flying with my shotgun and ammo

[joey46]

Glad it all worked out.  Congrats on the bird.

[GobbleNut]

...we both get paged to go back to the ticket counter. The lady said they found three shotgun shells in my checked bag. She gave them to me and told me that I needed to turn them into a LEO. The LEO took them.

I am a bit surprised that they looked that closely at your checked baggage, but I suppose this just reenforces the need for everyone to put all of your ammo in a "factory" carton regardless of whether you put it in checked baggage or in the gun case.  This also makes me wonder if some airlines have regulations prohibiting ammo in checked baggage?...

[joey46]

Doubt it - it would need to be declared and stored in a approved container.  Can never be in a carry on.

[hipp2412]

When we went back to the ticket counter the lady had them wrapped in a tissue and her words were "these were loose in your checked bag" well they were actually in my vest pocket that I forgot about. She said they should have been in the locked case. She said that I was not allowed to put them in the case at that time since the gun case was already taken behind closed doors. She said I had to turn them into a LEO or put them in my car. I had a rental so that wasn't an option. Leaving Harrisburg Pa they had me open the case and I signed a card stating that the gun was unloaded. I actually had a chamber flag in the gun as well. I had to walk the case over to a oversized belt. The guy asked me for the key to the locks. I just looked at him and he said they needed the key and that he would bring the key right back. About 10 minutes went by and a TSA worker returned my key. Was not a problem and the issues I had were my own fault. I think my wife is still traumatized though..LOL

[Spurs Up]

When we went back to the ticket counter the lady had them wrapped in a tissue and her words were "these were loose in your checked bag" well they were actually in my vest pocket that I forgot about. She said they should have been in the locked case. She said that I was not allowed to put them in the case at that time since the gun case was already taken behind closed doors. She said I had to turn them into a LEO or put them in my car. I had a rental so that wasn't an option. Leaving Harrisburg Pa they had me open the case and I signed a card stating that the gun was unloaded. I actually had a chamber flag in the gun as well. I had to walk the case over to a oversized belt. The guy asked me for the key to the locks. I just looked at him and he said they needed the key and that he would bring the key right back. About 10 minutes went by and a TSA worker returned my key. Was not a problem and the issues I had were my own fault. I think my wife is still traumatized though..LOL

Did you have to pay an oversized bag fee?  What airline did you fly?

[hipp2412]

I did not have to pay extra. I prepaid for 3 checked bags and my gun case was one of them. I flew with Allegiant. No lay overs from Harrisburg to Orlando.

[Marc]

Great advice given.

One thing I will add, is that all too often, there will be someone at the airport or check-in, that will believe you are NOT allowed to do what you are doing.

Some years back, when we went hunting in Canada, I printed out the requirements/regulations from the airlines we were flying.  We each had a printed copy of the airlines regulations.  When someone said we could not do such&such we just calmly pulled out our typed up sheet and showed them where we could.  It did end up saving us some major hassle with one employee (who because of our typed up sheet called a supervisor, who cleared it up).

Get the requirements and regulations for flying with gun/ammo, follow them to the tee, and have a typed up sheet with you, so that you can easily demonstrate that you did everything correctly.