Early morning flights with a firearm

Legal & Second Amendment
1

I have flown with my firearm several times. Sometimes in LAX, the agent at the counter just fills out the card, has me sign it, places it in my secured case, and puts my bag on the conveyor belt. Other times; e.g,. Phoenix, Orlando, I have to go to some star chamber to wait until I get a thumb’s up from the TSA inspector.

This time I have to fly from either Ontario or LAX to Charleston, SC and back. Each flight will depart before 6:00 A.M. I will have to check in by 5:00 A.M. or possibly earlier. Does anyone know if there will be anyone at TSA during those early morning hours to vet my checked baggage for the firearm?

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2

Greetings and welcome, Roland!

In my experience, yes, there is always someone there to conduct appropriate TSA inspections/screenings. That said, it would be prudent to contact each involved airport ahead of time to ensure that’ll be the case.

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3

I would assume there has to be agents 24-7?

When I flew with my pistol, there was a line of people flying with guns through DIA (Denver)

That was also my first flight In nearly a decade,… sounds like you’re far more experienced than I am in this regard! :rofl:

And welcome to the community!

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4

TSA involvement in travel with checked firearms is actually NOT mandated by any Federal regulation etc. It is something that different airlines/airports etc. include in their own policies and I find that it even changes from one day to another with the same airlines and airports. I’ve literally beet told by a counter agent that If TSA does not “respond” in just a few minutes they will just go ahead and check my bags/gun in.

I’d just make sure I go with plenty of time (as usual) and let the airline counter guy deal with the TSA issue, and yes there are TSA folks in the Airport as long as the airport is in “operating hours” also which varies by airport.

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Welcome Roland20.

IDK. But already seeing lots of good advice above.

Anything related to crossing the border into Canada scares me a lil bit; Personally I’d conduct extra research before entering Canada to be legally safe and not lose my CCW to their authorities.

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6

I believe he’s referring to Ontario, California. Not Canada.

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7

Yes, i should have made it clear that it was Ontario, California. In response to Will_B, the connections for the flights to Charleston from the LA area go through Denver.

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8

I wanted to bring mine for the first time but flight’s at 5:05am and TSA doesn’t open until 4am. I just bought a knife and pepper spray at my destination.

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9

But the airlines always say arrive 2 hours prior :roll_eyes:

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10

Of Course, that means the Traveling Public needs to get there 2 hours early not the Not Traveling TSA cops…

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11

And I did, only to find out it’s like we’re all waiting for Walmart’s doors to open on Black Friday.

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12

If the ticket counters are open and staffed for the first flights of the morning then TSA should be also.
Airlines DO NOT want to be late, period!

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