Anyone flown Lufthansa with guns and imported temporarily through Germany to connect?

Ardent

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I'm headed overseas again soon and will be taking two firearms, best carrier I have available for my dates of travel is Lufthansa, anyone travelled with sporting guns, with them? Will fly likely to Frankfurt, though I may have to do a double connection Frankfurt to Munich (also on a Lufthansa connection), then on to Africa. I lived in Germany for awhile, but never once had occasion to so much as look at a firearm there and I'm feeling out the best way to get to my destination, with my guns. Any advice is appreciated, utlimate destination is Zimbabwe.
 
I've flown through Frankfurt a few times with no problem with Air canada/Lufthansa. The easiest is if you don't have a stop longer than 24 hours, then you can check your guns through to Zim, and not have to deal with it at all. Are you up on your Zim procedure?
Not knowing this, my wife and I stored my rifles inside the airport and wandered around Frankfurt for a day or so.
On another occasion 3 of us thought to do the same thing. After finding that that particular storage wouldn't take guns, we were directed from place to place and floor to floor without any luck. Eventually, while trying to talk a clerk into taking them, he pointed to a set of glass doors 50 feet away and told us that Germany was on the other side. We walked through with 5 rifles and our baggage and got a minivan cab. To this day I still don't know how we did it, I don't even remember going through customs.:confused:
 
I flew Lufthansa this year to Frankfurt, had a 10-hour layover, then caught my flight on Air Namibia. My guncase was checked straight through (I made sure to watch them label it as such at Pearson in Toronto) and arrived with me in Windhoek without incident. Lufthansa had good service, beautiful flight attendants, and excellent beer (Air Namibia, no, no and no).

On my return trip, the same route in reverse, my guncase disappeared somewhere between Windhoek and Toronto. I wasted hours in the airport waiting for it, then more time filling in reports, etc. I eventually became fairly upset and made it known to all concerned. They promised me that my case would be found and delivered to my door, 130 km from Pearson. Sure enough, I was phoned within 24 hours and a taxi appeared in my driveway shortly thereafter with my case, undamaged except for a few minor scuffs. My trip to Africa had made this one of my most treasured guns, so to say that I was relieved is an understatement.

All things considered, and considering that flying Toronto-Frankfurt-Windhoek allowed me to by-pass the insanity of post-9/11 American airports, I would do the same thing again, the same way.
 
That's what I have in mind, try and stay out of the US... especially after this Christmas. I just landed when that junk went down. Direct flights out of New York looked pretty good until this mixup.

As for Zimbabwe procedure, it's actually supposed to be easier than South Africa according to the PHs, mind you I'll have to do South Africa's process anyhow for the temporary. The embargo doesn't affect my plans much seeing as I have to fly to South Africa first anyhow.
 
The Zim procedure is easier than SA. It's all on one page for starters. What I do is stack 5 of them with carbon paper and staple the sandwich together. Fill in everything except the date and the signature. Use black ink.
They don't bother telling anyone that they need copies and don't have a copier. Officially the number needed is 3, but if you have 3 "they" will need 4. If you have 4 they will need 5.:rolleyes: So, I make 5 and tell them it's 3.:D
 
Glad to see bureaucracy is alive and well even in the world's corners... perhaps it even thrives there. When I started to hear about citizen's firearm ownership in many South African countries, I felt very, very privileged to be Canadian... For instance limits like 300 rounds a year for competition clays shooters, and no more .22 permits being issued in some countries, or the "scrap" trade-in license system where every gun is individually licensed, and you can trade it in for scrap and replace it with a smaller caliber only (the example listed showed a .470NE being replaced with a .30-06, and from then one the license is only good for .30-06 or less).
 
Howdy, folks.

A colleague and I are just in the process of finalizing details for a trip to Zim in June. We went to SA last year, and it was no problem at all to take firearms with Lufthansa as compared to any other airline.

HOWEVER - Zimbabwe right now is another matter altogether. At this time, the government of Canada has imposed some sanctions against Zimbabwe. One of these is no export of arms or ammunition. And yes, this includes hunting rifles taken out for the trip, and brought back under the usual Temporary Export Permit.

We are right now attempting to determine if there is any way to get an exception, but the short answer we have been given is a simple "No".

Sorry - I'm not smart enough to know how to post a link... but if you google "Special Economic Measures (Zimbabwe) Regulations" it should take you right to it. If I find a way to get around this I will get back (still waiting on some replies from e-mails sent to Deparment of Foreign Affairs and International Trade).
 
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