First Time Flying on Plane with Firearm ???

[J]

Yes. Quit giving BAD advice. The regulations REQUIRE that you are the only person with access to the case. While you may get by with a TSA lock, on pure luck the regs REQUIRE you use a NON-TSA lock. The TSA lock has a master key, and they don't want anyone with that master key being able to get to YOUR gun(s).

So DO NOT USE A TSA LOCK!!!!

Everything else Asmo says is spot on. Depending on the airport, you will have to pick it up at the counter, other airports it will go out on the belt.

On a related note: they are not allowed to mark the case in anyway to indicate it is a firearm... so don't let them do so.