choosing your airline

Transcription

1 TOURS D EXCELLENCE t/a Support and Travel 2014 choosing your airline by Anne Gaines-Burrill

2 CONSIDER THESE OPTIONS Please don't book the first flight that is presented to you by your travel agent. Don't get onto your computer and book a flight on the internet without first checking a few basics on respec ve airlines. Ask friends or associates from your local SCI chapter or hun ng club how they flew to their last safari and if they had any problems on specific airlines. Confirm the exact des na on you need to go to with your ou i er. Confirm exact dates of arrival into camp and out of camp keeping in mind that usually you need two nights in-transit before ge ng into camp. Many people will book their airline ckets on the internet and do not even consider the regula ons that are implemented by each airline when travelling with spor ng weapons. Many countries are not as free and easy as the United States, when transpor ng p or ng weapons domes cally or even over border. If you are hoping to use miles also be conscious of the proposed airline that is offered to you when using your miles. Keeping in mind that you cannot change those flights once booked and if you finish your safari early and want to go home you cannot get another seat without paying to upgrade that class of travel on that airline if there is a seat available. You might also have to purchase a completely new air cket. A good op on here is if you s ck to your intended return dates and take me to go and see the rest of the country. It is advisable to use the services of a travel agent. The travel agent can go into the booking and put notes into the remarks sec on of your booking telling the airline that you are transpor ng spor ng weapons. This requirement is becoming regula on with many airlines. The agent can, in the case of airline strikes, dust clouds etc. get your ckets changed and you rebooked. If you book via the internet and you want to change flights then you have to deal with the airline itself and o en the HUNTERS' SUPPORT AIR 2000

3 airline must revert to the country of origin of the booking before changing your booking. The United States is six to eight hours behind Africa so o en you must wait for a reply. The common answer I get from passengers who have booked online say "it is cheaper and I don't have to pay a booking fee". That is correct but you don' t have the back up if something goes wrong. Pay the minimal fee and get the support when needed. O en the agent will get a be er fare to what you can get on the internet, so keep that in mind too. This last year we have had a few hunters decide to use miles in conjunc on with United Airlines. This airline operate a flight from Houston to Lagos, Nigeria and then down to Johannesburg on SAA. DO NOT TAKE THIS OPTION! It is a jailable offence to take firearms into Nigeria, even spor ng weapons. Passengers have been held for days and ended up paying very large sums of money to get through the country and in a couple of instances the firearms have not made it at all. Over the years we have documented various incidents with airlines and have put together some ideas that we suggest you take into considera on when making those reserva ons on specific airlines. I will deal with the airlines that either travel directly to South Africa, via Europe or the Middle East. Also the flights coming from Australia and the Far East, where there is a growing hun ng market. choosing your airline 2014

4 AMERICAN AIRLINES Many passengers have frequent flyer miles issued by AA which does not travel directly to Africa, so the code share partners are used. Mainly Bri sh Airways and Iberia. Many passengers will get the ini al leg booked on AA to London but you cannot transport spor ng weapons on AA as the airline does not have the security precau ons in place specified by the police in London to handle the firearms. So make sure if you want to use AA miles that you travel on BA from the first point of departure in the USA. If you try and use AA to London your firearms and ammuni on will be denied boarding. Qatar Airways is also a member of the One World Alliance. IBERIA Iberia has ceased opera ng flights from Madrid to Johannesburg. They book passengers with their code share "One World Alliance" partners like Bri sh Airways, Qatar Airways and other airlines in the group if the route applies. So the carriage of spor ng weapons and ammuni on will be applicable now to the airline you choose to travel on. BRITISH AIRWAYS (INTERNATIONAL ROUTE) Keep in mind on depar ng from Johannesburg or Cape Town you now have to pay GBP50 per firearm case and if you are travelling economy or coach you will have to pay GBP40 to have a second bag even though it is a firearm case. Permission is required to be obtained from the airline a minimum of 72 hours before depar ng the US. All firearms must be declared in the booking and you must get confirma on in wri ng in advance of departure that you can transport the firearms. Many people leaving from Los Angeles and San Francisco have not known about the requirement and arrived at the airport to be denied the carriage of the firearms on BA. You must give yourself extra me when checking in especially when returning from Johannesburg or Cape Town as there is paperwork that has to be completed and this takes me. Ammuni on must be in a locked container and checked in separate to your firearm and checked bag. HUNTERS' SUPPORT AIR 2000

