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New bags let you keep your laptop stowed for x-ray
One of the most irritating things about going through security at the airport is when you have to take your laptop computer out of your bag to put it through the x-ray. Invariably, the notebook is always at the bottom of my backpack, underneath 12 pairs of socks, a Frisbee and some loose sugar packets, so all of this has to come out and be reassembled after screening.The reason that the TSA requires this is that they have a hard time seeing through other electronics that are often in-plane during the x-ray -- things like power supplies, cd-rom drives or other extraneous equipment.
If these electronics could be separated during the screening, the TSA concedes, then passengers could leave their notebooks stowed away during the process. So they called for proposals from manufacturers to design a case that could accomplish this task.
Now, with designs finalized, the world's heavyweight bag manufactureres are racing to bring them to market. Luggage giant Targus expects to have several units on the shelves by September, while Pathfinder has a similar plan.
The real question is how well the TSA screeners will handle it. You know that there will be one or two who forget the new designs are x-ray permissible, which means head butting between passengers and security.
I personally am probably going to stick with my Arc'teryx backpack when on the road -- I can't afford to have multiple bags or a niche piece of luggage when I'm packing light.
Filed under: Gear, Transportation
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
BrianM Jul 2nd 2008 1:54PM
My backpack actually has a side zipper compartment just for the laptop, I will never go back to a standard laptop bag without one again.
online Jul 3rd 2008 6:59AM
My backpack also have a side section for the laptop, so it is easy for me, but still almost all the time they require to open it, take all the stuff out and screen it again, because beside laptop i've got another section for my digital slr, various lenses, external hard drives, cables, plugs, chargers, ipod, travel adapotor, etc, etc...
I sometimes i wish i have just a small blackberry and a small compact digital camera.
bub Jul 4th 2008 11:21AM
leave the computer at home--
Just put a sign on your back
"I'm important"
Lynne Jul 4th 2008 11:20AM
I was traveling from Detroit to Myrtle Beach when a screener took my Toshiba laptop from me THREW it through the walk through scanner it slid on the floor and into a wall I called for HELP from Security, AIRLINE (spirit), Airline that leased gates to Spirit (NWA), Detroit Metropolitan Airport Commission. No ONE cared thast they destroyed MY LAPTOP and no one took responsibility paid for repairs or replacement! ! But if I would have grabbed him tossed him along floor and into a wall I would have been jailed!
Tambocha Jul 4th 2008 11:34AM
Wow...you sure make some strange capitalization choices!
Lynne Jul 4th 2008 12:00PM
Tam, Actually if you read it the points to make note of like the AIRLINE, ect. are capitalized but apparently you are NOT a detail oriented person just one who prefers to find fault instead of deatails. but wait until you have a VERY EXPENSIVE piece of your property destroyed. Now go away, and get a life unless you can actually contribute to ther topic.
Joe Jul 4th 2008 2:01PM
You do make WEIRD capitalization choices! BIZZARE way to WRITE a post. I'm also SURE you are EXAGGERATING about what happened. YOU need a LIFE.
Barry Jul 4th 2008 10:34PM
wow I'm going to Myrtle this August 12t till sept 18th--thats kinda freaky what happened to you___> Barry----P,S. any luck recouping any $ from them yet?
Lynne Jul 4th 2008 2:17PM
Actually it is quite factual and a report was filed witjh Wayne County Sheriff's Department.. So you need a life.. unless you are anacephalic... And when I attended college in Michigan it was still proper to capitolize names, titles, and openings to sentences... Online it is also considered to be MAKING A POINT.
MORON!
john rusnak Jul 4th 2008 11:28AM
I find it more irritating when planes blow up because security missed something. Appreciate their care and hope they have screened everyone like THEIR life depended on it. The price of freedom? Constant alertness!
mike Jul 4th 2008 12:16PM
NO commercial American Plane has ever blown up because of insufficient security! Yeah they've been crashed, but blown up by a bomb from inside? NOPE! If you take a minute you can probably think of 2 ways to blow up a plane that won't be stopped and you like me are probably about as intentionally violent as a poodle
We go through all these mostly unnecessary searches that strip us of the rights and liberties that America is all about.
