Flying Frontier Airlines with checked firearms...DON'T!!!

This may have been covered already, but I wanted to pass along a horror story from last week. A few buddies and I all converged to TX for a hog hunt. Friend A flew back from DFW to DEN (one leg, no connections) and they flat lost his rifle case. NFC where it was when he quizzed them at DEN, no idea, no suggestions, just "we'll call you when we find it." They simply could not locate it. Friend B in Dallas knew some LEO's and got in touch with the TSA office at DFW. The TSA folks were very concerned and tracked it down within 40 minutes and called A directly in WY. It was still in the TSA's office, it never made it to Frontier's baggage system.

Three days later, Frontier got it to DEN and A drove back down to get it. In summary, Frontier was zero help, the passenger had to track down his own gun case, tell them where it was and go fetch it days later.

Needless to say, I highly discourage others from flying Frontier with firearms. I'm no fan of any airlines but have flown round trips with American twice and Delta/Alaska once with checked firearms with zero problems. The whole thing was a real eye-opener. For all the post-9/11 security out there, Frontier seemed pretty dismissive of firearms, with ammo, floating around somewhere inside the sterile secure side of the commercial airport system. Yikes.

Recommendation from a pilot friend and avid hunter...FedEx it. I'm seeing more road trips in the future.

dave

P.S. the hog hunt was a blast!

I have flown Alaska and Delta over 20 times and never so much as had a delay in my gun. I fly Alaska every week for business and they have yet to ever lose any bag of mine in over 1.5MM miles flown.

Delta I have also never had an issue, but they are now no longer recognizing NRA as a sponsor due to the Florida shooting. So for me, no more Delta

IMO the travelling public has taught the airlines that we are willing to switch carriers for a $10 fare difference. We therefore get the results, good and hard. Frontier seems to be king of the low advertised price, followed by a string of extras. (Oh, you wanted us to actually deliver the gun case. That would have been $20 extra.)

Having worked as a baggage handler and customer service agent, I will say that the airlines themselves rely on the luggage being scanned and uploaded to their system. Bags are scanned as they go onto the cart, onto the plane, and off the plane. If it never made it past TSA then it wouldn’t be scanned, and they would be telling the truth that they don’t know where it was. This one is on the TSA.

That being said, an airline employee who delivered it to TSA should have seen it through. I’d be pissed too.

Flew Frontier from Indy to Denver in 2016. No issues what so ever with our guns. I will say Frontier is the most uncomfortable way to fly. I think a cinder block would be softer than their seats. I am with Corax on them being the charge you for everything airline.

It sounds more like TSA involvement than Frontier.
Mostly because it was located in TSA's office.

Lame. We flew from Sioux Falls to Denver on Frontier. No problems either way.

Our local airport handles allot of guns though, they didn't bat an eye.

Probably 20 roundtrips on Southwest Air with bow or gun case and never an issue other than at LAX where no one wanted to verify was unloaded...they acted as if was a cobra snake coiled ready to strike so called for security to deal with that so took 25 minutes rather than 5 minutes to process the check in.

FYI, on the way back from Winter Park today I saw a billboard from the Frontier pilots saying they were going to strike.......WTF? I have never seen anything like it.

I hate flying. Air Canada lost my rifle for two days between Utah and Montreal ( thankfully I was on my way home). United lost my rifle once on my way to Utah... It was located in NY city... I didn't pass through NYC !!! I had all my elk and deer meat stolen out of my coolers flying Delta once. My coolers arrived busted and empty. I much prefer to drive if possible.

SFC B said:

FYI, on the way back from Winter Park today I saw a billboard from the Frontier pilots saying they were going to strike.......WTF? I have never seen anything like it.

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Those billboards are all over town. In Frontier's case - they have a point since most of their pilots signed up for a different gig than they ended up with (now that Frontier has shifted to the ULCC (Ultra Low Cost Carrier) model. But - the standard 'quit and go work somewhere else' argument is pretty poignant now since we have a shortage of airline pilots, and it's getting worse.

Corax said:

IMO the travelling public has taught the airlines that we are willing to switch carriers for a $10 fare difference. We therefore get the results, good and hard

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This is absolutely what has created the Spirits, Frontiers and WestJets of the world. If the thread title lost the words "with checked firearms" it would probably be more accurate.

Yeah, agree with cedahm. Frontier pretty much has gone from a decent airline to a nickle and dime uncomfortable airline. Employees who, for the most part, seem miserable and don't like their jobs.

The way I see it, if in lower 48, drive unless you absolutely have to fly. If going to AK for a hunt, I'm 100% sure you have a) a friend to send stuff to, b) Hunt Talk buddy to send stuff to, c) can borrow items from either A or B...

Why put yourself thru the stress/time involved with sending firearms with an airline... Yes I know it could be easy, can be easy, it was easy last time... I'm a firm believer of over prepare, be ready for the worst, but first and foremost, don't get in a situation unless you have to be.

I wouldn't go clear to Texas for a Hog hunt anyway. Shoot , I wouldn't go there if they gave me free Cowgirl tickets in the premium seating..........BOB!