Uncle Sauce
AH elite
Travel Back:
Marius and I loaded up all the skins and skulls in the bakkie and headed to East London. He dropped me off at the entrance to the airport and I proceeded to the Airlink check in. So now everything is in reverse.
No issue here but I did have to tell them how many live rounds I had but no questions on how many empty cases I had. Weighed the ammo case and back into the luggage this time. And this is where it got a bit screwed up. The ticket agent told me I needed to go upstairs to pay for excess baggage/firearm fee after they checked my rifle SN#. So I went upstairs but no one knew anything about fees and no one could help me so I just headed to the gate and waited for the flight to Joberg. When it was time to start boarding they scanned my boarding pass and there was a ‘No Board’ message so they pulled me off to the side and asked if I had paid the fee ‘No’ I replied. They had to then have someone run and get a credit card reader machine brought to the gate since I didn’t have any cash. Note to self: Always pack some Rand with you! Finally, a kid ran up and I scanned my card and I was ready to board. Disaster averted.
Landed in Joberg and was greeted by a Riflepermits rep on the tarmac as soon as I deboarded. He shuttled me straight to baggage claim and we picked up my bags and headed to Qatar check in but since I had over a 7 hour layover Qatar check in was deserted. So I went and grabbed lunch with my rifle & baggage in tow. Painful to haul your luggage around an airport for that long. Finally Qatar opened up and went back to check in and got my luggage checked in and received my boarding passes. Then we had to go back to SAPS. Anyway, got on the plane headed to Doha.
The flight to Doha took about 1 hour longer than anticipated so when we landed I had to hustle to get on the Seattle flight. Also, we had to go back through security checks twice here. Didn’t even have time to use the restroom.
Boarded for the long haul to Seattle. When we landed back in Seattle this is where the fun started. Deboarded the plane and went straight through customs which seemed to take forever. Finally, through Customs to try and claim my luggage. After waiting almost an hour but no baggage I asked 4 different people about my baggage and rifle. And received four different answers. Finally found a customs agent that said all my luggage was being held with them not far away. I had assumed that my checked bag would come out on the carousel and my rifle would be held by Customs. Hustled over there and went through Customs again and they X-rayed my luggage and gave me my checked bag but not the rifle.
There was another hunter from Montana that was in the same boat. They said a lady had to deliver the rifles to Carousel 1 (remember the carousel 1 from my trip over!) Well it turns Carousel 1 is the International rifle/oversize item drop off point. Well, she took another hour to get our rifles to the baggage claim area and finally the other hunter spotted her and grabbed both our rifles. By this time, I only had 30 minutes to make my flight so we hustled to check the rifle back in with TSA and Alaska. Needless to say, the ticket agent took my bag but not the rifle and when I went to get TSA to check the rifle and the Alaskan rep said I wouldn’t make the flight and rebooked me on the next one. Course now I have luggage on two different flights…Well, it actually worked out since the original flight was delayed and when I landed in Spokane I didn’t have to wait long for both pieces to arrive on the carousel. Finally home.
Marius and I loaded up all the skins and skulls in the bakkie and headed to East London. He dropped me off at the entrance to the airport and I proceeded to the Airlink check in. So now everything is in reverse.
No issue here but I did have to tell them how many live rounds I had but no questions on how many empty cases I had. Weighed the ammo case and back into the luggage this time. And this is where it got a bit screwed up. The ticket agent told me I needed to go upstairs to pay for excess baggage/firearm fee after they checked my rifle SN#. So I went upstairs but no one knew anything about fees and no one could help me so I just headed to the gate and waited for the flight to Joberg. When it was time to start boarding they scanned my boarding pass and there was a ‘No Board’ message so they pulled me off to the side and asked if I had paid the fee ‘No’ I replied. They had to then have someone run and get a credit card reader machine brought to the gate since I didn’t have any cash. Note to self: Always pack some Rand with you! Finally, a kid ran up and I scanned my card and I was ready to board. Disaster averted.
Landed in Joberg and was greeted by a Riflepermits rep on the tarmac as soon as I deboarded. He shuttled me straight to baggage claim and we picked up my bags and headed to Qatar check in but since I had over a 7 hour layover Qatar check in was deserted. So I went and grabbed lunch with my rifle & baggage in tow. Painful to haul your luggage around an airport for that long. Finally Qatar opened up and went back to check in and got my luggage checked in and received my boarding passes. Then we had to go back to SAPS. Anyway, got on the plane headed to Doha.
The flight to Doha took about 1 hour longer than anticipated so when we landed I had to hustle to get on the Seattle flight. Also, we had to go back through security checks twice here. Didn’t even have time to use the restroom.
Boarded for the long haul to Seattle. When we landed back in Seattle this is where the fun started. Deboarded the plane and went straight through customs which seemed to take forever. Finally, through Customs to try and claim my luggage. After waiting almost an hour but no baggage I asked 4 different people about my baggage and rifle. And received four different answers. Finally found a customs agent that said all my luggage was being held with them not far away. I had assumed that my checked bag would come out on the carousel and my rifle would be held by Customs. Hustled over there and went through Customs again and they X-rayed my luggage and gave me my checked bag but not the rifle.
There was another hunter from Montana that was in the same boat. They said a lady had to deliver the rifles to Carousel 1 (remember the carousel 1 from my trip over!) Well it turns Carousel 1 is the International rifle/oversize item drop off point. Well, she took another hour to get our rifles to the baggage claim area and finally the other hunter spotted her and grabbed both our rifles. By this time, I only had 30 minutes to make my flight so we hustled to check the rifle back in with TSA and Alaska. Needless to say, the ticket agent took my bag but not the rifle and when I went to get TSA to check the rifle and the Alaskan rep said I wouldn’t make the flight and rebooked me on the next one. Course now I have luggage on two different flights…Well, it actually worked out since the original flight was delayed and when I landed in Spokane I didn’t have to wait long for both pieces to arrive on the carousel. Finally home.
