded, cased it, dropped the paperwork in the suitcase and that was that. Shoot, they paid more attention to the two dogs than to the gun. They actually had me take the dogs out of their travel cages and then the TSA guy basically gave my mutts a physical. I asked what he was doing and he replied that there were reports of the "bad guys" placing explosives inside of live animals, and he was checking to see if either the Eskimo or the Pooperanian(poodle/pomeranian mix) had any evidence of surgery.

[jimlongley]

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL THE TSA SCREENER ABOUT IT????"

You were under no obligation to inform the screener.

:"DO YOU KNOW I COULD CHARGE YOU WITH A $10,000 FINE AND PUT YOU IN JAIL FOR ELEVENTY MILLION YEARS?????"

Actually, he could do no such thing. You followed the law by informing the AIRLINE representative that you were checking a bag with a firearm in it, it might have been courteous for you to tell the screener, but since the one who asked you if you had a bomb had already showed that he was an idiot, there probably would have been some sort of problem.

I worked at Dallas Love Field and it was not at all uncommon for us to see a bag go through the x-ray with a gun in it, and unless the gun or something else in the bag actually caused an alarm, we were not to disturb it, the assumption was that the gun had been declared.

Checking guns in checked bags is not TSA's job, looking for IEDs is, even drugs are supposed to get no more than a raised eyebrow (well, sometimes a covert report to a LEO) and I hate to tell you how many baggies of pot I saw in three years.

"THERE'S NOTHING TO MISUNDERSTAND, EITHER YOU DO OR YOU DO NOT HAVE A FIREARM."

That's right, and it's not his job to do anything about it.

Part of the reason I work at Home Depot at the same pay rate I was making at TSA is the little demi-gods who get away with this kind of thing. I hope you got his name and reported the incident.

Thankfully, He let me go, and I took all my worldly belongings, and went outside to smoke an entire Camel. not just one cig, no, an entire Camel.

And he would have had no reason to hold you.

Don't those Camels taste raunchy? I had to smoke a couple during my TSA training - like the day they found out I was carrying under the authority of my CHL. Of course the training was off site, at a hotel, and there were NO 30.06 signs, nor was it federal property, and we had not been told not to . . . And that was just when I started.

[DoubleJ]

me? I love camels. I like'em better than any other cig, and I've smoke'em all!

I actually didn't get the guys name or anything
I figured, after I'd retrieved my heart from my throat, that due to the misunderstanding with the moronic (although otherwise nice) TSA agent that it was just a learning occasion for me. no biggie, in the grand scheme of things, and if that guy got to get his jolly of the day wearing me out, so be it. I know better, and he doesn't realize that I do.

Southwest has actually been the best to fly with, oddly enough. I wonder, not to get too off topic, what came of the whole Set Love Free campaign. seems like you still can't get a flight (with yer gun, see it IS ontopic) out of Texas without havin' to stop SOMEWHERE!

[aardwolf]

I fly with a handgun in my checked luggage all the time and I never have any problems. The process is sometimes a little more complicated in the post-TSA era but it's not that bad. The biggest hassle is getting to the airport early enough to check bags.

[jimlongley]

Set Love Free became Let Love Have a Longer Leash. You can now fly to a lot more places direct, and more with one stop (without changing places) since they changed the law.

We used to get a kick out of frequent fliers who took guns with them all of the time, chatting with them and finding out where they shot and such. I even shot with one in an IDPA match. There was the "Beretta Lady" and the "Revolver Guy" and other such.

We also used to enjoy trying to identify various guns by their profiles - I won.

NAA revolvers are almost a no brainer.

[rgraham541]

What case do you use and, I have always been afraid someone would lift my gun so I just left it at home.

[jimlongley]

Any hard lockable case is suitable. You can even have it 'loose" in a hard side suitcase, but I would advise against that, just because it might get bumped around. I have seen gun rugs in hard suitcases, and even a junk gun wrapped in a t-shirt.

Of course there is always the risk that someone will steal the box, so I make it a real hard one to get into.

[frankie_the_yankee]

I flew round trip to Orlando recently and they were pretty easy on me.

For my departing flight I told them I was declaring a firearm and they asked if it was unloaded, locked, etc and had me fill out the form. I was told to place the form in my suitcase next to the gun case. At the TSA line they just ran the entire suitcase through the x-ray machine and did not even open it to inspect the gun case inside. After 3-4 minutes they gave me my boarding pass back and I was on my way.

This pretty much sums up what I have encountered when flying with guns. A couple [abbreviated profanity deleted] times TSA has asked me to open the case, but that's about it. Usually, they don't.

[nedmoore]

Anyone heard any stories of having their guns stolen at the airport? Can somebody post a pic of the locking cases they store their guns in.

[nitrogen]

A few years ago, while flying back to DFW from Portland, OR, I was told by an officer there that it was Illegal for me to fly with a handgun and ammo in my luggage.

Luckily, the officers supervisor intervened at that point and everything was straightened out.

That's the worst problem I ever had. Most of the time, my firearm isn't even uncased by TSA, it's just X-rayed, and I'm off.

To keep my guns from being stolen, I take a steel cable and loop it around the inside support strut of the suitcase, then lock it around the padlock. This makes it very difficult for someone to quickly grab the case. They'd have to cut something, which would take time and I hope would be noticed.