This is a bit over three months old.
Just before Christmas, my wife and I travelled to Florida for a week. Via Delta.
In NM on the trip out, the check-in desk agent (an unpleasant woman) just about choked when I checked in my Glock 26 and mags. She insisted that the locked gun case not be locked, so that TSA could look through it. I pointed out that federal law required otherwise and locked them.
The agent then made me hang around the check-in until TSA got through with it. TSA wanted to look through the case. Okay, have them come out and get the key. No, the gate agent wanted me to give
her the key. I pointed out that this would be a violation of federal law, and she got shrill about how she had a security clearance. Finally I just said, "Fine," gave her the keys, and she took them back to TSA.
TSA cleared the gun, and the agent gave me my keys back. I was irritated, but air travel pretty much just sucks, so what are you going to do? I decided not to let it ruin my day - I'd just let it go instead of trying to get her in trouble - and flew to FL. Our bags arrived; the gun was inside. Everything was great.
FL was great. I was happy to have an non-resident permit.
On the trip back on December 23rd, the gate agent was a pleasant man who thought the Glock was cool. He advised me to hang around until TSA got through checking the bags, and then let me know when it was done. We flew back home.
Our bags were
lost in that "Delta lost everybody's baggage" day. I was unhappy, but what are you going to do? Air travel pretty much sucks (although
Southwest has never lost my bags - knock wood). The lost bags deal was a lot worse for all the people who were arriving on ski vacations and who'd checked their overcoats at the insistence of the Delta personnel - they found themselves in 15° F weather in shirt sleeves. Bet that was a fun time in Taos!
We went home after Delta promised to deliver the luggage first thing the next day. They even prioritized ours, since I whined about needing some clothes (shoes, actually) for Christmas Eve dinner. They gave us an 800 number to call.
I started calling the 800 number at 6 a.m. (Remember, this was the day Delta lost everyone's luggage, tho no one knew that at the time.) I couldn't get through. In fact, I couldn't get through
ever, all day and into the night. I did jump online to learn that the luggage had arrived at the ABQ airport (about 20 miles from our house) at around 1 p.m. I figured, I shouldn't go to the airport to get it, because they'll be delivering it, and I want to be here.
And I had to stick around the house all day, waiting for the Delta idiots who never came. Eventually, it was time to go to our Christmas Eve dinner. We left a note on our gate ("Leave the luggage with the next-door neighbor") and went to dinner. Although I was starting to seriously stress about the gun lost in the luggage, we managed to have a nice time.
At 9 p.m. we came back. No luggage. I started to lose it, and started to drink whisky. My wife said, "Enough with these idiots; I'm going to the airport." She does: the luggage (with my gun in it) is standing unguarded next to a conveyer belt, with a bunch of other luggage. An ocean of luggage, in fact. My wife searches for five minutes before she finds a Delta employee to tell that she's taking the luggage - they say, "Yeah, we just processed those."
She brings the luggage home an hour after she left. The suitcases have big "
V.I.P." stickers on them (I guess this was the alleged prioritization), and my gun's inside, intact and happy.
I kiss my wife and say, "My hero!" (Remember, I've been drinking the whole time she's been gone.) I realize that it's a good thing that I'm not a tourist on a ski weekend in Taos, because I'm pretty sure those poor slobs
never got to hit the slopes over Christmas.
So . . . travelling on Delta? Good luck - hopefully it will work out fine for you. But remember, air travel sucks.