Flying out next week

[Big J]

It has bee nearly 10 years since I have gone anywhere in a jet. Next week the wife has a trip planned to Texas and we will be flying.
My question is has anyone lost luggage due to the airlines. Mostly I am worried about losing my gun since I can not carry it on the plane. I know I can carry it unoladed and locked in my luggage. When I carry it is on me so it is alway at arms reach and never out of sight.
Anyone have any helpfull stories as to what is the best way to do/not do here?

Thanks

 

[Sean]

What airport are you flying out of? I work in the industry and have been through all the airports in the area I don't think you have anything to worry about, for the most part the ground workers are hard working guys and gals just trying to make a living. Now if you were flying out of PHL or a few other airports I would think twice about checking a gun or anything for that matter.

 

[Big J]

We will be leaving Evansville airport arriving in San Antonio TX. I think we have one layover then on to another TX airport. I am not exactly sure of the other airport this is the wifes trip I am pretty much just along for the ride.
Is there a way I can walk my luggage to the plane watch it being loaded and then get it at the destination straight off the plane.
This is not ment to be anything negative to the workers of the airline. I understand they are doing their jobs just like anyone else.
I can see "from all the movies" how something could be lost very easily.

 

[jylederman]

There is always a chance of loosing something at the airport. I travel at least 1 wk a month and fortunately I've only had one bag not show up ever. It was simply delayed due to a late arrival. I have never had a bag delayed or lost with a firearm in it. But I carry a copy of my reciept and photos of serial # and gun on my carry on just in case. There have been stories of guns being stolen by TSA. Also don't use TSA approved locks, use regular padlocks.

 

[Sean]

We will be leaving Evansville airport arriving in San Antonio TX. I think we have one layover then on to another TX airport. I am not exactly sure of the other airport this is the wifes trip I am pretty much just along for the ride.
Is there a way I can walk my luggage to the plane watch it being loaded and then get it at the destination straight off the plane.
This is not ment to be anything negative to the workers of the airline. I understand they are doing their jobs just like anyone else.
I can see "from all the movies" how something could be lost very easily.

You can't escort your bag to be loaded and retrieved, your biggest threat is it getting lost not stolen and even that isn't a big threat it doesn't happen that often and it usually shows up on the next flight. I suggest you make sure to have a bag id tag on the outside secured with your contact info on it and also place one right on top of all your clothes etc. inside the bag, when bags get lost forever it is typically because the airline bag tag gets ripped off and the person doesn't have their contact info on the bag or the tag on the outside gets ripped off also. If your bag has no tags on the outside and ends up lost they will open the bag and if they see a tag they can easily contact you.

 

[Big J]

OK Thanks for the info. I had not thought about tags getting ripped off and putting all of your contact info on the inside. I will deffinately do that with all luggage that I am takeing.

 

[Hickory]

Baggage

I would definitely put it in my checked baggage.
I just read an article last week on items that were taken out of bags that are to big for the over head bins, so they are "checked" at boarding time.
No real control over them and they are ripe for the picking. Of course you couldn't get a gun thru the carry on check anyway.
I wouldn't put anything very valuable in a bag I couldn't have in my control. Other than checked luggage of course.
Hickory

 

[sartwell]

My gun missed my connecting flight from Dallas to Killeen Tx. The airline got it on the very next flight to Killeen.

 

[CountryBoy19]

Every single one of my experiences with lost luggage has been because the flight got cancelled and I was transferred to another airline that had an outgoing flight, or a missed flight that got transferred to another flight/airline. There is one incident in which the luggage was "delayed". While it's technically considered lost, I know what happened. Flight from Detroit to Ft Wayne plane had technical issues right before boarding so they swapped it for a different plane. That plane had too much fuel so they couldn't take everybody. Nobody would volunteer to get bumped, and they ultimately decided they could take everybody. We showed up and about 10 bags were missing. I'm 99% certain they decided to just bump bags instead of passengers.

Don't miss your flight and its very, very unlikely your luggage will be lost. All the times I've dealt with lost luggage I have always received it within a day or 2. The airlines deliver your lost luggage to your end destination. The extreme situation I was involved in was on a mission trip in Ecuador. Our final destination was an 8 hour drive from the airport. They lost quite a bit of luggage because of cancelled flights etc and the airline had their contractor drive it 8 hrs from the airport to where we were. It came in early the next morning after we arrived so that guy had to drive all through the night to get it there (a very scary/dangerous thing to do on the "roads" of Ecuador).

 

[Sylvain]

I did a few international trips with multiple layovers in different states and countries and never lost any luggage.
There is not much you can do to make sure it doesn't happen, you just have to trust the airline when it comes to checked luggage.

 

[Sean]

Agree with the above non-standard ops are when bags typically get lost or delayed, don't stress just enjoy your trip.

 

[Big J]

Thanks again to all who have replied. Still not sure if I will take my gun or not, but thanks for all the info.

 

[jrogers]

Start here: Firearms and Ammunition | Transportation Security Administration

Learn it. Print it. Take it with you in case the airline employee is confused about the rules. I've flown with a firearm several times, and it's really not that big a deal.

 

[Dirtebiker]

I've only done it twice, but like jr says, no big deal!

 

[kyotekilr]

Don't mean to thread jack but, has anyone tried to fed ex a gun to ur location?

 

[MooreALX]

I've always been told that the airlines take extra care of checked bags with guns, because they don't want to be responsible for loosing them. I've heard of photographers, who have more camera gear than they can carry on, buying cheap jennings/hipoint guns to keep keep in their checked camera bags to up the priority of their bags getting through.