BA Alert

shakari

Well-Known Member
Guys,

Be warned that BA are currently refusing to carry rifles in .308 because they consider them to be 'weapons of war' - The fact they carried the entire UK shooting team to SA with umpteen 308s recently and that they have carried loads of them from London to Scotland for the last 40 years or so seems unimportant............ Honestly, what a load of bollocks!

I wonder what they'll do in 2012 when the UK hosts the Olympics..........
 
How sure are you on this ? I have just booked a fight to south africa with BA i told them im travelling with a firm arm in .308 calibre They said it was fine. I will be Phoneing them today to make sure. Will post my findings.
 
Just got off the phone, im on a BA flight from Heathrow to Joburg next year, We will be traveling with a .308 of which i was told no problem. I phoned again to express my worries, They have told me i can take my .308 on the flight.
 
Just got off the phone, im on a BA flight from Heathrow to Joburg next year, We will be traveling with a .308 of which i was told no problem. I phoned again to express my worries, They have told me i can take my .308 on the flight.
 
Get them to put it in writing. - I've just had a client who was due to fly LHR-DAR with BA for a hunt in Tanzania and he was told he cannot under any circumstances take a 308. I called the BA senior worldwide risk assesment duty manager the day afterwards and was told the same thing. I know it's BS, but if you've been told you can take a 308, I suggest you have it in writing so you can wave it under the nose of the check in agent if he or she gives you trouble.
 
Thankyou Shakari, i will be on the phone again and get them to do that, will let everyone know how i get on.
 
Been onto my contact at Heathrow who deals in flights, some countrys like tanzania they wont except the firearm, Flying in joburg SA They will. If once at joburg and you get an internal flight to somewhere like Durban no firearms will be allowed. My contact will be speaking to BA again to make sure the .308 is on the ticket details. Flying with South African airways was much easier, but all tickets are sold. Wot a bum
 
Frankly, I wouldn't trust that info as I know for an absolute fact that Tanzania does allow 308s. - In fact, it's even listed as a permissable calibre on the hunting licence. I guarantee that the problem lies with BA at LHR. Like I said, get it in writing. They don't seem to know which way is up on this. Their reasoning is that a 308 is a weapon of war - which is total BS. There is a similar calibre that's used as a military round but it has a different case length. The fact that the 308 will be used by umpteen olympic shooters in the forthcoming olympics seems neither here nor there to them.
Incidentally, don't forget that BA also require at least 72 hours notice of your travelling with ANY firearms, so go see your travel agent and ask them to enter the fact that you'll be travelling with SPORTING FIREARMS (note that exact phrase!) into the comments section of your booking and take a hard copy of the booking with you when you travel.
 
Frankly, I wouldn't trust that info as I know for an absolute fact that Tanzania does allow 308s. - In fact, it's even listed as a permissable calibre on the hunting licence. I guarantee that the problem lies with BA at LHR. Like I said, get it in writing. They don't seem to know which way is up on this. Their reasoning is that a 308 is a weapon of war - which is total BS. There is a similar calibre that's used as a military round but it has a different case length. The fact that the 308 will be used by umpteen olympic shooters in the forthcoming olympics seems neither here nor there to them.
Incidentally, don't forget that BA also require at least 72 hours notice of your travelling with ANY firearms, so go see your travel agent and ask them to enter the fact that you'll be travelling with SPORTING FIREARMS (note that exact phrase!) into the comments section of your booking and take a hard copy of the booking with you when you travel.
 
Oops, sorry for the double post.

Regarding your friend's advice about not being able to take firearms on internal flights.......... that info is also wrong. Some airlines and some airports do permit firearms and some do not. It is also sometimes dependent upon aircraft type.
 
If you go unto BA's or the relevant airline's website you should be able to find their policy for sporting firearms. Print out the details and take them with you to the airport so that it can be produced if you have problems. Follow all the advice they give on their website and at check in be very pleasant ,smiling, polite and firm that you have complied with all the companies advice and policies, sympathise with them, don't score points. Do not lose it or be rude to the desk staff as they can stop you travelling.

I have found that, in firearms matters, some of their staff do not appear to know the companies policy and appear to make it up as they go along and they do not wish to lose face or back down if you should contradict them. If you have the relevant information with you, they and their supervisor can see it and can also check it for themselves rather than deny that the correct version of the policy exists.

