New US Customs policy pertaining to bows & arrows for hunting

[SikaMDhunter]

Sitting at Newark international right now. Checked in at Reagan in DC before flying here. United agents at kiosk asked if it was a gun. Said no and checked it in. Once in Newark I had to go to baggage claim as the flights weren't connecting. Checking back in another United agents asked what it was, I said a bow and she began telling me I might have to go and check it with firearms. I told her "no" and checked it in as oversize luggage. No problems at all, lock still on case, and I'm tracking it with the app. 15 hr flight to joburg coming up

 

[mdwest]

I now see that you already explained the US Customs return process in your first post. I apologize for making you repeat yourself. I mistakenly thought that you were conveying your experience in DFW going to Africa.
Great information!

No worries at all..

It was a bit more hassle than expected traveling in and out of DFW with bows this year.. certainly A LOT more of a hassle than the last time we did it in 2017.. but in the scope of things, it really wasnt that big of a deal.. at the end of the day we made it to SA with our bows, nothing damaged, nothing missing, etc.. and we made it back to DFW the same way...

We're always very early to arrive at DFW when traveling internationally for just these reasons.. its a huge airport.. even when nothing goes wrong it can still easily take far more time than is reasonable just to get through normal processes due to lines, etc.. So we just make it part of the plan to arrive WAY early, and if we end up with no issues, we sit and relax in the lounge until its time to board.. (benefit of flying WAY too much and having platnium pro membership status, etc..)...

By the time we get back home, we're exhausted.. it would be pretty easy to let silly shit set me off.. but its not worth it.. its not like jumping up and down and getting pissed would change anything with a TSA/Customs/Ticket Agent/Anyone else at an airport.. We just ride out the stupidity that is sadly pretty commonplace at airports and with airlines all over the US these days.. home and/or the lounge is never more than just a few minutes away..

 

[mdwest]

Sitting at Newark international right now. Checked in at Reagan in DC before flying here. United agents at kiosk asked if it was a gun. Said no and checked it in. Once in Newark I had to go to baggage claim as the flights weren't connecting. Checking back in another United agents asked what it was, I said a bow and she began telling me I might have to go and check it with firearms. I told her "no" and checked it in as oversize luggage. No problems at all, lock still on case, and I'm tracking it with the app. 15 hr flight to joburg coming up

One lesson learned on this last trip (not bow specific.. but applied to bows on this particular trip).. Im definitely investing in some AirTags before we fly internationally again..

We flew on air miles this year.. which meant we booked through American Airlines.. but flew over on a code shared Qatar flight to Doha, and then another Qatar flight from Doha to Joberg... On the way home we flew on a code shared flight from Joberg to London Heathrow, and then on the very last leg of the trip, flew on an American bird from London to DFW..

American's bag tracking app SUCKS.. and if youre on code shared flights, none of the other airlines bag trackers actually work for you either..

Because of all of the tomfoolery with the Qatar desk when leaving, I wanted to check and see if my bows actually got loaded on the plane.. the Qatar app basically told me "screw you.. you have to track your bags on the airline you booked with".. and the American app never updated to show the bags as loaded until we were probably 2 hours already in flight (checked using aircraft wifi).. same thing happened on the Doha-Joberg leg.. the American app didnt update until we were already mid flight.. so when we boarded I had no way of knowing if the bows actually got transferred or not..

The way home we experienced the same thing with the BA flight.. BA's app wouldnt tell us anything.. and the American app was super slow updating.. we had a 5 hour layover in London.. the first bag was scanned and the app updated about 2 hours after we touched down saying the bag had been unloaded and was at heathrow.. the remaining 4 checked bags didnt update at all before we took off on the next leg..

When we landed at DFW, I checked the app.. it showed 4x bags of the 5 total that had been checked had been scanned and loaded at Heathrow..

About 20 minutes after we landed the app updated and showed 4x bags at DFW (5th not being reported on..)... all 5 bags came out on the conveyer though.. and probably 10 minutes after we had the "missing" bag (which was not one of the bows) the app updated and said the bag had been unloaded at DFW..

 

[SikaMDhunter]

I thought about the air tags but they work off of other apple devices around. Sitting in the airport realizing now there's gotta be plenty in any airport.

 

[archer36]

I can't believe people are having such issues. I traveled from Newark to Johannesburg in 2021 on United
with two crossbows in cases. I was told bring them to the check in and put them in oversized luggage area.
Back and forth, no issues whatsoever.

 

[Stubbleduck]

August 11 United from Minneapolis to Newark and on to Johannesburg then reverse on August 25. Packed two Gearhead Disrupter 24 bows and associated gear in a Badlands "Terraglide" semi hard rolling duffle with room to spare. Baggage folks in Minneapolis and Johannesburg didn't look twice at the Terraglide, just tagged it and loaded on the belt. Bows and equipment were fine on arrival both ways. Locked the zipper pulls together with the TSA cable locks and the zippers themselves are well built and would be hard though probably not impossible to force open.

 

[ACE (in CT)]

It would appear that the procedure can vary quite a bit. We flew from Newark, NJ to Jo'berg in July. Friends had rifles, they went through the usual and expected delays and checks. My double bow case (which looks like a rifle case, but had "Sporting Goods, No Firearms" written on it) was as easy as could be. When we checked in, I told them it was "Archery Equipment", they had a very bored looking lady in a uniform come over and wheel it over to oversized baggage.

I think reading and printing off the Airlines Policy is always a good idea with both Bows and Guns, some agents have no idea what their own companies require or allow. Also, since the United Website called Bows and Arrows 'Sporting Goods', that's what I called them. No need to bring up their intended use in RSA, unless asked.

At JNB, my case was quickly taken (by what appeared to be a civillian) to the Firearms check area. I'm almost certain that was because he was fishing for a tip for what turned out to be a completely unneccessary step. He and the guy who he spoke to at the Police station said "that HAVE to check it" when I opened the case and told the guy watching me that it was archery equipment, he didn't even look, and said "no need for me to see it" and walked away. Mr Helpful did not receive a tip, and later our driver told me everyone at the airport (who isn't getting on or off a plane) is looking for money, either doing something sneaky or illegal.

 

[Altitude sickness]

Buy a short ATA bow that will fit in your normal luggage. Or buy a soft bow case that looks nothing like a Pelican or SKB. As suggested Find a used bad lands terraglide

Or take a take down recurve as I did last may

 

[Adipose]

We just returned. We flew United from Boston to Newark to Joberg. No issues or delays at all, bows were checked as oversized baggage. We had a few arrows that had field tips in them. They were taken out of the arrows and were in the bottom of the case. Apparently they inspected our equipment and we were told people in the past have been caught with substances packed in there arrow shafts. We talked to other bowhunters and they had the same thing happen to them. So leave the field points out of the arrows. Thats the only way we knew someone had even opened our case, everything else was left in perfect order.

 

[Altitude sickness]

Travel was SOOO much easier when I bowhunted Africa instead of carrying rifles. But that’s the way it is.

 

[mrpoindexter]

Life will be a lot easier and open up a lot of hunting opportunities for me if I can transit my bow through Dubai as I go there every February. Anybody know if we can take bows into Dubai yet?