Originally Posted by Combat Medic
As I recall, weapon's cases aren't the only thing that the TSA isn't allowed to search. I believe that they also cannot search a packed parachute that is checked in as luggage.
Kind of. Since actually opening it for inspection would destroy its usefulness as a parachute (so says a basejumper friend of mine; something about some kind of release charge or something that has to be triggered to get it unpacked, and costing about $60 to replace it after screening) any need to actually screen the thing requires that we (a) have the passenger come and do the actual opening of the parachute, and (b) have the passenger's explicit permission to screen it.
If the passenger does not give explicit permission to screen it, however, then it will not be allowed to go anywhere except back outside of the airport.
TSA's guidelines for traveling with parachutes.
The same guidelines exist for chemical protection suits that the Army (or whomever) might bring through the checkpoint. If a need to search it arises, the passenger has to give explicit consent (since opening it for inspection would de-sterilize it, or something~). If the consent isn't given, then the item is denied entry into the sterile area, or denied carriage in checked baggage (whichever applies).
Originally Posted by DevilDog438
AFAIK, gun cases are not permitted inside of other luggage. I always thought gun cases used for transporting weapons as checked luggage are supposed to be hard-sided cases and checked with the airline as individual pieces of luggage.
No, you can have handgun cases inside of other bags. The only really major difference is that the declaration form needs to be outside of the handgun case - like on top of it, or whatever - instead of inside of the case itself. Otherwise, everything else still applies: needs to be hard-sided, needs to be locked (and, apparently, without the lock being a TSA-Approved lock).
Everything else being said--
So declare a gun, TSA can't open the luggage for inspection, does it fly or does it get yanked from the luggage?
If you don't want your luggage inspected, check a firearm. The TSA is not supposed to open such cases (declared as containing a firearm).
that Locked Box on a domestic flight TSA cannot open
--is incorrect. As GoingAway has stated:
Originally Posted by GoingAway
I think its the gun case itself that is locked/protected not the entire bag ... so yes, that means with the unlocked/tsa lock bs, etc that potentially the bag is later opened and the case removed ... How is that handled now?
(to answer the question at the end - we screen around the handgun case inside of the suitcase)
It is the gun case itself, not the entire bag that the gun case is in. Some FSDs (such as the one in HSV) have still mandated that, at their airports, the interior of the cases will be inspected. Really, the "don't open gun cases" thing was directed at airports that used the big CTX x-ray devices in baggage. In that case, you wouldn't
need to open it unless there was something else inside of the bag that warranted inspection. But as for the scenario of having a big, massive Pelican case with a starter pistol declared and sitting on top of everything else - no. Declaration of a firearm is not a "get out of screening free" card.
TSA's guidelines for traveling with declared firearms. You will note the fifth bullet that states the case might need to be opened. There's also that very last sentence, too - "TSA locks are not approved for securing firearms." - that I don't think was on there the last time I actually looked at the page.
Originally Posted by AngryMiller
Dean, does anyone writing the rules ever bother to talk to anyone else about the rules before the rules get implemented? I mean in cases like this a sanity check would be great.
Sometimes, I wonder. From what I understand, this was an FAA thing (and, apparently, from a very, very long time ago) meant for the airline side of operations, not for screening. Which is probably why things have been chuggin' along just fine for the past five and a half-to-six years (or so; whenever the TSA locks got introduced) with TSA locks on gun cases, and nobody bothering to notice. The airlines didn't seem to care, and TSA didn't seem to know. Well, somehow or another, somebody now made TSA aware of it.
Or so it seems.