SAA now charging £202 to carry firearm from UK to Eastern Cape - write to persuade them to drop charges

Unfortunately if you want to hunt with your own rifles the additional costs have just got to be swallowed, in the big picture the additional £202 is peanuts but hunting with your own rifle is priceless.

Her is a pic from my Lord Derby hunt in Cameroon in Feb/March of this year:
 
Unfortunately if you want to hunt with your own rifles the additional costs have just got to be swallowed, in the big picture the additional £202 is peanuts but hunting with your own rifle is priceless.

Her is a pic from my Lord Derby hunt in Cameroon in Feb/March of this year:
Lovely animal.

Also, tell us more about that rather pretty rifle. I shall forgive you for putting a 'scope on a double. Very...ahem...'continental'... :p

What else did you shoot there?

Kindest regards,

Carl
 
... but hunting with your own rifle is priceless.

I 100% agree that hunting with your own rifle is a big part of the appeal: you chose that configuration, select optimum ammunition, and then practise until confident. I will always want to use that which I know and maintain.

... in the big picture the additional £202 is peanuts but hunting with your own rifle is priceless.

I have looked at the ImageShack record of your trip. Your tally included two of the Big5, and a myriad other antelope. On a trip like that, £202 is all but invisible. On a budget cull hunt, £202 is not insignificant. And for those of us pursuing a taste of Africa on a budget, picking airlines that do not levy dispproportionate fees is definitely a part of the planning/decision process.
 
SAA are generally ok, Virgin quite good and BA f***ing abysmal. Emirates are by far the easiest and best with firearms sadly don't fly to Namibia but do go to Joburg. Fly with people that make your life easy - I don't mind paying £100-150 more when that is the case and the food and drink is also better. I'll never pay to fly BA again with firearms.

The blatant BS by SA border police at the airport is of far more concern and the requirements for non existent export licenses, and petty rules of no more than one of any calibre (which they are unable to read anyway).

UK Border Force personnel are generally an absolute pleasure to deal with on a personal level on return although they have instituted record keeping of in / out serials but keyboard skills do need improvement...... there's a bureaucratic increase everywhere to put you off travelling with firearms.
 
I am flying to RSA in 3 weeks time. Every year since 2003 I fly to Joburg, taking an internal flight to PE.
It becomes more and more difficult to travel with weapons.
Comes a day that we will only be able to cary our rifle, no more ammo….
 
Outfitters/PHs/PHASA have yet to comment on this price hike in any volume. If they start to lose trade because folk do not fly to the Eastern Cape, that will change


I don't think so...this is Africa


It is irritating. Add it to the list... :D



I hope that economics quickly shows SAA the error of its ways, and I am certainly not as resigned to the change as are Carl and Patrick. Yesterday I received confirmation from PHASA that they will indeed be taking this up with SAA. I urge as many of you to raise your concerns to PHASA now. Numbers matter.

PHASA_challenge_SAA_firearms_charge.jpg
 
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The PH usually charges for the use of his rifle. You may end up paying just as much or more than the airline will charge you and you don't get the satisfaction of using your own rifle.
If any fellow hunter charges that much for use of their rifle I would feel totally ripped off!
Cheers
Richard
 
From the SAA website 'A handling fee for shooting/hunting (firearms) will be raised for tickets purchased from 15 May 2019 onwards.'


So if like me, you bought a ticket prior to 15/5/19 then you should be able to reclaim the charges they forced upon us illegally when we arrived at Heathrow in May!!
 
Having written to SAA Customer Care in the UK - I received this reply.

Thank you for your email dated 7th of June.
Please note that we will be able to arrange a refund of the fee that you were charged at London Heathrow, due to the fact that there is an error in our website that hasn’t been updated.
We just need to let you know that the charge does apply for everyone carrying firearms effective 15th of May 2019, regardless when the tickets were issued.
The fee that you paid has always applied, within South Africa, ZAR250 is levied on handguns per sector on all flights. This charge is non-refundable.
Your card will be credited within 7 working days, to the amount of GBP101.00
 
Just for the hell of it I also contacted SAA regarding their new charges.
I wrote thus:

Dear Sir/Madam.

I am writing to you to express my disappointment that SAA are now charging to carry firearms on your aircraft.

I have used SAA for the last five years along with my family and have always gone out of my way to book with yourselves because you have stood out among your competition by your firearms carrying policy.

Unfortunately now this is not the case and you have lost a customer along with my family and I suspect many other travellers who have used SAA for their trips to Africa with firearms.

There are other airlines who charge but at a much lower rate than yourselves and unfortunately they are now the best option for travel.

Your charges represent a 30% increase on my flight costs to get to Namibia which I'm sure you can understand prices you out of the market when other carriers only increase my expenses by up to 20%.

I sincerely hope that this charge is revoked or at least lowered to make your airline attractive once again but sadly as I have already booked my tickets, this will be the last time I use SAA to travel to Africa.

This change in policy will obviously have an affect because you will not gain passengers because of it, you will instead lose them to your competitors.

Yours Faithfully,

I have no doubt that it will make any difference whatsoever and likely no one will care but at least I have tried.

While I understand the reasoning that I can rent a rifle there for less than it costs to take my own, it's not the point.
I want to use my rifle in Africa. It's part of my experience to use my rifle in Africa.
I spent a lot of money buying a rifle to use in Africa and as my licence states I can only use my rifle abroad, it's the only opportunity I have to use it and hunt with it.

I am not a rich man and I work every hour God sends me to afford my hunting.
The new charges now mean my hunting budget is less and I forego a warthog hunt or perhaps a duiker while I am there.
 
I have no problem with a charge its just the size of it that is unfair. For exsample when we travel to Windhoek all bags rifles ex., only get handled from one aircraft to another so no paperwork or extra effort involved but there will still be a £50 charge for that part of the journey.
Tusker


doesn't make sense, yes and nobody in charge will care about it..., this is Africa AND normally we see the "benefit" to late!!:drool:131049
 
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