playing abroad - aeg's shipping

mafo

Hi. I am planning to fly to England in April for the 36 hours milsim. Seeking advice on how to send 'toys' to the UK. Which courier company?, any certificate required?. Have no idea.
Thanks

fayer

The Irish Airsoft Association has a guide here.

http://irishairsoft.ie/?page_id=932

AlternateID

mafo wrote: »

Hi. I am planning to fly to England in April for the 36 hours milsim. Seeking advice on how to send 'toys' to the UK. Which courier company?, any certificate required?. Have no idea.
Thanks

What's the event?

Jsmurff

mafo wrote: »

Hi. I am planning to fly to England in April for the 36 hours milsim. Seeking advice on how to send 'toys' to the UK. Which courier company?, any certificate required?. Have no idea.
Thanks

AFAIK you can bring it with you on flight but you must have it in a lockable hardcase and clear it with customs first so they can let the customs in england know its comming

Rooky1

I have flown over to the UK a few times with AEGs.
They have to be in a seperate bag, although a lockable case is preferred.
No batteries in AEGs and no bbs in mags.

Ryanair wouldn't allow them but Aer Lingus would.
You have to declare them at the time of checking in and pay for them as you would any large sports equipment. (It was €35 euro each way)

They will normally put your AEG case on by hand and then deliver to the customs in the UK. UK customs will want to inspect them and each time I have been over they do call in the armed Police to inspect them as well.

In my experience they are fascinated by the detailing of the AEGs.

I had a few conversations with the armed Police that were called and although they want to inspect your gear they are very interested in your attitude. So it is a case of minding your P's and Q's.

It helps to have all the relevant details of where you are gaming to hand as well.

The UK customs and the armed Police have always been pleasant to deal with. Very friendly, although it can be slightly intimidating chatting to them when they have there RS firearm at hand:)

sliabh

Rooky1 wrote: »

The UK customs and the armed Police have always been pleasant to deal with. Very friendly, although it can be slightly intimidating chatting to them when they have there RS firearm at hand:)

Have you tried asking "I've shown you mine, now let me see yours?"

Rooky1

I did suggest a trade, there Mp5 for my SA80....even said I would throw in a few thousand bbs, but alas not!:rolleyes:

They were impressed with the SA80. One of them had only come back from a shooting exercise 2 days previously and had used the real L85a2. He was impressed with the finish and the weight of the Star AEG version.:)

Lemming

Rooky1 wrote: »

Ryanair wouldn't allow them but Aer Lingus would.
You have to declare them at the time of checking in and pay for them as you would any large sports equipment. (It was €35 euro each way)

Last time I checked or used a flight, most airlines - including the UK budget ones - will allow airsoft. You need to digging through the baggage conditions on their websites to arm yourself with the requisite knowledge first in case you encounter an employee who isn't sure what their company's stated position is on the matter.

The only exception I have encountered is Ryan aer as Rooky as mentioned above. Also, the last time I took a flight with Aer Fungus, it was €40 each way on the baggage charge (UK flight), but that was 2008 I believe.

I had a few conversations with the armed Police that were called and although they want to inspect your gear they are very interested in your attitude. So it is a case of minding your P's and Q's.

It helps to have all the relevant details of where you are gaming to hand as well.

The UK customs and the armed Police have always been pleasant to deal with. Very friendly, although it can be slightly intimidating chatting to them when they have there RS firearm at hand:)

I cannot emphasis the above enough. They are as much trying to suss you out as make sure you don't have real-steel. If you act like an idiot you will be treated like one so keep your head, be polite & you'll be through before you know it with them waving you off after having spent ten minutes playing with your stuff and dribbling over it :pac:

I would recommend getting a letter of invitation from the game organisers (for example, TA-Events have a letter that you can print off with your name, date of event, etc. on it) or show a print out of any booking to show HMRC & airport police why you have RIFs with you. Any site membership or IAA membership documentation wouldn't hurt either, although it's an additional bonus really.

mafo

Thanks everyone for replies.

AlternateID wrote: »

What's the event?

The event is organized by the Polish team from Wickham. It will take place in this airsoft site http://www.combatsouth.co.uk/ on 13.april.2012
Thanks

Lemming

mafo wrote: »

Thanks everyone for replies.


The event is organized by the Polish team from Wickham. It will take place in this airsoft site http://www.combatsouth.co.uk/ on 13.april.2012
Thanks

Ok, combat-south are an extremely well established and well known site in the UK (and absolutely top-class from what I have heard). Drop them (the site) a line and explain that you are travelling to the event from overseas and could they please email (so you can print off) or post out a site-headed letter stating that you are entering the UK for purposes of attending said event with RIFs and that they have confirmed your booking, etc.

Unless you act like a complete mong upon arrival, the letter should satisfy HMRC and/or airport police regards your eligibility to avail of the VCRA airsoft skirmisher defence.