My Experience Flying with Firearms on SouthWest Airlines

[C-Note]

Flying to New Orleans, LA from Fort Lauderdale, FL. LA and FL have reciprocity so I can carry while I'm there.

Get to Ft. Laud. airport early in the AM. Go up to Skycap and inform him that I'm declaring firearms in my checked baggage and tip him 5 bucks. He says to follow him inside since this has to be handled at the customer service counter. We proceed past about 40 people to the front of the line, saving me from at least a 1-hour wait!

Tell the agent behind the counter that I'm declaring firearms. She has me open the luggage and the locked firearms case to demonstrate they are unloaded. I clear my G22, G29 and Kel-Tec P32 for her. Ammo for said firearms is also inside in a hard plastic ammo case.

She fills out a tag and places it in the case. I close and lock the case, and zip up the luggage. She checks the baggage in. That's it.

The flight back from New Orleans was exactly the same. Tipped the Skycap 5 bucks and he marches me to the front of a very long line at customer service. Ran through the same drill. Same outcome. Extremely satisfied with SouthWest Airlines.

Moral of the story: The quickest way through an airport is to bring a gun!

 

[4v50 Gary]

Go SouthWest Airlines! Thanks for the Skycap tip.

 

[Coronach]

Oh goodie. Thats my airline.

Mike

 

[larry_minn]

Glad it worked well for you. I had a sky cap try to take my suitcase when I was INSIDE airport in line for electronic check in. He walked up and grabbed my bag (I was digging out my credit card while waiting my turn.) I verbally stopped him (rather loudly) He mumbles something about checking me in at curt OUTSIDE. I finally let him take the non gun checked bag and then got back in line. He did NOT get a tip. (I didn't mention the bag had pair of guns in it.)
I was thinking if I had not had guns in bag I might have caused a scene. He takes MY bag without asking and tries to go OUTSIDE terminal.

 

[Erich]

SWA did fine when I last flew on them, two weeks ago. The only thing that didn't thrill me was that they put the "firearms-unloaded" tag both inside my locked gun case and on the outside of my suitcase. That always irritates me. I asked the counter girl to take it off ("Isn't that sort of a 'steal-me' tag?") and she said that she thought she had to do it that way. Obviously the law (or even SWA policy) doesn't require that, but who knows what her supervisor wants or demands? In any event, I knew TSA would be digging through the suitcase (they did, and they attempted to pry the locked gun case open - they also took out each round of my ammo and replaced it in the ammo boxes) so I figured that if someone was going to steal the gun, there was nothing I could do about it.

I'm really starting to hate flying. But it's not SWA's fault.

 

[DigMe]

Moral of the story: The quickest way through an airport is to bring a gun!

I thought the moral was "the quickest way through an airport is to tip the skycap."

brad cook

 

[DigMe]

Obviously the law (or even SWA policy) doesn't require that, but who knows what her supervisor wants or demands?

Isn't it actually illegal to put the tag on the exterior of the main suitcase?

brad cook

 

[sturmruger]

I could be wrong about this, but I think they are not supposed to put any exterior tags on a suitcase. I would stayed there until they removed it.

 

[Pebcac]

It is specifically against federal law to mark the outside of the suitcase in any manner to indicate a firearm is contained inside.

From the NRA-ILA website

 

[carpettbaggerr]

Isn't it actually illegal to put the tag on the exterior of the main suitcase?

Yes.

 

[Erich]

Pity I wasn't up on that . . . and I should know better!