Allow two extra hours rather than the extra hour that they suggest when travelling with firearms - better than missing the flight.

BA staff sometimes operate the check in for other airlines who have a different policy to BA, this is another good reason to have the company policy with you as well as the various telephone contact numbers for the airline. If their head office is in a different country have that number and code as well it does help when the going gets rough.

In my experience (not all bad) Heathrow and Gatwick are worst, if you travel from a british provincial airport and can get your luggage booked through to your destination then its much simpler.

Good luck and enjoy yourself

Bob
 
Does anyone know of any other calibres that do not travel well, as this could influence my iminent (hopefully) purchase of a rilfe.

Gez
 
Airlines are bound by the Air Navigation Order, Carriage of Dangerous Goods act, which stipulates that firearms are split into two catagories. One is SPORTING FIREARMS which they are permitted to carry and the other is WEAPONS OF WAR which they are not permitted to carry. This translates in this case to all military calibres are banned from travel because they're weapons of war and non-military calibres are permitted because they're sporting firearms. Which is why it'd so important to get that particular phrase entered into the comments section of your booking.

In the case of the .308 the 308 bullet (not the whole loaded round) is the same calibre as the military 7.62. - However the case is different and loaded rounds from the two calibres are not interchangeable. BA in their wisdom have decreed that because both have the same sized hole in the barrel, neither are permitted. The fact that they're wrong in this seems to have nothing to do with their decision.

Soooooo you need to choose a calibre that is not and has never been a military calibre.......... or in the case of BA, doesn't even have any similarity to a military or ex military calibre.

FWIW, the same regulations permit smokeless powder to travel in loaded rounds but it should be noted that black powder and it's substitutes such as pyrodex are classified as Class 1 explosive and are not permitted to be carried. Penalties for trying to beat the system are extremely severe.
 
For those that choose to travel on Air France the system is somewhat better. Once you have your e-ticket a phone call to customer services to inform them that you will be taking "sporting firearms" results in the receipt of a fax. This requests calibre of weapons and weights/dimensions of your rifle case. They check that the aircraft used can take firearms (usually small connecting aircraft can't take them because of single holds) and that the destination country permits the calibre. Usually within the hour I get a phone call to say that all is well and they reissue the e-ticket with the firarms details on it.

It's therefore in their system, handling agents at both ends "should" be aware and everything runs smoothly.

I use MAN-CDG-JNB route a lot and have had no problems.

Stan
 
I traveled from Heathrow to JoBurg with my .308 Ruger and 60 rounds of 170Gr RWS in Oct / Nov = no problem - I flew from Terminal 5 which is excellent BTW!
 
"In the case of the .308 the 308 bullet (not the whole loaded round) is the same calibre as the military 7.62. - However the case is different and loaded rounds from the two calibres are not interchangeable. BA in their wisdom have decreed that because both have the same sized hole in the barrel, neither are permitted. The fact that they're wrong in this seems to have nothing to do with their decision."

The 308W round is identical in all respects to the 7.62 G3 NATO round and I have indeed fired a FMJ military round through a 'non-military' 308 - in Tanzania would you believe! We managed to drill three Kangas with one bullet - saves ammo! The round is indeed legal there and I knew many who owned 308 rifles when I lived there.

As a caution to the above post re Air France - I have just returned from Poland to Aberdeen - the rifle did'nt arrive. The worst thing was that this state of affairs appeared normal to the ground staff at Dyce - 'I assume its Air France then if its missing?' It did turn up next day and was delivered.
 
It's not so much Air France per se but the baggage handlers at Charles de Gaulle. Heavily unionised and so breaks are taken on time and irregular union meetings.

I always allow 4 - 5 hours connection on the way out and am not really bothered on the way back.

Have always had baggage problems at CDG with normal baggage if less than a 2 hour transit.

Stan
 
Kuwinda

If you check your manuals, you'll find the shoulder angles are slightly different and like the 2 slightly different 500 Jefferys one will fit the other, but not the other way round. To admit they're the same identical calibre would be to play into the hands of thos who want to make life awkward for us hunters. ;)
 
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