5 BA COMAIR The regional and local airline BA Comair have ceased carrying any spor ng weapons or selfprotec on firearms. They have specified that it is not commercially viable. LUFTHANSA A handling fee is charged when depar ng through Johannesburg or Cape Town of EUR70 per firearm case. This is payable at the respec ve cket counter before you check in. You will be given a receipt. Please keep in mind that this charge is NOT included in the ini al cost of the cket. Many passengers spend me arguing with the check in agent but it is a security handling fee and has to be paid. The Check in agent is not a Lu hansa employee they come from a local handling company and have no control over Lu hansa requirements. Also you must specify in your booking the exact informa on of the spor ng weapons you will be carrying. They request the make, type and caliber to be included in the remarks sec on of your cket. Ammuni on must be packed in a locked container and checked in separate to your firearm and checked bag. Since the 1st of September 2013 all firearms being transferred through Frankfurt from a flight arriving from outside the European community needs to obtain an in transit permit. This applica on must be submi ed to the relevant authori es well in advance of your in transit and a fee is payable. Please check with your travel agent or airline on these requirements. KLM Each weapon counts as a single item of baggage. KLM insists that you specify in your booking that you are travelling with spor ng weapons and ammuni on. Then make sure you have the wri en permission of the Amsterdam Police to travel through Amsterdam. It is advisable to make a copy of this permission once received and put it into a plas c sleeve and strap it to the outside of the firearm case to avoid confusion in Amsterdam. The authori es only work office hours Monday to Friday so if you try and contact them over the weekend do not expect to get an answer to your queries ll the next working day. choosing your airline 2014

6 QANTAS Hunters origina ng in Australia come from a growing market. Permission must be obtained to transport ammuni on on Qantas in advance of departure. You must dg@qantas.com.au and send them the following informa on: Name and Address, flight details, firearms license number and expiry date, type of ammuni on with a return fax, or postal address. If you want to transport a firearm without ammuni on the firearm must be declared at the me of c heck in. All firearms and ammuni on must be carried and packed in accordance with the regulatory requirements of the State or Territory you are travelling to and from. An alliance has been formed between Qantas and Emirates so please keep in mind that you will s ll have to get approval from Emirates head office to transit through Dubai with spor ng weapons and ammuni on even if you arrive on a Qantas Flight. Please refer to the informa on on the carriage of firearms with Emirates. AIR FRANCE When reserving your cket you must contact the Air France office by telephone or the Air France cket sales office and advise them that you wish to transport firearms and ammuni on. Do not pay for the cket ll you have this informa on approved. A new requirement with Air France is that they are charging an economy or coach passenger for a second bag be it the firearm case or another suitcase. A handling fee is charged to all economy class (voyageur alize) passengers of ESO per firearm case, but business (affaires class) and first class (premiere) passengers are not charged the handling f ee. Ammuni on must be packed separate to your firearm case in a locked container and not place d in your checked luggage. EMIRATES The carriage of spor ng weapons, ammuni on and compound bows must be approved by Emirates 72 hours before your departure. There is a form to be completed and sent to the nearest booking office. Allow extra days for weekend and public holidays keeping in mind that Emirates head office is in Dubai and all permissions must be given by Dubai and they have a different working week to other countries. HUNTERS' SUPPORT AIR 2000

7 If, at the end of your safari you decide to go home early, you s ll need 72 hours to get permi ssion to travel through Dubai. They will not accept the original request and just transfer it to the new booking. This requirement is applicable to all classes of travel. Ammuni on must be in a separate locked container and not checked in with your checked luggage and separate to your firearm case VIRGIN No specific permissions are required to transport firearms and ammuni on on Virgin but they do adhere to lata regula ons for the carriage of same. Virgin reserves the right to ask for the required import I export permit or see a copy of your paperwork that allows you to import firearms to a corresponding country I des na on. They also reserve the right to charge an ex cess baggage fee if you exceed your free baggage allowance. Ammuni on must be packed separate to your firearm and checked bag. DELTA No prior declara on is required when traveling with spor ng weapons. You can have one checked bag and one firearm case under 32 kg's. If the firearm weighs over 32 kg's they will charge an excess baggage fee and a second bag will incur a fee payable on check in. Delta does state that you are allowed to put your ammuni on in a locked container in your checked bag for the flight over but once in SA and you take a regional or local flight you will be required to take out the locked container and send it separate to the checked bag but alongside your firearm. ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES The Management at Ethiopian Airlines have now agreed to transport spor ng weapons subject to them being advised when making your reserva on of the carriage of the spor ng weapons. A maximum of two rifles is allowed in one hard case only. Ammuni on is in a locked box and checked in separately to the firearm. All charges for the handling of the firearms by a local security company is billed back to the passenger on arrival and again on departure. Es mated charges is R400 per case either way. choosing your airline 2014

