Jack Robinson
CGN Regular
- Location
- Alberta / Mazatlan
I was there last July, flew out of Seattle with a buddy of mine. Stopped in Atlanta, then straight to Jo'burg. 15hr in the air. but no extra hassles.
First hunt to South Africa Advise!
- Thread starter jcbruno
- Start date
We had an engine catch on fire on takeoff in Frankfurt that delayed us a day. They just kept our guns in transit for us. Star Alliance carriers are actually pretty accommodating regarding guns other than their extra charges.
In a weird, perverse sort of way the charges actually seemed to make things go smoother. It sort of changes the dynamic from them pretending they are doing you some great favor, to them pretending they are charging for a service that they pretend is valuable.
If you fly any South African Air related carrier, be careful with your gun case size (and all your luggage dimensions and weights).
They recently pushed back the luggage dimensions to such that your average Pelican / SKB type double case will be treated as excess baggage and / or may be considered cargo with the appropriate cargo handling and charges applying.
I have not seen personally them enforce it as yet, but I have heard that they will depending on the flight conditions.
BTW Dog - I agree that when they charge you, you may actually get a service in return.
On one return leg out of JoBurg, we were not charged for the rifles, but in London, as we were sleeping across the chairs in that long layover, we could have sworn we heard our names called out over the noise of the airport. We ventured down to security where we were informed that we did not pay our fee... we protested that we were not required to by SA and therefore we should be good to go. LOL . We paid our money to Air Canada and then we were good to go. At least they had our rifles and were aware of them. I was surprised by that.
I have had my rifles show up at either end days later (or the ammo luggage). A bit worrisome to say the least, but something you must get used to. You may never see them again.
They recently pushed back the luggage dimensions to such that your average Pelican / SKB type double case will be treated as excess baggage and / or may be considered cargo with the appropriate cargo handling and charges applying.
I have not seen personally them enforce it as yet, but I have heard that they will depending on the flight conditions.
BTW Dog - I agree that when they charge you, you may actually get a service in return.
On one return leg out of JoBurg, we were not charged for the rifles, but in London, as we were sleeping across the chairs in that long layover, we could have sworn we heard our names called out over the noise of the airport. We ventured down to security where we were informed that we did not pay our fee... we protested that we were not required to by SA and therefore we should be good to go. LOL . We paid our money to Air Canada and then we were good to go. At least they had our rifles and were aware of them. I was surprised by that.
I have had my rifles show up at either end days later (or the ammo luggage). A bit worrisome to say the least, but something you must get used to. You may never see them again.
