Airlines and Firearms

[Seeker]

Will be taking a weekend trip from Oregon to Idaho at the end of the month, and since I have a valid Or CHL and Id honors Or CHLs, and since we may be camping I would like to pack my pistol.

I will be travelling on SouthWestern Airlines.

I checked their policies and handguns are ok if in locked gun case, and annonced to agent at sign-in.

Has anyone had any experience with SWA, or air travel in general, and transporting firearms?

I am worried about it being stolen mostly.

Also I have never carried my pistol in anything other than a holster, where can a body get a single use (well 2 use as it is a round trip) locking pistol case?

 

[toby]

It should be no big deal....

This comes from the dark recess of my memory, but it is a little like this:

At the ticket counter declare you have a unloaded firearm in a locked case inside a locked piece of luggage. The agent will probably make otu fill out a 'tag' of sorts that gets placed inside the luggage. If the counter person is at all unsure or attempts to place the tag on the exterior of the luggage ask for a supervisor.

NO BRAINER: DO NOT TAKE IT OUT FOR ANY REASON. If asked request a Port Officer be present.

This is certainly one of those cases where if you are unsure you should get 'someone who has a clue' from SWA on the line and ask them point blank. You might also call the Port Authority. Things are just different enough since 9/11... I would not take any chances.

And we can all hope a National Reciprocity CCW comes along soon and this can be something we can all answer off the cuff and as a matter of course.

Find out more: www.packing.org

 

[TarpleyG]

You mean SOUTHWEST airlines??? Well, you won't meet a friendlier bunch and being based out of Dallas, the company is most likely gun friendly. Call them ahead of time and make sure you know what to do, when to do it, and how to do it and you should be all set.

GT

 

[Pocket Pistol]

How do you lock the bag when they will not let you lock it ???
Read the signs.
We missed the signs and my wife flew from Fla to TN (NO GUN) with her checked bag locked.
One of the Federal security forces ( can not remember which one ) CUT the locks off to search her bag and DID not reseal it.
They are supposed to at least tie-wrap it locked.
They did leave a note saying they did it and left the locks.
I guess it is the typical thing they thought she was a terrorist since she was a mother with our 2 yr old son and a bag full of DANGEROUS diapers.

So ask them about locking it and if it needs to be searched to do it BEFORE they take it and send it to no mans land.
They should be able to do that and tag it as inspected and you should be ok.

 

[El Tejon]

IME Southwest is very gun friendly. In fact the last time I flew them a ticket agent in Saint Tony's (Tejas, of course) asked me if he could handle one of my shotguns.

I am apparently one of the lucky few. I've never had a problem flying with firearms.

Put your pistol in a lockable case. I use a $5 "gun guard" case that my boss at a sporting good store gave me years ago and a nice, thick Master padlock. Put pistol in case, lock it, put case in suitcase.

When you show up at the counter, the agent will either ensure it is "unloaded" or have a highly trained [] federal employee ensure that it is "unloaded". Sign the "this here pistol gun be unloaded" tag, put the tag in the case, lock the case, put case in suitcase.

Never had lost or stolen luggage. It may be stolen, don't know. Anywho since you read THR you already know you should have multiple copies of the same pistol.

 

[Jeff OTMG]

I am a SWA frequent flier and have not had any problems flying with them since 1/1/03.

 

[hops]

You should have no mjor problems. I have not carried my gun via SW yet. Heard they are not gun friendly.

Expect PDX TSA to play 'lets guess the type of gun' as it goes thru the ESD machine and you paitently wait, because they will ask you to open case to see if they guessed right.

See my recent thread - 'air travel + gun + TSA = Frustration' in this forum.

PS: Check the TSA site:http://129.33.119.130/public/theme_home1.jsp

Note that the hand gun goes through the system in a locked case with you retaining the only key.

I've printed out their appropriate web pages and the FFA regulation for my next trip to SJC and battle with SJC airport.