Flying with fake weapons

[sunstar77.livejournal.com]

My boyfriend and I are going to be flying from NY to ATL for D*C and this year we're going to have three resin guns and a knife as part of our costumes. Does anyone have any tips for traveling with these weapons? They're pretty important parts of our costumes, so we'd be really upset if anything happened to them. Thanks!

Comments

[dustagorn.livejournal.com]

Inform security that you are carrying prop weapons in your luggage when you check them.

[kernsville.livejournal.com]

Yeah. If he can get through with THIS stuff, you should have no problems, so long as you retain the "Prop" terminology.

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/billthepony/492721343/)

[keita-yuki.livejournal.com]

pack them in your checked luggage. You can not fly with them in carry on regardless if they work or not. I fly from Rochester NY to GA and Ive had weapons but only in my checked luggage. And expect to have yr luggage inspected and get the lil homeland security pamphlet when u open it. Also inform them you have prop weaspons in the bags so they hopefuly dont freak as bad.

Or if you dont want to put it in yr checked luggage do this. Get a pvc tube that u can use screw on ends. bubble wrap the sword and guns then put inside and screw shut. Ive done that for my swords and it worked out fine.

[katamarann.livejournal.com]

TSA rules also say that they have to be in checked luggage and in a locked, hard case. You have to inform them at check-in and possibly show them to the TSA agent at the counter.

I decided to ship my prop gun and the boots for my costume to myself at the hotel, then ship them home via UPS. You can call the hotel and check for their delivery policy.

[midnighttheatre.livejournal.com]

I am sending mine to the hotel a few days before my arrival so I don't have to worry about airport security checking my bags and hindering the arrival of my checked luggage.

I work at an airport

[crazeyal.livejournal.com]

The TSA is like any other security corps. You get lax people, nice people, mean people and outright douches. The TSA has strict standards, but each airport is seperate and do things their own way. We had a guy try and ship a LOADED SHOTGUN in his checked luggage.

Every airport has a TSA office or rep for the smaller ones. Call (don't try around mealtimes, it's CRAZY!!) and ask. If the person you are talking to says the words "uh" "I think" "I guess" or any other varient, you AREN'T talking to a supervisor.

The official stance of the TSA is that realistic representations of actual guns are allowed to be checked. As per this page. (http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/prohibited/permitted-prohibited-items.shtm)

HOW they want them checked is open to interpretation. Find out beforehand and you'll have less stress.

[neoengel.livejournal.com]

advice from a Colonial Marine (Aliens 1986) ... avoid terms like weapon, gun, etc... use terms like movie props, display items, sci-fi resin kits, etc.

[xffan-2000.livejournal.com]

What neoengel said...don't say "weapon." Say "toy" or "prop" or "movie replica."

Better yet, as others have said, ship to the hotel and skip the TSA hassles. They are the same people that rummaged through my luggage to bust apart decks of Magic cards, a bag of True Dungeon tokens and a bag of candy. None of which would bother me, if they'd just put everything back in its proper place without bending cards or tossing tokens loose around the suitcase.

[awillis2.livejournal.com]

Safest thing would be to ship it to the hotel where you're staying.
If you are staying at the Marriott there is(or was last year) a FedEx/Kinko's in the downstairs area (CRSing on what that level is called right now), but you could *might* could have it shipped there I don't know. I know that you could have it packaged up and shipped to you from there, although I don't know if they would be open on Monday or not.

[radegund-lj.livejournal.com]

Last year I stayed at the Marriott, and they actually shipped my box home for me. I filled in a form with the information, handed over the box, and paid something like $5 on top of the shipping cost for them to handle everything. This was very handy on Monday since it was a holiday and everything was closed!

[agentcabanas.livejournal.com]

Same here. It was a little bit extra on top of shipping but I didn't have to worry about my guns, knives, etc. on the flight home. Or the week of detox at home. ;)

[garybaldy.livejournal.com]

Ship them to the hotel you are staying at in the name that the reservation is in. Call the hotel before hand find out what the policy is and how long they will hold it.

I'd go the shipping route

[jlware5000.livejournal.com]

It's better to insure it than loose it to some auction that the airport will hold for their beer parties or whatever.

[lapis-lazuli615.livejournal.com]

Ship to the hotel:
Hotel Name
Hold For (guest name) arriving (your date of arrival)
Address.

Use anyone but USPS (their tracking is a frakking joke) and be sure to keep an eye on the tracking. You might want to get insurance on it too.

This is how a lot of the GOH's handle shipping their photos.

Laz.

[laughingmagpie.livejournal.com]

It being really expensive to ship from Canada to a US hotel, I take my prop weapons in checked luggage.

I have taken wooden/foam swords, steampunk rayguns and the like, but purposefully choose costumes that do not require realistic looking guns - it's not just the shipping of them that's a problem, but having them in public, and crossing an international border also adds some drama I'd rather not deal with.

The advice to use the words PROPS and COSTUMES first before describing anything is good advice.

Also, the first thing anyone sees when they open my luggage is a picture of me wearing the costume with a note: "These are props and costumes for a Science Fiction Convention."

The next thing they will see are the items that probably caused them to inspect the luggage. I pack the weapons, gears and metal objects at the top, easily accessible. The whole suitcase I try to make easy to unpack and pack, with the fragile items in separate boxes within the case, to try to minimize damage from inspections.

[memysza.livejournal.com]

Also remember that you cannot lock your checked luggage, or your locks will be clipped when they are inspected.

[sunstar77.livejournal.com]

Actually, that's not true. As long as you use TSA approved locks, they don't cut them off.

[memysza.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but a lot of people don't think about buying them until they lose a non-TSA approved lock. ; )

What is best for shipping?

[devildolltx.livejournal.com]

A question for people who have shipped their props and costumes to the hotel. Any recommendation on what to ship in? Are there good reusable containers that make the trip without going crazy expensive?

Thanks

Re: What is best for shipping?

[sunstar77.livejournal.com]

We ended up using a regular cardboard box. We took it and the weapons to UPS, and they wrapped, packed and shipped them to the hotel, with no trouble. The box was slightly larger than a paper box and the whole thing cost us $20ish to ship there and $10 to ship back via Fed Ex (using the same box and packing materials).