tusker
Well-Known Member
What is their baggage policy. How many bags are you allowed I am assuming it is 23 kg total.
Tusker
SAA now charging £202 to carry firearm from UK to Eastern Cape - write to persuade them to drop charges
- Thread starter zambezi
- Start date
Tusker
Yup. 23kg allowance. Firearms no charge per my travel agent. [Travel agent was endorsed by Namibian PH, so I am sure she knows how to book firearms through with best carrier]
Highlandsjohn
Well-Known Member
Good result Zambezi,should make SAA take notice. No business these days can afford to lose £500.00 x goodness knows how many hunters and observers. SA Safaris are often set up to encourage family holidays and it will all add up to the number crunchers.
this is very true as you said!
BUT just a matter of time when Namibia will "follow the leader"...
Richard,
it is NOT illegal, it is just as any hunter is, thinking...why go around the world if I can not use my own...
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Guys, yes I like how you think...but the reality is that nobody is going to have a answer for you! Those routes doesn't make money for SAA already, this is just to add to their motivation to 'can' it all and say 'hunters' doesn't want to pay the fee anymore...and not worthwhile to do the route anymore...JUST MY 2 cents!!
CarlW
Well-Known Member
I don't think this issue will have a significant impact. SA and Namibia have pretty much the whole market in cheap African hunting. No-one is going to start coming to hunt with the likes of me in Mozambique (where our prices are more than double SA prices) just in order to save a few hundred quid on a flight. Likewise, the other hunting countries.
It's tough but it's Africa.
It's tough but it's Africa.
Ahhhh...you are putting that down to the price differential?
You guys may be right. But money does talk. And I get to choose where mine goes. The SAA decision adds circa 40% to flight costs. And on an entry-price cull hunt with an all up cost of about £2700, £202 is pushing 8% overall. Time will tell...
CarlW
Well-Known Member
Ahhhh...you are putting that down to the price differential?
Also, facilities, catering, infrastructure, healthcare, accessibility, political stability, and a hundred other things.
SA and Namibia are very convenient places to hunt compared with my own world of dirty hospitals, lack of road networks, armed poachers, malaria, tsetse, and eye-watering government quota fees. Am I selling it well...?
People who like a nice environment at a cheap price are not going to abandon SA/Namibia to hunt in wild Africa just because of airline fees.
And this is only one of a dozen administrative nuisances that operators in all countries will face in any given year.
If you want to hunt in Africa, and don't want to give yourself an embolism, get used to being messed around...
TIA, my friend. TIA.
South Africa did not suddenly impose a charge for carriage of one category of sporting goods. South African Airways did that. They have all but cloned the BA position. And if all carriers to SA take the same stance then, as with all cartel action, customers pay or walk.
For as long as there are multiple carriers flying to Namibia with no punitive firearm tariffs, then that is probably where the money will move.
LOL. Actually, yes. I will definitely do at least one rough, tented, wild Africa, spike camp hunt before I hang up my rifles. I have lived in Africa [2 decades plus], and travelled through some of its southern nations. I have a good idea what lies there. It has its own appeal.
But this thread is about SAA's attempt at gratuitous reaming of my wallet, not about the comfort of my next camp cot. It is about dispproportionate charges, structured purely on the perceived ability to pay, and not on the service being delivered. That should stick in anyone's craw.
CarlW
Well-Known Member
It is irritating. Add it to the list...
Ahhhh...you are putting that down to the price differential?
You guys may be right. But money does talk. And I get to choose where mine goes. The SAA decision adds circa 40% to flight costs. And on an entry-price cull hunt with an all up cost of about £2700, £202 is pushing 8% overall. Time will tell...
I will sponsor the £202 on your next hunt!
devon deer stalker
Well-Known Member
Thanks for taking the time to answer my question, I was very curious as I had used a loaned rifle when I hunted in SA
I agree, I would always prefer to use my own, but to be honest cost and hassle when traveling to the US just isn't worth it in my opinion, I wouldn't have any issue paying the extra baggage/processing fee if it went hassle free, but ALL 4 visits there have been issues, so it's a 'loaner' for me in any future trips.
What I will add is, on every trip I always got my money back after I returned to the UK, as a little 'moan' to customer services appears to work with Delta.
As for SAA, I doubt very much they will change anything, because we are hunters here on a hunters forum some perceive that they make huge amounts of revenue out of hunters, big picture I suspect it is minuscule.
Cheers
Richard
deerpath
Well-Known Member
I have just done research. For the dates I put in and assuming you need a suitcase otherwise gun counts as free baggage on Virgin !!! - Virgin and SAA are the same ticket price but SAA want $130 each way whereas Virgin charge £65 e w. I have done extensive research on getting a SA firearms licence but it's impossible unless you stay there for two years as a temporary resident sadly ! So maybe looking into leaving clothes in SA !! Rupert
will probably not get a license, yes, but nothing says about having a rifle equipped just for you when you come hunting...'see it as a long term investment'...I will keep it for you safe!
perhaps make use of the following organization 'hassle free' on your next trip...
Hunterspermits Africa - Welcome to Hunters Permits Africa, your map to all your needs to hunt in South Africa!
devon deer stalker
Well-Known Member
Thanks but my hunt was courtesy of friends who live in Durban, we met their friends who are PH's near Kimberley.
Cheers
Richard
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