Airplanes and AEGs

The_ChiefDUB

I'm heading over to Spain in a while and hoping to bring one of my AEGs with me since I know there are a few pretty cool airsoft sites near where I'll be.

Can anyone tell me what the deal is with bringing an AEG on an Aer Lingus flight. Is it possible? Any special precautions need to be taken? They don't mention anything on the website but then they don't mention anything about archery equipment either and I've been able to travel with my archery gear no problem.

So if anyone has any experience with this I'd be grateful for any advice.

Cheers

Silent Death

Metal gun case i think, has to be a hard shell not a soft one as far as i know

Doyler92

As far as I remember when the event was on in Sweden, the people that were going had to get certain green tags on their cases and have it on show at all times.

Witcher

Has to be in a lockable case and you have to declare it as a firearm to the airline:)

OzCam

Advice for travel is on the IAA website. Click here.
It's also been mentioned many, many times on this board.

Updates:
* Irish Ferries are reviewing their policy, news expected shortly.
* CityJet (WX) don't accept firearms at all, even in hold baggage, so we need to add them to the list.

EI to Spain should not be a problem, though you will be charged an extra €40 each way. You can't pay that charge online; you can either pay it over the phone or at the Ticket Desk at the airport. That hard-sided, locked case is covered by the €40 special charge, so you don't have a baggage charge for that one (as long as it's under 15kg), just for your other checked-in bags. BBs should be in your hold baggage, the security people won't let them in the cabin. Don't carry gas. Remove your batteries for flight. Be nice. Check in at least 90 minutes before the flight. The check-in agent may or may not know about replicas, but the supervisors, Security and Customs people are very familiar with them. DUB doesn't tag firearms bags on the way out, Spanish airports may be different.

OzCam

By the way, the power limits are set by the individual sites in Spain. Some of them allow up to 5 joules, so make very sure you have proper eye and mouth protection.

StevieGriff

Sports Guns

Aer Lingus will carry sports guns and ammunition cartridges subject to the following:

• Sport Guns are to be dismantled.
• Sports Guns when dismantled are to be loaded with checked baggage.
• Sport Guns, ammunition and cartridges must be packed separately from other baggage.
• Sport Guns, ammunition and cartridges must be available for inspection by security.
• Ammunition is limited to 5kg per passenger and must be packed in containers of wood, metal, or fireboard with the contents protected against any movement.
• Subject to an extra charge for flights within Europe.

Fees For Sports Guns And Ammunition

€40/£32 or equivalent for all flights within Europe. (£37 for flights departing London Heathrow). This fee is payable at the airport on the day of departure. For flights to/from North America sports guns and ammunition may be carried under the normal baggage allowance.
Gas cigarette lighters are prohibited on all flights to and from the USA. Gas cigarette lighters can currently be carried on the person only on UK and European Routes.
If your booking was made on aerlingus.com you can book bags in advance by clicking here: Book Bag in Advance. You will need to know your Booking Reference as well as the Departure Airport, Arrival Airport and the email address used to make your booking.
Note: If you did not book online you will need to contact our Reservations Department in order to book your bags in advance.


Copy and paste from Aer Lingus. An AEG will fall into the category of "Sport Gun" in there eyes

sliabh

Out of curiosity, would there be any problem with 40mm grenades and/or gbb mags? I can see twp problems, they look like "weapon" components, and they are gas containers.

r0n0c

had no problems bringing m9 gbb mags to sweeden last year, just dont forget to remove the valves on the mags or tape them open, the seals in mine were broken when i got round to gassing them up

The_ChiefDUB

Great information folks, thanks a million for the help.

OzCam

kd used to advise people to take a valve key with them so you could remove the valve if some security person got sticky about them being gas containers. Removing valves should only be done if necessary, because they don't always work properly when you refit them. There's anecdotal evidence that GBB mags have not been reliable and needed servicing after flying. In practice, pressing the valve should be enough to demonstrate that they're empty if you're asked.

For the benefit of anyone else reading, you may not, under any circumstances take any compressed gas onto an aircraft. You'll have to buy it at the destination. They're extremely serious about this.

Pack GBB mags and grenades with your gun(s) in your "firearm" case. Also, note that a few airlines enforce the rule that there should only be one gun in a case. Most airlines (including EI) are happy enough with two.

J.D.R

Sorry to OP if this is thread spoiling, but would the title of this thread make for savage airsofting.

Any rich airsofters out there fancy buying an Airport and opning a site?

sliabh

Has anyone tried flying 40mm grenades?

kdouglas

OzCam wrote: »

kd used to advise people to take a valve key with them so you could remove the valve if some security person got sticky about them being gas containers.

This was based on Lemming's advice from Berget 08, security wanted to enforce the rule that you could only carry two "paintball gas canisters" and since airsoft was similar to paintball (for the purposes of explaining), then gbb magazines are the same as gas canisters.

