Flying through Chicago

I

ivan

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Perhaps this is wrong forum: but I'm flying to attend a shooting match: so let's start here.

Does anyone have any PERSONAL knowledge of flying to Chicago (ORD) with restricted firearms (handguns) in the last half dozen years. I normally fly to St. Louis but am considering Chicago as it has better flight availability. I will not be staying in Chicago: but driving onwards to more friendly territory.

With Chicago being notoriously anti-gun, I just wanted to check the collective wisdom to see if others have done this hassle free, or if there are known problem with this plan.

Please do not give me anecdotal "I heard someone had problems" evidence. I'm looking for first hand knowledge here.

thanks

-ivan-
 
Ivan have you tried posting this question on Benos? More likely to get an answer there.
 
You would have to be compliant with all firearms laws and transportation laws in each state or municipality you travel through. Some of these vary by city with a particular state. Your ATF Form 6 is not specific to any state but you have to abide by local laws.
 
Personally, I would call the Airport Authority at the airport to find out for sure....otherwise, you are just betting on someones opinions or experiences at some earlier date, that might not be what is in effect now. JMHO!
 
If you are planning to collect your bags and drive from Chicago, everything I've read says, No. Another good forum to check for info on this is pistol-forum.com
 
7.62mm said:
Personally, I would call the Airport Authority at the airport to find out for sure....otherwise, you are just betting on someones opinions or experiences at some earlier date, that might not be what is in effect now. JMHO!
Click to expand...

^ This

They will be happy to get you the correct info. And, if some goof up occurs, you will be on record as having sought the right info.
 
I work in the airline industry so take this for what its worth, less then two Canadian pennies.
I worked a project in ORD in the summer, and can tell you that I have seen firearms go through the bag system to be loaded onto plans ... that's sort of a no-no, firearms are not supposed to be put on the bag conveyors, they aught to be hand carried by an airline employee. You can check into a flight originating from ORD and declare the firearms to the ticket agent (watched it done one day while observing the ticket counters), or you can transfer through ORD and pick them up at your destination (watched the transfer between aircraft one day while I was walking the apron). You can also pick up firearms from flights that terminate at ORD, I got talking to a group of hunters just back from Alaska with with their rifles and bounty while I was waiting on my ride at arrivals one evening.
US Federal, IL State, and FAA rules all apply. Basically make sure your stuffs locked up, and have all your paperwork in order. Call the airline your flying, they can give you the up to date rules for any airport they operate out of, but it should be pretty close to what you're used to flying to STL. Beware the gate agent, they will probably not know what to do. The airline will have a policy the agent should follow, but may not know or use often. Get that policy from the airline in advance. If I'm not mistaken the FAA transport rules should be pretty close to the transport laws in IL, so it should be ok to toss the gun case in the trunk of your car.
Calling the airport authority isn't a bad plan either but those people don't actually touch the bags (at least not in the terminals I've worked in) so they might have some general info but may be lacking in details for your particular carrier.

Remember this is just what I've observed working in ORD, and your best bet is to call your airline.

DINK
 
What happens in Morontario does not apply to the rest of the country, out west, most often guns go on the belt after being either inspected by hand or x-rayed. And they get treated just like every other bag after that.
As for Ivans question, there are supposed to be safe travels protection or whatever it's called so that transiting through anti gun states and cities won't get you arrested. That hasn't worked out well for a number of people. Chicago would have to be waaaaay cheaper for me to even consider it.
 
So it seems the bad news is that no one here has concrete news for me here.
The good news is that there is also no solid evidence of problems, only rumors.

I've checked on Enos and elsewhere and while things appear to be more anal there, there are no real surprises to Canadians flying.
If a Canadian knows how to fly with a firearm, then O'Hare is the same as elsewhere (note: this applies to "flying in" with firearms, not "being in Chicago" with firearms.

The real "O'Hare problem" appears to be with Americans who don't know how to deal with draconian gun laws... but as Canadians, that's exactly what we're used to.

-ivan-
 
Also depends on Staff. I flew Bellingham to Seattle, (Carry on only, no checked bags for two parents, two kids) Seattle to San Francisco, San Fran to Cancun. Spent ten days on a beach, back to Cancun, flew to Dallas, through Customs, back through Security and a guy looking at the scope waved my bag off to the side and I stood there while they pulled a loaded .40 S&W round out of the bottom of my mag pouch pocket on my .511 shorts. I had worn these on the beach and around Playa Del Carma for a week. I asked the guy to flip it over to show the black line on the bottom and told him it was one of my reloads, I shoot IPSC and travel with guns, but this was a family trip. He said, "Sir, this is Texas, we get this a lot" I gave them my name and address, swapped stories about guns and we were on our way. If the guy on the machine is good, they do their job. If you are polite they move you through. That round got missed by a lot of scanners (and me) Guess they see a lot of guns in Texas...
 
I've flown through several times in the last few years with no issues. However, if you have a canceled flight and required to pick up your bags, I would call the police and explain the problem. Do not pick up your bags there or you are screwed.
 
While I fly more than I care too, I have never flown with firearms so I don't know how much benefit this would be.
If I fly out of my local airport, I can fly to Chicago and connect from there. As the local airport is small, unlike Pearson, I would arrive at terminal 5, the international terminal. So even with checked bags, when the flight landed in Chicago I would have to collect my bags, including checked bags with firearms and proceed through US Customs and travel outside the terminal to the next domestic terminal.
Somehow I don't think that is going to happen!
 
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