Like most of you, on business travel, I hate going through airport security. Besides taking off shoes, jewelry, jackets, and who knows what else, the biggest pain especially for business travelers is having to take the laptop out of our bags.
Well, help is on the way, as soon as September or October. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has given the OK for passengers to use newly designed carry-on bags that will let them pass through security without having to take their laptops out for the X-ray inspection. Read more on one of my favorite business-related sites.
Are you going to get one of the new laptop bags?
Jen Miller
Manager, Content & Marketing
delta.com & self service
July 28th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Great news but I am afraid it is not going to solve any problems. Because the issue is that even if the bag meets TSA standards, how is the TSA person at the front of the line going to know.
About a year ago I bought a pair of comfortable travel shoes, which were advertised as not setting off the alarm bells at TSA checkpoints. On the first two trips (I travel predominantly internationally) I tried to convince the TSA agent my shoes would be OK to keep on (and avoid walking through all the dirt and grime of the worlds busiest airport in your socks, or worse, bare foot). On both occassions I was shrugged off as a delinquent, and on the second occassion was subjected to the full TSA check for merely suggesting that taking my shoes off would be unneccessary.
So unless the traveling world unilatterally disgards all of their existing laptop bags, and replaces them with these new ones, I do not think the era of having to take your laptop out is over.
By the way… speaking of the TSA. For Amsterdam airport I have one of those really useful Privium Cards with iris scan technology. This means avoiding the long lines. Atlanta is launching a similar scheme, but when I tried to sign up, I was denied on account of not being a US citizen or permanent resident. I live in Atlanta under a work visa scheme from my employer.
So Atlanta is the busiest airport in the world, and has many, many, many frequent flyers transfering there. But for those of us that would like to pay the premium for the convenience (and add to shorter lines for everybody else) we are denied on account of our citizenship. Not a smart move, me thinks…
July 28th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
I have been following this story for sometime. I cover the tech sector and laptop bags have been an Item I’ve been covering.
The complaint a lot of bag makers have is, that the TSA won’t allow for a logo on the bag it self that identifys it as an approved TSA bag or what not, like the logos you find on approved locks.
Quote from bag maker Slappa.com during an email conversation a few weeks ago “In all honesty, I think this is initially going to create more problems at the x-ray machines because you cannot put the TSA logo on the bag, and the TSA inspectors are not going to be able to easily identify what bags are acceptable and which are not.”
July 28th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
@ malbarda the shoes your talking about I remember them, but they were prior to the shoe bomber dude if I remember correctly. So after that dude we all were forced to take our shoes off regardless.
July 28th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Nope, not going to buy one (I love my Tumi too much!). Besides, I’d rather the TSA spend their efforts designing technology (or just learning to accept, once again) liquids above 3.4 oz in our carry-ons. Aside from the small possibility of laptop theft from taking it out of your bag, I think traveler’s primary gripe is with the stupid liquid ban.
July 29th, 2008 at 3:00 am
I never thought LHR would be at the cutting edge of anything …..but here
no need to take laptops out of the bags
You can register for one of those Privum style fast track immigration systems called “IRIS” here as well
works pretty well
If they could just sort out not having to take the shoes off would be great
only 10% have to take shoes off but all boots have to come off
I think the more than 100ml liquid per item ban is here to stay sadly
I usually buy them in departures so only have to show them 1 time
happy landings !
July 29th, 2008 at 9:43 am
@ 42ongo. I know about “Iris”. Unfortunately, it is only available for US residents, unlike Privium. This means that all transferring frequent flyers who are not US residents are excluded. That is what I found to be short-sighted.
July 29th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
HWGeek, we (here at SLAPPA) just saw the “TSA approved” bags from Targus and we are quite upset at what they have put into the market.
This is a design that we have had on the market for 4 years!! Our HardBody PRO cases “seperate” the laptop (in a dedicated compartment) from the other gear so the bag can simply be opened and “split”.