There shouldn't be any harm in removing the valves before flight, and I would recommend it. I had no problems leaving the valves in going to sweden, but as said, some people have had issues.

Lemming

kdouglas wrote: »

This was based on Lemming's advice from Berget 08, security wanted to enforce the rule that you could only carry two "paintball gas canisters" and since airsoft was similar to paintball (for the purposes of explaining), then gbb magazines are the same as gas canisters.

There shouldn't be any harm in removing the valves before flight, and I would recommend it. I had no problems leaving the valves in going to sweden, but as said, some people have had issues.

Berget 6

But yeah, there was a lot of confusion over the GBB mags. In time-honoured tradition, the security staff went "what's airsoft?" and the answer was "it's like paintball only no paint" which they were happy enough with. BUT, where paintball markers are concerned each passenger is limited to two canisters. So here's where the confusion kicked in as the security staff kept thinking "paintball gas canisters". Paintball canisters tend to be a great deal larger than (several) GBB mags.

touge_drift

just a quick one to re assure myself.. currently in america now and flying home sunday week. got myself some bb's and a red dot sight and red laser will i have any trouble bringing them home? should i leave them in my checked luggage or carry on?

Lemming

touge_drift wrote: »

just a quick one to re assure myself.. currently in america now and flying home sunday week. got myself some bb's and a red dot sight and red laser will i have any trouble bringing them home? should i leave them in my checked luggage or carry on?

Lets see. Checklist;

• USA airline security post 9/11
• Gun-related objects
• Carry-on luggage

Seriously. Which set of luggage do you think you should put those in?

OzCam

touge_drift wrote: »

just a quick one to re assure myself.. currently in america now and flying home sunday week. got myself some bb's and a red dot sight and red laser will i have any trouble bringing them home? should i leave them in my checked luggage or carry on?

No, you shouldn't have any trouble. No more than any other day at a US airport anyway.

BBs should go in the aircraft hold. The security people don't like them in the cabin any more. Unless they're really special, the extra weight doesn't really make it worthwhile to carry BBS by air.

Sights and other optical devices are explicitly allowed in either hold or cabin baggage. Just make sure you have the reciept to prove it's for an airsoft device in case Customs query it on arrival. Lasers are fine as long as they're a) Red, and b) not greater than 5mW. Removing the battery before flight is always a good idea.

kdouglas

OzCam wrote: »

Sights and other optical devices are explicitly allowed in either hold or cabin baggage.

To be honest, even if they are allowed in carry-on, I would leave them in checked luggage.

sliabh

I am planning to be back for the Ops Weekend. As far as gear goes I am okay as pretty much everything is in Dublin at the moment.

However I do want to bring a box of mid-cap mags with me, and I am flying with Ryanair who state: "Guns, firearms, ammunition and weapons (including replica items)" are verbotten in hold luggage.

Does anyone know if they will throw a crank over the mags?

Inari

I sincerely doubt it since they're lumps of plastic with a spring, or lumps of metal with a spring. It's possible, but highly unlikely

Lemming

Inari wrote: »

I sincerely doubt it since they're lumps of plastic with a spring, or lumps of metal with a spring. It's possible, but highly unlikely

If they're in the hold luggage, I think it'd probably be bad misfortune to get caught up with. Carry on? You'll be making a box-of-mags-sized donation to the confiscation bin. Happened to one of the Irish contingent on the way home from Berget 7 with an m4 mag-shaped speed-loader.

All in all, serious amounts of common sense are required for negotiating an airport/airline with airsoft kit. Assume nothing other than that the people you will be dealing with are lowest-common denominator pay (i.e. don't even know their own company's rules & regulations ) and/or are complete Captain Over-Reaction types (ask anyone who witnessed my 'BB = replica of a firearm' discussion en-route to Berget 7 at Dublin airport).

You'll get away with stuffing bits of webbing into your carry on (a pouch is a pouch, as the gardai discovered ... ), maybe even a mic headset or a laser unit (minus batteries). AEG accessories, external body parts, or holsters *? Really not a good idea ... as much as airline regulation might not say anything about them. Hold-luggage is a bit more forgiving of course, although you'll still need to do your homework to cover yourself.



* Why holsters? Well ... what does someone think when they see a holster? What do they associate a holster with? What comes next? ...

sliabh

Lemming wrote: »

If they're in the hold luggage, I think it'd probably be bad misfortune to get caught up with.

I was thinking I would go with as hold luggage. But then I remembered I am going through Bratislava, where up until recently they thought it was okay to give passengers semtex to transport for them.

They have probably moved to the over react by default now to avoid any further publicity.

It's about €11 to post the mags home. I will take the safer route.