I thought I'd give a report of my recent business trip to Colorado and my airport experiences.
All and all, it went very smoothly. While there was a difference in process between the Houston and Colorado Springs airports, I didn't receive any negative vibes at all and the process on each end only delayed me by about 10 minutes.
In Houston the check-in agent was very friendly and also very clueless. She said that she normally works in terminal C but for that morning they were short handed at terminal B so she was sent over to help (the lines were very short regardless). She asked a coworker what to do and was told to do the inspection herself and escort me to TSA. She said that where she normally works that they just send the person with the item to be declared to TSA and they do the inspection there. So it was her first time to do an inspection, I guess (I hope!). She took me to the side, I unlocked and opened my case and explained to her how to tell the pistol was unloaded and what the ammunition rules were. FWIW, my CCW for this trip was a Kimber Stainless II. I also had two loaded magazines, and a box with the remaining Hydro-Shocks that were not in the magazines. TSA ran the suitcase with the pistol case in it through their machine and gave me the thumbs-up to proceed to my gate. They did not ask me to open my pistol case and they did not check my suitcase.
Overall, I would rate the Houston folks as a 9 in friendlyness, an 7 in speed, and a 4 in knowledge.
My Colorado Springs experience was largely the same in regards to attitude but totally different vis-a-vis process. This time the check-in agent knew exactly what process she was supposed to follow, even though it was different from Houston. She checked all of my bags with the exception of the bag that would carry my pistol case. She told me to take it to the TSA personnel. She filled out the declaration tag but did nothing else. The TSA agent asked me to open my pistol case. She seemed like she knew exactly what to do. After I unlocked and opened the case she checked the weapon and ammo and checked to ensure nothing was hidden in the case under the foam padding. She asked me to lock the case up again. She then proceeded to totally inspect the suitcase that the pistol case would be in. She totally unpacked it and checked it for explosive residue probably 10 times. She then repacked the suitcase, zipped it up and told me that the check-in agent would need to take the case back to the counter (which is exactly what the check-in agent said would happen).
Overall, I would rate the Springs folks as an 8 in friendlyness, a 6 in speed, and a 10 in knowledge.
Other than that my trip was smooth. The hotel (The Broadmoor) did not have an in room safe large enough to store the pistol but other than that bringing my CCW with me on this business trip was totally hassle free.
I encourage you all to pack your piece on your next trip to a CHL friendly state.
All and all, it went very smoothly. While there was a difference in process between the Houston and Colorado Springs airports, I didn't receive any negative vibes at all and the process on each end only delayed me by about 10 minutes.
In Houston the check-in agent was very friendly and also very clueless. She said that she normally works in terminal C but for that morning they were short handed at terminal B so she was sent over to help (the lines were very short regardless). She asked a coworker what to do and was told to do the inspection herself and escort me to TSA. She said that where she normally works that they just send the person with the item to be declared to TSA and they do the inspection there. So it was her first time to do an inspection, I guess (I hope!). She took me to the side, I unlocked and opened my case and explained to her how to tell the pistol was unloaded and what the ammunition rules were. FWIW, my CCW for this trip was a Kimber Stainless II. I also had two loaded magazines, and a box with the remaining Hydro-Shocks that were not in the magazines. TSA ran the suitcase with the pistol case in it through their machine and gave me the thumbs-up to proceed to my gate. They did not ask me to open my pistol case and they did not check my suitcase.
Overall, I would rate the Houston folks as a 9 in friendlyness, an 7 in speed, and a 4 in knowledge.
My Colorado Springs experience was largely the same in regards to attitude but totally different vis-a-vis process. This time the check-in agent knew exactly what process she was supposed to follow, even though it was different from Houston. She checked all of my bags with the exception of the bag that would carry my pistol case. She told me to take it to the TSA personnel. She filled out the declaration tag but did nothing else. The TSA agent asked me to open my pistol case. She seemed like she knew exactly what to do. After I unlocked and opened the case she checked the weapon and ammo and checked to ensure nothing was hidden in the case under the foam padding. She asked me to lock the case up again. She then proceeded to totally inspect the suitcase that the pistol case would be in. She totally unpacked it and checked it for explosive residue probably 10 times. She then repacked the suitcase, zipped it up and told me that the check-in agent would need to take the case back to the counter (which is exactly what the check-in agent said would happen).
Overall, I would rate the Springs folks as an 8 in friendlyness, a 6 in speed, and a 10 in knowledge.
Other than that my trip was smooth. The hotel (The Broadmoor) did not have an in room safe large enough to store the pistol but other than that bringing my CCW with me on this business trip was totally hassle free.
I encourage you all to pack your piece on your next trip to a CHL friendly state.
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