With regards to the TSA and how they are going to handle “approving” bags, I believe the they have a real issue on their hands here. They must (a) develop and publish criteria/parameters that a bag must meet to be considered for approval, and then (b) inspect all the bags on the market from every bag maker so they can “approve” and “disapprove” bags. If they do this they will be inundated with bags to inspect, and I’m sure they will have scenarios where bag manufacturers will challenge their “not approved” rulings. they MUST make this available to all bag makers and not simply “the 2-3 bag names they know”
Then they have the issue of getting the inspectors to know what bags are approved or not approved. I can think of a number of reasons why they have decided against having a “TSA approved” logo, but they must come up with something that the inspectors recognize and expedite through.
July 29th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
I work for Mobile Edge, and we too have launched our own version of check-point friendly laptop bags called the ScanFast Collection which consists of a Backpack, Messenger Bag and a Briefcase. The TSA sent out guidelines to all laptop bag manufacturers outlining exactly what they were looking for in a “check-point friendly” laptop case. Once the samples were made, it was up to the manufacturer to go to designated airports across the country to test them with TSA officials.
Our production manager and myself went and tested out our new line and all of the cases passed with no problems whatsoever. We are now in production and will have this new line available in mid September.
As for logos, that really is irrelevant. The only thing the TSA cares about is if they get a clear image of the laptop while it is in the bag. It can have a million logos on it and if they don’t get a clear image of the laptop, the traveler will still need to remove the laptop from the case, thus defeating the purpose.
The TSa posted a message that all screeners will be aware of the new laptop cases by September. Not sure why it takes so long for them to get word passed but that is what was posted on the TSA blog site.
For more information, visit our site at http://www.MobileEdge.com.
July 29th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
If the bag is well-designed, manufactured well (to be long lasting) and priced right I may consider buying one. I hope that the bag will have a handle, versus just shoulder strap, as my doctor has advised I avoid carrying anything weighing more than a few pounds on my shoulder.
July 30th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Actually Mike, the TSA made a general announcement and invited a few companies (when first announced in March of ‘08) and it was up to the rest of us to find this info on their site. when first launched, the first companies submitting designs needed to submit to the TSA a white paper, and then submit their products for testing. The TSA changed this process (I believe last month) and now have 3 remote testing locations (3 specific airports) where any manufacturer can simply make an appointment, arrive at the airport, have the bags tested and see for themselves what the TSO see’s. It sounds like this is what you did. And as you know, they don’t “approve”, “certify” or even put the manufacturer on a “list of approved bags”. Instead they say–”"ok, you’re bag can be marketing as “checkpoint-friendly”.
Right now this (IMO) is more hype then substance. For us bag manufacturers this is more of a marketing platform VS. “product advancement”. Yet with that said, SLAPPA will jump in, have certain existing products tested and then market these as “checkpoint-friendly”.
I believe it is safe to expect that most in this forum have traveled extensively and recognize that even though taking the laptop out of the bag and putting it in the plastic tray slows things down, that is hardly the reason for delays at the x-ray machine. You can usually spot those people who travel frequently because they know how to “be ready” for the x-ray machine—–those who do not travel frequently know how to be “surprised” by what they need to do. It is this (IMO) that substantially slows down the lines at an x-ray machine– taking off shoes, forgetting to take off your belt, not having liquids in a clear bag are all bigger slowdown factors VS. the 25% of people who travel with a laptop (which is the % provided by the TSA).
My above post is about my opinion that a significant % of “laptop travelers” can still run into issues (at least the first 12 months) because TSO’s, despite being trained, will still be asking people to remove their laptop from a bag because (a) the TSO’s are not yet all that familiar with the bags that are “checkpoint-friendly” because there is not one standard design for them to look out for (b) there is not a “TSA approved” logo on the bags that would be allowed to pass through with laptop inside (c) when they are told to take their laptop from their “checkpoint-friendly” bag, many will get heated.
I think this was/is a good concept, but one that the TSA is still getting it’s hands around…and once they get their hands around it, THEN travelers can expect a smoother x-ray experience.