Anybody have experience with Southwest and Firearm Declaration while flying out of OKC?

[gwood]

All,

Has anybody had experience with Southwest Airlines or NTSB/FAA and declaring a firearm while flying out of OKC?
I had an easy experience flying from Orlando(KMCO) to KOKC this summer. Even though I went from KMCO(6-hour wait on the taxiway for weather) to overnight(unplanned) in Atlanta to KOKC while the firearm bag went to Houston then to OKC. We arrived within 10 minutes of each other.

But going the other way, do Southwest/NTSB OKC folks understand the rules/procedures? In KMCO, they walked me down to the NTSB scanning room for oversized luggage and scanned my bag. They could see the gun and mags were unloaded and ammo in box. No need to unlock the bag or gun case.

Does OKC follow a similar procedure or will I have to unlock(or will they cut locks off)? I have heard horror stories from other locations and just want to be prepared.

 

[KOPBET]

Ya just never know. Always carry an extra set of non-TSA locks in case they cut yours off.

 

[chazroh]

Last I flew southwest with a gun was June of this year, pistol had to be in a lock box with no mag in gun and a non tsa lock on box, then needed a tsa lock on suitcase. Declare at checkin, they usually make you open it so they can put a declaration tag in the case.

 

[wawazat]

Last I flew southwest with a gun was June of this year, pistol had to be in a lock box with no mag in gun and a non tsa lock on box, then needed a tsa lock on suitcase. Declare at checkin, they usually make you open it so they can put a declaration tag in the case.

Thats been my experience with Southwest and United out of OKC. Denver Inter'l is another can of worms where they escort you down the sidewalk to the opposite end of arrivals to scan your bag on a special machine. Then you hand over your bag to their security guy to walk it back down the sidewalk to the baggage check you started in while they shoo you off to security and out of sight of your bag. I didnt like that setup much.

OKC has always been fine for me.

 

[BryanDP]

Thats been my experience with Southwest and United out of OKC. Denver Inter'l is another can of worms where they escort you down the sidewalk to the opposite end of arrivals to scan your bag on a special machine. Then you hand over your bag to their security guy to walk it back down the sidewalk to the baggage check you started in while they shoo you off to security and out of sight of your bag. I didnt like that setup much.

OKC has always been fine for me.

When I was in Denver I had the same experience except it was just a sky cap that wanted to take possession of my bag and walk through the airport unsecured area. I advised we would walk back together and put it in the secure area conveyor belt together. And that’s what we did. I didn’t tip him either.

 

[golddigger14s]

I haven't flown with SW, but I've never had a problem at flying with guns. They just have me sign a 3X5 card attesting that they are unloaded.

 

[Refugee]

Easy peasey. I've flown twice in the previous six months on Southwest with a handgun. Declare it at the check in counter, they ask you to show them locked box (I had mine in my suitcase) and fill out a card. Tell them it's unloaded, and put the lock box back into suitcase. I never had to show them the firearm. They said to keep an ear out for announcements in case TSA had an issue after they x-ray it. Never had an issue. I just flew a rifle for deer season to and from OKC and didn't have any issues either. And brought Bambi back in a cooler, which turned out to be a bigger hassle than flying with a firearm!

 

[OKCHunter]

I’ve flown several times with a handgun. My biggest concern, which almost happened to me, is a cancelled flight and then rebooked through a gun unfriendly city like Denver. They have a magazine capacity limit of 10 and my M&P holds 17. I’m not sure what would actually happen if that was the case. I was seriously thinking I would have to ship my magazine home from Las Vegas. Fortunately, I found a later flight that when through Dallas instead.

 

[wawazat]

I’ve flown several times with a handgun. My biggest concern, which almost happened to me, is a cancelled flight and then rebooked through a gun unfriendly city like Denver. They have a magazine capacity limit of 10 and my M&P holds 17. I’m not sure what would actually happen if that was the case. I was seriously thinking I would have to ship my magazine home from Las Vegas. Fortunately, I found a later flight that when through Dallas instead.

I have to fly to Denver occasionally to visit the home office. I normally just take my 1911 for that reason alone. From what I have gathered, the issue would come up if you had to take possession of your bag. Like in NYC, it seems they like to give you your bag back and then have the Port Authority waiting to put you in cuffs as soon as you take custody.

 

[OKCHunter]

I have to fly to Denver occasionally to visit the home office. I normally just take my 1911 for that reason alone. From what I have gathered, the issue would come up if you had to take possession of your bag. Like in NYC, it seems they like to give you your bag back and then have the Port Authority waiting to put you in cuffs as soon as you take custody.

Yep - I now have a couple of 10 round mags that I fly with.