I am a polar guide. I frequently travel to Spitsbergen, the Arctic island, with my firearm, which I carry as last-resort protection in case I am attacked by a polar bear. It is something I hope that I never have to use.
For the last five years or so, I have flown with it in and out of Manchester airport without issue. The problem now is that airlines will not tell you in advance which airports accept firearms. You have to first buy a ticket, then register it as special baggage.
A refund of the ticket can only be made within 24 hours, but it takes 24 to 72 hours for the special baggage request to be confirmed. If it is rejected, there is no chance for a refund.
I need to fly back to Manchester after my latest expedition, so I booked a ticket with SAS. After the 24-hour refund window had passed it informed me that there is now an embargo flying firearms into Manchester airport.
I therefore tried booking with KLM. The website, and a customer service agent, confirmed that it carries firearms, so I bought a ticket. My booking confirmation showed that my firearm was included as check-in baggage.
Two days later, I checked my booking status; it now stated that the carriage of a weapon was “not available”. I’d not been notified of this change, and I was refused a refund as the 24-hour deadline had passed.
They were happy to change my destination to Birmingham (for an extra £270), but, again, I wouldn’t find out if it had been approved by the airport until after the 24-hour deadline. This has so far cost me over £450, and I am still stuck in Norway without a flight.
PW, High Peak, Derbyshire
There probably are not many readers who need to transport weaponry, but I’m highlighting your experience because it shows up the bizarre logic that can prevent passengers from booking more common essentials, such as guide dogs, or even bikes, on to planes.
It’s entirely reasonable that there should be safeguards for the transport of firearms. Airlines have to, for instance, check that the correct permits and paperwork are in place (which yours were). It’s entirely unreasonable, however, to force passengers to pay for tickets before approval is granted, then refuse a refund if it takes longer than 24 hours to reject the request.
Moreover, the airlines are passing the buck. It’s not the airports which decide whether to accept individual firearms, but the airlines themselves. Manchester airport confirmed that there is no embargo on airlines carrying legal weapons, and that under the terms of its licence it would not be allowed to enforce one.
The UK regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority, tells me that airlines are not required to seek official approval for carrying sporting weapons, but must establish an official policy and make it available to passengers.
You eventually made it home after paying another £270, this time to Lufthansa, which was able to confirm carriage of your gun before you stumped up.
KLM and SAS did not respond to my requests for a comment.
JS of Newcastle is in a similar bind trying to book his bike on to a Eurostar to Brussels.
“There is no way of checking if they have space before you buy your ticket,” he writes. “You have to book the tickets first, and then email their travel services centre. An automated response requires you to fill in a long-winded form, which I did, and heard nothing more.”
With two weeks to go before departure, JS tried calling customer services and was told bikes cannot be booked over the phone, and that there was no guarantee spaces would be available if, and when, the travel centre got round to reading his email.
He asked to cancel his tickets and was told there would be a £25 fee, and that he would have to do it more than seven days before the travel date to qualify for a fare refund. Which means if the travel centre dithers for a further week, he’s lost his money.
“I am also facing losing the money I paid for accommodation while I am away,” he says.
Eurostar’s whimsical policies, be they transporting wheelchair users or bikes, are all too familiar to me.
A year ago, the company told me it was launching an online booking tool for bikes in the “near future” and aiming to reduce the time taken to approve requests.
Nothing happened and passengers still face being stranded and left out of pocket.
Twelve months on from that promise, Eurostar’s response is almost identical. “Our teams are aware of this issue,” it says. “We’re planning to introduce a new function online that will allow customers to book bike spaces on board, at the same time as purchasing tickets, which we aim to roll out next year.
“We look forward to sharing more updates with our customers soon.”
JS finally managed to book his bike onboard, days before travel.
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