8 SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS [SAA] The checked baggage policy will now restrict the number of pieces of baggage a passenger may check in, rather than the total weight and size restric ons (the maximum dimensions are 80 cm x 60 cm x 18 cm = 152 cm or 62 inches) according to route and class of travel. SAA will not accept any check in items (including spor ng weapons) that weigh over 32 kg's. Any bags weighing over this amount will have to be put into another bag or sent by freight from SAA cargo at the passenger's expense. Excess baggage whether addi onal items or where the weight or size exceeds the allowance will be charged at a flat rate per piece of luggage. Keep in mind if the piece is oversize and overweight then two excess baggage charges will apply. These regula ons are applied to all SAA operated aircra worldwide. If you travel on a mul sector/mul carrier/saa code share partner or another airline you will have to adhere to that airlines baggage policy. There is no special prerequisite in place to transport spor ng weapons on SAA but they reserve the right to deny loading any piece should they not be happy with the prior screening of the item. They do not have to inform you of the offloading of the piece un l your des na on. QATAR AIRWAYS This year has seen an increased number of hunters arriving on Qatar Airways as they have flights from New York/ Washington I Houston to Doha and then to Johannesburg. No fica on and clearance is required to be obtained before departure for spor ng weapons and ammuni on which travel by cargo or checked baggage. This must be declared in the remarks sec on of your cket and the nearest Qatar office must be contacted with the relevant informa on so in transit permission for Doha can be obtained. The check in person can request to see proof of ownership and the invita on le er or hun ng contract to prove the hunt is taking place. The same requirement on size and weight of the firearm case as other airlines is honoured and the ammuni on allowance of a maximum of 11 kg's is permi ed in a separate locked box traveling along with your firearm but not in your checked bags. SOUTH AFRICAN EXPRESS This airline is a code share of SM but as the aircra are smaller they cannot honour the same baggage allowances as SM. SA Express allows a 20 kg's checked bag only, any spor ng item like a firearm will be charged as an overweight piece of luggage. It is strongly advised to specify in the remarks sec on of your booking that you have a firearm and would appreciate it if the interna onal baggage allowance on SAA is honoured. It some mes works. HUNTERS' SUPPORT AIR 2000

9 SA AIRLINK SA Airlink is also a code share partner of SM. But they have different pre-requisites for the transporta on of spor ng weapons. Check on the route you will be flying as some routes you are allowed 30 kg's of checked luggage and on other routes for example to Beira you can only take 20 kg's. You are also allowed one piece of spor ng equipment but it must weigh less than 20 kg's. Anything over this weight will be charged at normal excess baggage rates. Firearms will not be transported to the following des na ons: Pietermaritzburg, George, Manzini, Maseru, Mafekeng and Antananarivo. There are some des na ons that charge a handling fee and this fee is payable by the passenger/firearm owner on departure from that specific airport, namely Kimberley. AIR BOTSWANA This airline also operates smaller aircra and do not have the capacity to handle overseas baggage allowances. The amount that you can carry is 20 kg's of checked luggage. Any amount over and above this will be charged at excess baggage rates. A handling fee is charged for the transporta on of spor ng weapons. Ammuni on cannot be kept in the checked bag it must be sent separately to the firearms and checked luggage. SINGAPORE AIRLINES THAI AIRLINES MALAYSIAN AIRLINES CATHAY PACIFIC Prior permission is required to transport spor ng weapons on these airlines. This must be given in wri ng to the respec ve airline and a confirma on in wri ng is also required. They do have a limit which is one firearm and 50 rounds of ammuni on allowed. This limit can be adjusted but is subject to the airlines discre on on the day of travelling. The Airline reserves the right to charge a handling fee on departure from Johannesburg and Cape Town. choosing your airline 2014