America is my adopted country which is probably why I feel so strongly about true freedom! I have seen this beautiful country repeat the history of the Nationalist party of 1920's Germany. YES read your history! Tyranny comes when a people are too scared to stand up for what's right and give up liberty for safety! Americans have died for freedom and liberty for almost 300 yrs don't make all that bloodshed be for nothing
Joe Jul 4th 2008 11:31AM
COMMENT NUMBER 5 MAKES MORE SENSE THAN ALL OF THEM!! LOL
sharon Jul 4th 2008 11:38AM
Vote Libertarian - Bob Barr wants to get rid of the "smoke and mirrors" security that's called TSA.
Sharon
getplaning Jul 4th 2008 11:38AM
Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) can now search laptops, and even copy their entire contents, as a routine part of border searches. The CBP does not need probable cause, or even the lower standard of “reasonable suspicion.”
The government’s legal theory is that it can open a suitcase at the border, so it can force a traveler to open a laptop and reveal passwords and encryption keys as a condition of entering the country. This simplistic legal theory ignores the massive factual difference between a quick glance into a suitcase and the ability to copy a lifetime of files from someone’s laptop, and then examine those files at the government’s leisure.
This policy creates bad precedents that other countries will follow. Even if you trust handing your encryption keys to the United States (insert joke here), would you feel the same way handing the keys for all your communications to anyone else?
Intrusive laptop searches by the United States and other governments would chill free speech. One vivid example is a human rights activist entering or leaving China, perhaps on a religious or other mission that is controversial in that country. The government may say that they would not do such things, but the lack of legal safeguards once again means that we must simply trust the government not to misuse its power.
Foreign tourists and business people do not like the idea of having their hard drives copied at the border, and will decide to do business elsewhere. International conferences and conventions will choose to locate elsewhere. If laptop searches were vital to the fight against terrorism, then we would hear about the tremendous success of this program in thwarting terrorist plots. None of the available cases, however, are about terrorism-related investigations.
CPB has refused to acknowledge any limits on its discretion to search laptops, Blackberries, cameras, iPods, and other computing devices whenever someone enters or leaves the country.
Thomas Sims Jul 4th 2008 12:13PM
Thank God for the CBP policies. If we could get all agencies to be diligent in their focus on illegal immigrants, our economy and social life in the country would be greatly improved. LEGAL immigration is terrific. But stop!!!! the wet-backs.
richard nixon Jul 4th 2008 12:03PM
i think it is patently obvious that the terrorists have won.
Paul Jul 4th 2008 12:11PM
I'm not so sure just a digital camera would work. I actually had a TSA screener ask me to open my digital camera so she could inspect inside DUH!!!!!!!
Richard Jul 8th 2008 12:34PM
They should ban all laptops and cell phones as carryon. I hate these self-important people who have to annoy everybody around them with their calls and clicking lap tops.
Dusty Jul 13th 2008 3:58PM
Richard, don't be upset because you work as a cook at McDonald's and the only important business you do on a computer is look at porn after your midnight shift making greasy fries and hamburgers.
Steve Jul 4th 2008 12:47PM
Unfortunately banning anything with value from carry-on would require lots of extra insurance or the idea that you would never see your items again.
I have had more valuable stuff stolen from from my checked luggage than you can ever imagine and the airlines won't even issue you insurance for most items, knowing the theft that takes place and has NEVER been willing to do anything to combat this.
I remember there was a tv news type show that did a story about this, with cameras showing how the baggage handlers stole stuff from bags at will.
According to a number of friends of mone, this is still taking place at a catastrophic rate, amazing considering all of the security supposedly in place today and all of the money coming out of every passengers ticket for security. Oh well, good luck to everyone.