Paris layover with Rifle?

[Riksa]

Which agent did you use? Thanks

I hunted with JKO Safaris and they handled the paperwork, flights and everything with their partners.

 

[Paul G]

Having a travel agent will make everything be 10X worse if there is a problem. For the most part of it's under 24 hours you're usually fine, some airlines are over 12hrs just call the airline.

 

[DLSJR]

Which travel agent did your friend use? Who are you using? Thanks

I don’t know which travel agent he used. I use Shawn Kennedy of Gracy Travel.

 

[Hyde Hunter]

I contacted Gracy Travel recently and asked what their fee was and was told 300 for a hunter and 150 for non hunter so I asked why the price difference and was told " because hunters ask more questions and our time is worth something" with that no thanks, I have been very happy with Jennifer at Travel
Express and will continue to use her next April tickets are booked 4 of us

 

[wesheltonj]

I prefer to book myself. I suppose, if I took a difficult place to hunt and travel to, I would consider using Kathy Klimes. She booked the travel for a Jim Shockey’s show, and he traveled for some difficult hunts.

 

[375Fox]

I contacted Gracy Travel recently and asked what their fee was and was told 300 for a hunter and 150 for non hunter so I asked why the price difference and was told " because hunters ask more questions and our time is worth something" with that no thanks, I have been very happy with Jennifer at Travel
Express and will continue to use her next April tickets are booked 4 of us

When I stopped using Gracy it was $300 debited from your checking account with additional fee to use your credit card. Hopefully they’ve stopped this.

 

[CoElkHunter]

I contacted Gracy Travel recently and asked what their fee was and was told 300 for a hunter and 150 for non hunter so I asked why the price difference and was told " because hunters ask more questions and our time is worth something" with that no thanks, I have been very happy with Jennifer at Travel
Express and will continue to use her next April tickets are booked 4 of us

If you are bringing your rifle(s), the extra $150 for the "hunter" is for the travel agency to submit all of your firearms paperwork to Rifle Permits or similar agency. You actually could do that yourself, but Rifle Permits fee of $150 for firearms pre approval is WELL WORTH it. I would NEVER do that part myself.

 

[375Fox]

If you are bringing your rifle(s), the extra $150 for the "hunter" is for the travel agency to submit all of your firearms paperwork to Rifle Permits or similar agency. You actually could do that yourself, but Rifle Permits fee of $150 for firearms pre approval is WELL WORTH it. I would NEVER do that part myself.

That’s incorrect. You’ll get charged the $150 still if you choose a pre-approved permit in South Africa but it’s not part of Gracy or any travel agency’s hunter/traveling with a firearm booking fee. In Gracy’s case it’s done internally, but still a separate fee.

 

[shootist~]

Gracy told me their $300 fee includes VIP meet and greet / customs fast lane (at JNB). FWIW, Africa Sky is doing the Rifle Permit service, I'm also overnighting with them. Gracy's fee was charged to my cc along with the airline tickets (last month) - no bank debit.

 

[JimP]

That’s incorrect. You’ll get charged the $150 still if you choose a pre-approved permit in South Africa but it’s not part of Gracy or any travel agency’s hunter/traveling with a firearm booking fee. In Gracy’s case it’s done internally, but still a separate fee.

I'm not going to say the name of the agency on the forum that CoElkHunter was talking about but we were charged a $150 fee by the travel agency because we were taking rifles. If you were not taking rifles then there was no charge. We still had to pay the $150 or what ever Henry at Rifle Permits charged for our pre-approved permits. This fee by the agency was just to them and no one else. All I could figure was that they charged that much to forward the permits over to Henry once I had sent the paperwork to them. Sad to say Ill never recommend or use that agency again.

The paperwork isn't that bad to complete on your own and then to send to Henry or one of the other companies that offer this service in South Africa. If I would of known just how they were going to charge us I would of told them not to bother and that I would do the permits with Henry on my own.