Qatar Airlines New Gun Policy

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Folks,

I thought I'd give you a heads up on a new policy, that hopefully will return to the old policy, regarding taking your rifles on an overseas hunt. At TTHA last week I met up with the folks at PWP travel to get our flights for my hunt coming up in July this year. As I normally do, I did a lot of my own travel research before I go to the travel agent and found that Delta flights were getting booked pretty quickly it seemed. No matter, I prefer flying Qatar anyway.

So off to the PWP booth I went with the intention of booking PHX -> LAX -> Doha -> JNB. The first leg from PHX to LAX would be on American Airlines as Qatar does not fly out of PHX, but AA is a partner airline with QA. But unfortunately that is not possible on a single ticket.

Patrick Wright (PWP owner) informed me that QA changed their weapons policy such that you can still fly with weapons however, all of your flights must be on QA. So if like me you wish to fly QA to Africa and you don't live in/near a city they fly out of, you must book a separate flight to the airport that QA does fly out of.

Patrick is hoping that QA will reverse this policy back to how it used to be, but there's no promising that is going to happen.

 

[wesheltonj]

That news is about 2 year old, at least. When I went to Zambia, Qatar required all flight on Qatar metal and I had a code share. I had to get special disposition to fly my gun and it was a pain. I had to show the e-mails from both carriers granting permission and it was not in either carriers system. Thankfully, I had the e-mails with their respective logo on the e-mails. When I went to Tanzania last year I made sure I had separate tickets and no code share flights.

 

[MacJenkins]

Folks,

I thought I'd give you a heads up on a new policy, that hopefully will return to the old policy, regarding taking your rifles on an overseas hunt. At TTHA last week I met up with the folks at PWP travel to get our flights for my hunt coming up in July this year. As I normally do, I did a lot of my own travel research before I go to the travel agent and found that Delta flights were getting booked pretty quickly it seemed. No matter, I prefer flying Qatar anyway.

So off to the PWP booth I went with the intention of booking PHX -> LAX -> Doha -> JNB. The first leg from PHX to LAX would be on American Airlines as Qatar does not fly out of PHX, but AA is a partner airline with QA. But unfortunately that is not possible on a single ticket.

Patrick Wright (PWP owner) informed me that QA changed their weapons policy such that you can still fly with weapons however, all of your flights must be on QA. So if like me you wish to fly QA to Africa and you don't live in/near a city they fly out of, you must book a separate flight to the airport that QA does fly out of.

Patrick is hoping that QA will reverse this policy back to how it used to be, but there's no promising that is going to happen.

Patrick has been telling me the the same thing the last month or so. Last week we just decided to book with Emirates as we have done many times in the past. I wanted to try Qatar but oh well.

 

[375Fox]

In past, I had to fly American to Dallas or Chicago then reclaim my bags and check the rifles and ammo directly on Qatar. I’ll fly next in April. Travel express advised me to purchase a separate ticket to Dallas then another ticket on Qatar from there. It doesn’t really make a change for me. It’s equally inconvenient, but I know once I check my rifles in on Qatar they will make it to final destination, only difference now is two tickets instead of one.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

In past, I had to fly American to Dallas or Chicago then reclaim my bags and check the rifles and ammo directly on Qatar. I’ll fly next in April. Travel express advised me to purchase a separate ticket to Dallas then another ticket on Qatar from there. It doesn’t really make a change for me. It’s equally inconvenient, but I know once I check my rifles in on Qatar they will make it to final destination, only difference now is two tickets instead of one.

Exactly. My wife and I are going on this trip with my buddy @AZ KJ and his wife. We are just going to fly to Austin where he lives the night before and then drive up to DFW the next day. On return we will just fly out of DFW to PHX.

The PHX flights will be on AA using FF miles. By doing this if there are any delays in getting back we can easily move our AA flight home from DFW.

 

[Scott CWO]

I don’t understand the problem. I fly American to Houston or Dallas where I claim my luggage and then re-check with Qatar. Qatar has never honored firearms checked by someone else. How is this a change? Perhaps I don’t understand.

 

[MacJenkins]

I don’t understand the problem. I fly American to Houston or Dallas where I claim my luggage and then re-check with Qatar. Qatar has never honored firearms checked by someone else. How is this a change ? Perhaps I don’t understand.

If there is an issue with your American flight getting there on time you are SOL without any recourse with Qatar is the way I understand it.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

I don’t understand the problem. I fly American to Houston or Dallas where I claim my luggage and then re-check with Qatar. Qatar has never honored firearms checked by someone else. How is this a change ? Perhaps I don’t understand.

I ran this scenario by Patrick too, as this is what I've done in the past also. He concurred that was how it used to be done. But QA will not allow the flights to be booked as a single ticket if any portion of the itinerary involves a different airline. This only came up recently.

