Flights from Johannesburg to Kimberly

[billc]

For those who have made this flight from Johannesburg to Kimberly.Will I need to do more paper work for the guns flying there or do they get checked right through to Kimberly and paperwork done there then.Thanks Billc

 

[huntercarlos]

hi billc
no more paperwork. South African police will issue a single permit for your stay. The only thing you must do is bring the guns again to the police for the domestic flights. They will check your gun number again. very simple.
Good hunting...
Huntercarlos

 

[shakari]

You need to check the aircraft type for that leg of your journey.

Aircraft types that allow access between cabin and hold whilst the aircraft is in flight are forbidden to carry firearms.

If the flight you're booked on is one of these, you need to change your flight to one with a more suitable aircraft type.

 

[huntsolo101]

Flying to Kimberley on this flight on Monday May 30th. Has anyone gone through Kimberley lately and know how much the "special person" that handles the gun exchange charges for his service?

 

[bdmd5093]

huntsolo101,

How did the process from J'burg to Kimberley go? I will be going next year with Amakulu Safaris and will be taking the J'burg to Kimberley flight and back. Any advice on the process. Feel free to PM me.

 

[huntsolo101]

Sorry should have posted here earlier. Here is what happened on our flight. First of all myself and 4 other people met up in Washington Dulles for our flight to Joburg. We got on the 5:40 pm flight and made it into Joburg at 4:30 pm their time the next day. We made our way to the gun permit office. Every time we go through the gun permit process it gets faster. We always just get the permit there . I have never used a service. I believe we got out of there in about 15 min. So here is where the problem starts. We could not get a ticket on the last flight out of Joburg to Kimberley that night. So like in the past we spent the night at Afton Guest House. I would highly recommend them. They got us to the airport in plenty of time. Here was the problem. We all had bags that weighed about 48#. For international flight we where allowed 50#. At check in they hit 2 of the guys up for over weight baggage. To the tune of $180.00 per guy .Domestic flights the bags must weigh 46#.
Then we made it to Kimberley. The man at the gun office does open your gun case and look at the serial number and looks at your permit. He charged each one of us $30.00 dollars or 200 rand. Our Ph Greg from Magersfontein Safaris actually picked up the charge for us. Then on the way outbound the gun office man looks at the same paperwork and asks for the 30 dollars Again.
I am sure it could change tomorrow but as of this month we paid 30 in and 30 out.
I use Lori for travel and have not asked her about this situation on the overweight baggage. On the next flight over I will do my best to find a flight that I can check my bags from Washington strait to Kimberley. I did not personally pay any overweight charges because my wife behaved and only brought 1 bag and with her extra weight allowance we where underweight. For our three bags they just put them on the scale together.
We have always had some sort of problem with Joburg airport. Leaving this time we had a porter demand 20 dollars for his 5 min of service that we didn't even ask for. I must just have the tourist sign right on my forehead. Even though I used some advise I found on here by wearing springbok rugby clothes. It didn't work with the porter. He wanted my money. My first flight leaving joburg a security guy went through my hand bag and was asking what everything was. He saw the adult chewable aspirins and took them and said He wanted them. What was I going to do. I just let him take them and went on my way. It has gotten better since my first trip in 2006.
I cant wait to get back. Hope this helps

 

[shakari]

Assuming there were no unusual circumstances, here's what you did wrong:

You shouldn't have paid any excess baggage charges. As you came from the US, you were entitled to continue with the heavier baggage allowance for every leg of your journey.

The only time this doesn't apply is if you buy the ticket for the domestic leg inside RSA. Assuming the ticket was issued in the US, you're entitled to the heavier baggage allowance. - It could be the check in agent was trying to con you for the excess baggage charge but it's more likely, they just stuffed up. Hell, your buddies could possibly have bought another ticket and had two seats, two baggage allowances and two meals for less than USD180!

I'd suggest that next time, you pull out your international ticket and point out you're from the US and are entitled to a heavier baggage allowance and if they dispute that, ask them to call a supervisor and show you the regulations that prove that fact and if you somehow lose that debate (and I doubt you would because it's an international IATA agreement) just buy a second ticket if it's cheaper.

Your porter has no right to demand anything. You should have given him R20 and if he argued, just say, OK, let's call a cop and discuss this..... he'll back down straight away and without argument.

As for the tablets, if they're sealed medication, he doesn't usually have the right to take them...... what for example would have happened if they'd been malaria tablets for another part of your safari?

 

[enysse]

I had similiar incidents happen to me in May 2009, with the excess baggage. I asked to see a supervisor! They rushed me through, after that incident. There are a lot of con games that go on a Tambo International Airport. They best thing I can say is keep your cool and collected thoughts to yourself. Most people realize you are not to be messed with and mean business. And tell them this isn't your first time here!

 

[bdmd5093]

huntsolo101,

Thanks for the update and the useful heads-up info. I have been communicating with Lori over the last several days as well, and my hunting partner and I have decided to let her do our flight bookings for us. We live in southeast Georgia, so will be flying Delta out of Savannah to Atlanta, and where we will take then direct Delta flight to J'burg. We will spend one night there, and take the Kimberley flight the following day. She has suggested letting her book the domestic JNB-Kimberley flights as soon as they open up for our travel dates, and then watching the Delta fares for a little while to see if they dip any ($1878.40 + $320 round trip SAV-JNB for the Delta economy comfort upgrade as of today). I am waiting to hear from our outfitter to see if they will be transporting our baggage, including firearms, via vehicle ahead of us, or if we will check them through for the domestic flights (which I suspect will be the case). Good thing you begin this process a year in advance!
How was your trip otherwise? How was the weather this time of year?
Thanks again!