10 LAM (LINHAS AEREAS DE MOÇAMBIQUE) Many people try and use miles with SM and want an onward flight to Mozambique as LAM is a code share partner. They will be given a SM code share flight number and assume they are flying with SM. That is not correct you will fly with LAM from Johannesburg. LAM do not have a dedicated security company to handle firearms and o en firearms are le in Johannesburg and have to catch up with you in the following days. Moçambique is not a sophis cated country and the logis cs to get the firearms to you is long and drawn out so research this op on thoroughly. Send your firearms and baggage to Johannesburg, collect them and go through the arrival formali es, then check onto LAM. This op on will make sure everything arrives at your des na on. KEEP IN MIND KULULA AND MANGO AIRLINES Both Kulula and Mango Airlines are low cost carriers and DO NOT accept any form of spor ng weapon or self-protec on firearm on any of their flights. All airlines require the firearms to be in an approved hard gun case and packed separately to the checked luggage. No firearms can be transported in the checked bag with your personal belongings. Ammuni on must be locked in a locked box and can travel in your checked bag from the USA on either Delta or SAA but but once it reaches South Africa and needs to go on a regional or domes c carrier, it needs to be taken out of your bag and be sent separately alongside your firearm case. Please note that no regional or domes c carrier will accept a checked bag that has ammuni on inside, all ammuni on must travel in a locked box, separate to the checked bag but alongside the spor ng weapons. THE ACCEPTED NORM FOR THE AIRLINES TRAVELLING TO AFRICA IS AS FOLLOWS: Economy or Coach Class passengers can have one check in bag of 23 kg's for personal luggage. The ammo will be in this checked bag in a locked box and please remember a maximum of 5 kg's (11 lbs) is an interna onal requirement. The airline will check and weigh the ammo if they feel it is too much. There are incidences where the bag is stopped in transit, the ammo case is taken out of the bag and if found to be overweight the ammuni on is confiscated. Do not put anything else like rangefinders HUNTERS' SUPPORT AIR 2000

11 or binoculars in your ammuni on box either as you stand to lose these too if the ammuni on container is confiscated. Please refer to the above airlines on the transporta on of spor ng weapons and ammuni on with the charges being applicable. Business Class passengers are allowed two bags of 32 kg's each. Here the free spor ng allowance of one firearm case is s ll honoured by the airlines. This allowance is also subject to First Class passengers travelling on Emirates. First Class passengers on BA I Lu hansa I Air France can have three bags of 32 kg's per bag. The respec ve airline will honour the free spor ng allowance of one firearm case and subject to other considera ons of travel by the passenger like being a gold or pla num frequent flyer card holder will accept a second or third firearm case at no addi onal charge. Very important: if you need to travel domes cally or regionally keep in mind the allowances specified by the respec ve local carriers, these carriers will not automa cally honour the same baggage allowances as the interna onal carriers if at all. Many passengers arrive in South Africa with their full baggage allowance from either Business or First class booking and find they have to pay the excess baggage charges on the domes c or regional legs. Hand or carry-on luggage is usually one piece of 8 kg's which may not exceed 114 linear cm in height, width and breadth but some airlines like Delta allow a bag of 18 kg's plus a personal item like a computer, camera bag, briefcase or handbag. But the accepted norm is a hand piece of 8 kg's per person plus the personal bag as specified. Miscellaneous Charges Order [MCO] - this is an accountable lata document. There are two main types of MCO, those with a specific value for each coupon and those with residual value. Should you an cipate having excess baggage and not want to pay for each sector you fly you can speak to your travel agent or airline and get an MCO in place before you leave home and pay a once off charge for excess baggage for your whole route. The airline or travel agent will give you the different payment op ons depending on the number of bags you have. This op on does save money in the long run and easier to deal with, when having to pay for excess baggage on each sector but keep in mind you cannot prepay for the handling fee at certain airport s for spor ng weapons or if the firearm case is overweight. If you keep these recommenda ons in mind when booking your next trip you should have a trouble free safari. For any queries or ques ons please contact me and I will gladly assist in finding out the answers to your ques ons. ~ Anne Gaines-Burrill Air2000@global.co.za choosing your airline 2014

12 Hunters' Support 1st Floor Terminal Building Lanseria Interna onal Airport Johannesburg South Africa Tel: Fax: The informa on in this booklet is current and correct at the me of going to print but airlines rules and regula ons are subject to change