Lufthansa – once Germany's proud crane. Keep away!

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BlackRhino

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I am currently planning a hunting trip with my son from Vienna to South Africa. Lufthansa is charging us a surcharge of €800 for our two guns. I wonder what service this horrendous sum is being charged for. I can only explain this baggage surcharge as anti-weapons posturing on the part of this airline. In future, I will try to avoid this airline, with or without guns.
 
If they act like that, change the company. You can go to Frankfurt by car, and then take another company to Africa. I would not pay them 800eu. The sinking humiliation of us hunters
 
BlackRhino said:
I am currently planning a hunting trip with my son from Vienna to South Africa. Lufthansa is charging us a surcharge of €800 for our two guns. I wonder what service this horrendous sum is being charged for. I can only explain this baggage surcharge as anti-weapons posturing on the part of this airline. In future, I will try to avoid this airline, with or without guns.
Click to expand...
This is the whole Lufthansa Group that includes Brussel airlines. I'm in the same situation. My gun fees were the same as my original airline ticket. Total rip-off
 
2023 Air Canada charged me $55 and that got my guns from Canada through Frankfurt to Joberg. I seem to recall Lufthansa charged nearly $200 for return flight out of Joberg. Disturbing to learn they have increased the fees that much.

Book on Swiss if you can. Very gun friendly folks. Zurich is also a nice airport. Somewhere there is a free lounge with recliners. A bit hard to find. Ask around. I don't mind the 10+ hr layover there during the day. Sleep on the plane (fitfully!) to Joberg and arrive in time to get guns processed and catch connecting flight. Usually make it to the East Cape lodge in time to hit the range and eat dinner.
 
We will choose Ethiopian Airways again. In 2025, when flying to Windhoek, it was still possible to transport the gun without additional fees. However, the necessary check-out and check-in in Addis during the stopover is a bit tedious.
 
I picked up from another thread on AH that you need to pre-check your guns 2 days before you leave on Qatar or Emirates. I think Emirates. Fortunately, my PH at Joubert Pro Hunt, SA has a nice selection of well-maintained firearms to choose from. Saves a lot of time, aggravation and money by using your PH's guns. If you frequent this website, you're probably comfortable shooting most anything!
 
BlackRhino said:
I am currently planning a hunting trip with my son from Vienna to South Africa. Lufthansa is charging us a surcharge of €800 for our two guns. I wonder what service this horrendous sum is being charged for. I can only explain this baggage surcharge as anti-weapons posturing on the part of this airline. In future, I will try to avoid this airline, with or without guns.
Click to expand...
On a number of airports in Europe, they ask security agencis to manage the guns from the time of the check-in till they are loaded in the aircraft. They are afraid that a gun would be lost, stolen, etc. on the airport. So the security guys pick-up the gun at check-in or after police control and drop the gun in the plane. The security agency apply a flat fee for that. THis goes on top of the airline fee for carrying guns. It is an airport tax billed by the airline for the airport and security agency.
But you can negotiate, once we were 5 hunters and we argue that the work is the same for 2 hunters of 5, just more gun case and they applied a 2 gun fee (this was in Geneva - $250 by guncase!). So contact security of teh airport before to negociate and get the printed reply with the written agreement.
 
Look into driving to Paris and fly on Air France.
Last August they charged me 50 Euro each way. Seemed reasonable and I was told the fee is collected at the request of Johannesburg luggage handlers and it is just a path through cost through Air France.
I flew Lufthansa many times and they fell way behind other airlines in comfort and services provided.
 
V.Veritas said:
Look into driving to Paris and fly on Air France.
Last August they charged me 50 Euro each way. Seemed reasonable and I was told the fee is collected at the request of Johannesburg luggage handlers and it is just a path through cost through Air France.
I flew Lufthansa many times and they fell way behind other airlines in comfort and services provided.
Click to expand...
With Airfrance you run the risk of strikes (airline controller, airline company, etc.) - typically 1-2 times a year. I never fly airfrance for vacations.
 
I had a very bad experience on Lufthansa / Discover from Houston to Frankfurt to Windhoek last July. They lost my bag for 10 days. On the return trip, my rifles got delayed a day in FRA, despite a 4 hour layover and the $200 handling fee.
 
Have you looked into whether KLM would work for you? It's been a few years, but they did not charge me any additional firearms fee.
 
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