The advantage of a single ticket is that if something goes awry with any of the flights causing a delay that makes you miss a connection, they have to rebook you for the next available flight. On separate tickets, that's not the case.

 

[375Fox]

I don’t understand the problem. I fly American to Houston or Dallas where I claim my luggage and then re-check with Qatar. Qatar has never honored firearms checked by someone else. How is this a change ? Perhaps I don’t understand.

Travel Express told me American was not checking the Guns in on the Qatar ticket at some airports, so her advice was to book a separate ticket to the Qatar hub like Dallas. Looks like that lines up with the advice from PWP. Previously it was all one ticket. I would just have to recheck bags on Qatar.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

If there is an issue with your American flight getting there on time you are SOL without any recourse with Qatar is the way I understand it.

This.

 

[Scott CWO]

This.

Did anyone mention the purpose for Qatar’s change? Why would it matter to them if we have always had to recheck firearms anyway?

 

[MacJenkins]

Did anyone mention the purpose for Qatar’s change? Why would it matter to them if we have always had to recheck firearms anyway?

No I didn’t ask. I was looking forward to trying something different as I’ve done 8 trips to Africa now with Emirates. Which have been great, just thought something different would be fun this go around.

 

[375Fox]

I think part of problem is getting rebooked and the route. I had a scare last year. American thought my flight was going to be delayed and automatically tried to reroute me on an American flight through Dublin Ireland to Doha instead of the direct Qatar flight from Dallas to Doha. That’s not possible with rifles. Thankfully Travel express got it straightened out for me. I had plenty of time to get on my planned Qatar flight from Dallas to Doha.

 

[Doug3006]

Patrick booked my flight to Namibia when he was with TWG way back in 2019. Qatar used to fly direct to Windhoek back then. Anyway, the issue you describe was the case even back then. I had to fly to Dallas on American, claim my guns and recheck them on Qatar.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Did anyone mention the purpose for Qatar’s change? Why would it matter to them if we have always had to recheck firearms anyway?

I asked Patrick that and he didn't know. He said he talked to QA and they tried to tell him that's how it's always been. He showed them the many flights he's booked in the past that involved another airline to show them it wasn't previously the case. Hopefully it will change in the future back to how it was.

 

[JimP]

When I flew Qatar in 2022 I checked my bag and rifle all the way through to Joberg starting with AA in Denver, the only requirement was the rifle permit with Qatar in Dallas which was a cluster. They had been doing the rifle permit at the gate but had changed to where we had to go upstairs to the checking.

I would much rather know exactly what their process is and having to collect your bags and rifle and recheck in makes more sense.

 

[wesheltonj]

Don't count on it, just because it's a single ticket you are covered. I had a single ticket to Argentina last month. SAT to MIA on AA, they (AA) would not check my bags all the way through or check-in, "different alliance" even though they have an interline agreement with Aerolíneas Argentinas. On the return, Delta MIA to SAT no problem, Aerolineas checked me in all the way though.

 

[fourfive8]

Unless there are more underlying Qatar Air policies than what are visible, I doubt QA customer service reps can even answer such questions. Doesn’t QA use a Kenya based, third party security contractor as their version of our TSA?

 

[Russ16]

Folks,

I thought I'd give you a heads up on a new policy, that hopefully will return to the old policy, regarding taking your rifles on an overseas hunt. At TTHA last week I met up with the folks at PWP travel to get our flights for my hunt coming up in July this year. As I normally do, I did a lot of my own travel research before I go to the travel agent and found that Delta flights were getting booked pretty quickly it seemed. No matter, I prefer flying Qatar anyway.

So off to the PWP booth I went with the intention of booking PHX -> LAX -> Doha -> JNB. The first leg from PHX to LAX would be on American Airlines as Qatar does not fly out of PHX, but AA is a partner airline with QA. But unfortunately that is not possible on a single ticket.

Patrick Wright (PWP owner) informed me that QA changed their weapons policy such that you can still fly with weapons however, all of your flights must be on QA. So if like me you wish to fly QA to Africa and you don't live in/near a city they fly out of, you must book a separate flight to the airport that QA does fly out of.

Patrick is hoping that QA will reverse this policy back to how it used to be, but there's no promising that is going to happen.

That’s really not a big deal. I always book my domestic legs separately anyway. You usually get a better price that way.

Typically I’ll fly in to the international departure city the night before and stay in a cheap hotel. That way I’m freshly showered and rested for the international journey and if there is a problem with domestic leg I have the whole evening and next morning to figure out a way to get where I need to go.

I do this even if I’m flying on the same airline the whole way and even if I’m not flying with guns. I regularly fly up to JFK or LGA the night before then fly the same airline to LHR or other European destinations the next day. It’s almost always cheaper booking it that way than as one itenerary.

As long as you have plenty of time in the return if you have a problem with your international flight you can change your domestic easily by calling the customer service.