Posted: 8/4/2024 12:39:16 PM EDT
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I haven't flown for 20 years. Doing a trip to Tampa shortly. Flying Southwest. We have short layovers in Chicago (crap) on the way down and Denver on the way back. I guess Southwest flies out of Terminal 2. I am debating checking a firearm. Trying to calculate whether the added stress is worth it. Any recent experiences or advice? |
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There is road construction around terminal 2. Nothing too crazy, it it can bog things down. Southwest should have the requirements for checking a firearm on their website. Every airline is a little different that way. Is there a direct flight with someone else? Frontier or Sun Country? ETA: Just checked. Sun Country and Frontier have Minneapolis to Ft Myers flights. It might be worth the drive to avoid a connecting flight. |
The government is just a corporation with a monopoly on violence.
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Flying domestically with a firearm is pretty easy, I’ve flown SW with rifles a lot of times. You need to check in at the counter with an agent, can’t use the kiosks. Tell the agent that you have a firearm to check. Have it in a locked (with your own keyed padlocks, don’t use TSA locks) case with no ammo in the same case. If your case has multiple places for locks to go, put a lock in each one. Get a set of 4 (or whatever number) keyed-alike locks from Home Depot. The agent will have you fill out a card with your info which you will sign attesting that the firearm is unloaded. They may or may not want to look in the case. If they do want to look, they most likely will not know anything about guns, so prepare yourself for stupid questions. After that, you will put the card in the case and lock it back up. Then, they will either direct you to the TSA inspection area, or will have a TSA agent come over and walk you there. The TSA guy will ask for your key, and will open the case and look at everything. He may or may not swab the case for gunshot residue. (I once had a TSA guy tell me that my case tested positive for GSR. I responded with “Well, it’s a gun, soooooo….” and he didn’t say anything else about it) Then he’ll close it up and send it through the scanner and on to the plane. When you land, you may have to go pick it up from a special office or desk, or it may just come down the conveyor with everything else. Every airport seems to have their own policy on that. That’s it. It generally will only add 10 or 15 minutes to the process, but be prepared for more. I’d recommend putting an AirTag or other similar tracker in the case so you can hopefully find it if something goes wrong. I had my rifle get left in Dallas while I went on to New Zealand a few years ago, and it was nice to be able to see exactly where it was. Knowing it was still sitting at the airport made be feel a lot better than if it showed up at some random address in north Dallas or something. Cheap peace of mind. Oh, and keep the padlock key on your person. I keep one in my pocket, and another one in my carry on bag. There is a small chance that someone may want to inspect it if you have any layovers at other airports. That happened to me once, they called my cell phone and I had to go meet a guy to unlock the case for him. Good luck! |
On the day shift at the Utility Muffin Research Kitchen
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Magic phrases to memorize that lets them know you know what you're doing... "I have a firearm to declare. It's in a locked, hard-sided container." Any ammo? "Yes, in a factory box." The red/orange declaration tag goes on top of your gun case within your checked bag. In several dozen trips, I've never been asked to open the pistol case at the counter nor by TSA. Rifle cases, where the case itself is the checked bag, are often subject to more scrutiny as erud described. Delta did some dumb shit in reaction to the Ft. Lauderdale baggage claim shooting a few years back where you now have to pick up your bag from their office and show ID (good), but they zip tie it shut before releasing it to you (stupid). It can be giant zip ties around the whole bag or just a tiny one on the zipper. I keep a cheap knife in an outer pocket of my suitcase, and the zip ties go in the trash on my way out. Sometimes they screw it up, and your bag comes out on the carousel with the others. Every other airline I've flown, it just comes out on the carousel. |
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Flew in May SunCountry nonstop MSP to SLC. Early flight, no SC agents at their desk but the agent at the next airline over helped us and it was her first time checking a pistol. Took about 15 minutes extra No one looked inside the y case and i had my ammo in a factory box and loaded in one magazine next to the gun Someone walked me to TSA and they took my bag, again not checking anything. It came out on a carousel in SLC—I looked around for the office but they didn’t have one in SLC. |
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Survived the trip. I did end up leaving the pistol home. As far as TSA it was a much better experience than 20 years ago. Could be because it was mid day, no lines. In Tampa we didn't even have to pull the laptop out of the carry on. Southwest was OK, until the last leg of the flight from Denver. Delayed 4 hours. Got home about 3:30AM. |
