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Well, team, I took the family to Colorado over Thanksgiving and decided to bring my pistol with me for the first time. I was reluctant to bring it on the plane, but after this thread discussion, i went for it.
It went pretty smoothly, only took an extra 5 minutes at each check in. At checking the bags at the counter, I calmly stated, "I need to declare an unloaded firearm, locked in a hard sided case in one of my bags."
The ladies didnt flinch, had me fill out the declaration card, taped it to the outside of the hard sided case, and calmly directed me on how to proceed. After they took my other bags, a TSA rep led me to a side room, where he gloved up, opened my bag, looked around a little bit, swabbed the outside of the hard sided case, closed up, and politely dismissed me. At neither location did they ask to open the hard sided case to confirm unloaded. No big deal.
I had the pistol in my quick access bedside vault. A installed a bolt eye on the bottom and used that to padlock to the inside frame of my suitcase with a thick, flexible bike lock cable. I figured better safe than sorry.
However, when we got home to unpack, we found TSA inspection declaration tags in ALL of our other luggage and my 2 holsters, which were in a different suitcase than the pistol were GONE! A Wilson Combat featherweight IWB and my beloved Alessi shoulder rig, totaling close to $300- Gone!
I called the airport, the airline and the Denver airport TSA and got nowhere. Now, I have to fill out a claim with the TSA, dig through the trash to recover boarding passes, baggage tags, etc. and hope for the best. Apparently it will take several months to get a decision from the TSA as to whether they will cover it. It took 6 months to get that Alessi, probably gonna order a new one right away.
So my lessons... Glad I locked in my pistol! A declared firearm may be a red flag
to thieves. NEVER put anything in a checked bag you are not willing to lose(should've known this already).
Thought I would vent my woes, and give a heads up to the community.
By the way, glad I had old slabsides at the bedside in the vacation house and it was very satisfying visiting a state that allows any citizen to drive with a loaded pistol in the car. Felt like real America!
It went pretty smoothly, only took an extra 5 minutes at each check in. At checking the bags at the counter, I calmly stated, "I need to declare an unloaded firearm, locked in a hard sided case in one of my bags."
The ladies didnt flinch, had me fill out the declaration card, taped it to the outside of the hard sided case, and calmly directed me on how to proceed. After they took my other bags, a TSA rep led me to a side room, where he gloved up, opened my bag, looked around a little bit, swabbed the outside of the hard sided case, closed up, and politely dismissed me. At neither location did they ask to open the hard sided case to confirm unloaded. No big deal.
I had the pistol in my quick access bedside vault. A installed a bolt eye on the bottom and used that to padlock to the inside frame of my suitcase with a thick, flexible bike lock cable. I figured better safe than sorry.
However, when we got home to unpack, we found TSA inspection declaration tags in ALL of our other luggage and my 2 holsters, which were in a different suitcase than the pistol were GONE! A Wilson Combat featherweight IWB and my beloved Alessi shoulder rig, totaling close to $300- Gone!
I called the airport, the airline and the Denver airport TSA and got nowhere. Now, I have to fill out a claim with the TSA, dig through the trash to recover boarding passes, baggage tags, etc. and hope for the best. Apparently it will take several months to get a decision from the TSA as to whether they will cover it. It took 6 months to get that Alessi, probably gonna order a new one right away.
So my lessons... Glad I locked in my pistol! A declared firearm may be a red flag
to thieves. NEVER put anything in a checked bag you are not willing to lose(should've known this already).
Thought I would vent my woes, and give a heads up to the community.
By the way, glad I had old slabsides at the bedside in the vacation house and it was very satisfying visiting a state that allows any citizen to drive with a loaded pistol in the car. Felt like real America!
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