Lufthansa Airlines, flying to South Africa

[Tobe]

Gentlemen,

I am heading to South Africa for a hunt in June 2018. There will be four of us and we will be travelling with firearms. I'm getting ready to close the deal on flights. My travel agent is pushing Qatar Airlines. The best flight money wise is Lufthansa. Several members of my group have used Lufthansa before with no problems. I don't see any new firearms rules on the Lufthansa website. The layover for Lufthansa is in Frankfort. The layover for Qatar is in Hamad, Doha, Qatar. The Qatar flight is a little better time wise. For obvious reasons I would prefer my layover to be in Germany. Does anyone have experience with either of these airlines and travelling with firearms?

Thanks for the help.

 

[Foxi]

normaly no problem.
You have to declare it by your booking.
And I told them ALWAYS its just a sporting gun for competition and Im on the way with it.
Regards from Munich

 

[Tobe]

Thanks Foxi. We just wanted to confirm that there have been no changes at Lufthansa. We have an email in with Lufthansa but figured we would have a faster response at AH.

 

[Bullthrower338]

I have flown Lufthansa from Houston to J’berg with layover in Frankfurt and they were great. Food wasn’t bad, flight attendants were good and the layover is long enough to go stomp around Frankfurt for the day. They do have a firearm rule that you must confirm 24 or 48 hours in advance of your departure but the lovely Jennifer Ginn @Travel Express handled all of that for me and I had no issues whatsoever.
Cheers,
Cody

 

[GuttormG]

Lufthansa is my absolute favorite airline.
Only downside is the charge extra for firearms (50 euro per flight).

 

[wesheltonj]

There is a reason your agent is pushing Qatar, the gulf carriers have a better product. I don't know what class of service you are looking at but Eco seat is Eco seat no matter the airline, but the level of service will be better on Qatar. Now, if you are looking at Premium Eco on LH, then I would pick LH over Qatar, as Qatar does not have Premium Eco. Business - Qatar. At same or similar price.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Basic Firearms information on the Lufthansa website.
https://www.lufthansa.com/us/en/Dangerous-goods

The associated fees.
https://www.lufthansa.com/mediapool/pdf/26/media_1638184726.pdf

 

[lcq]

I like to get the pain out of the way as quickly as possible I also try and minimize transfers so fewer government bureaucrats to deal with guns and less chance for lost luggage. For me the shortest with the least grief is Delta through Atlanta. there is no way to make 16 hrs on an aircraft a pleasant experience unless you have $10,000 for first class and for me that is almost 2 hunts. I gladly pay the extra for the delta through Atlanta over anyone else via other routes

 

[Hogpatrol]

I flew Lufthansa ONCE from Joburg to Frankfurt. It just plain sucked. The seats were very TIGHT. I would never fly them again. YMMV.

 

[Hank2211]

I have flown through Frankfurt on many occasions, and on one or two transferred to or from Lufthansa. I’ve never had a problem with the airline or the airport. I go through there with confidence.

 

[mdwest]

I flew united from DFW to Frankfurt, then Lufthansa from Frankfurt to Joberg last June. No problems at all.

In fact, the flights were so trouble free that we booked the same flights for our upcoming hunt in March..

Zero complaints

 

[Odinsraven]

Have flown Luftthansa many times Iceland Frankfurt Joberg they are brilliant book early get an exit row seat and you are sorted ....pricewise competitive

 

[IvW]

Only issue I had with Lufthansa is that they seem to go on strike when least expected.

Once at OR Tambo we had to do a second landing as the first was aborted, this was in the big A380 double decker.

Other than that, no issues.

 

[Foxi]

Only issue I had with Lufthansa is that they seem to go on strike when least expected.
.

ouch ,I forgot that totally.
Yes,in 2016 the pilots striked 6 or 8 times .
It was horrible.Lufthansa bought a few low cost carrierer and the L-pilots should go down with their income.
But in March last year ,they came to an agreement: 5 years no strikes.
Hope it is so.
Foxi

 

[Tobe]

Gentlemen,

Thanks for all the information.

 

[Hogpatrol]

Only issue I had with Lufthansa is that they seem to go on strike when least expected.

Once at OR Tambo we had to do a second landing as the first was aborted, this was in the big A380 double decker.

Other than that, no issues.

That go around cost them a nice piece of change. I guess it's a little unnerving to the passengers doing S turns in a 380.

 

[IvW]

That go around cost them a nice piece of change. I guess it's a little unnerving to the passengers doing S turns in a 380.

Yip, and the more than 500 passengers get a little bit nervous when the plane goes from nose down coming in to land to suddenly full throttle nose up!

The pilot was great though and informed all immediately and landing was flawless.

 

[Philip Glass]

Thanks Foxi. We just wanted to confirm that there have been no changes at Lufthansa. We have an email in with Lufthansa but figured we would have a faster response at AH.

No transit permit required now.

 

[GuttormG]

Lufthansa is my absolute favorite airline.
Only downside is the charge extra for firearms (50 euro per flight).

Still my favourite airline but will not use them again for going to South Africa or any travel with guns.
1-they have increased their fee for firearms, now charging 300 Euro per guncase.
2-very unproffessional handling of check-in of firearms at johannesburg. Their local agent (swissport) did theyr very best but Lufthansa apperently does not give them acsess to their system so they have to call Frankfurt to get prices, instructions and answers.

 

[sierraone]

300 Euro per gun case....just absolutely unbelievable!