TSA: Netbooks, e-readers and iPads can be kept inside bags during airport checks
By Vlad Savov 
posted April 8th 2010 7:26AM
posted April 8th 2010 7:26AM
posted April 8th 2010 7:26AM
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How convenient
@tristansq Good luck to them with educating the staff on what is a netbook or not.
@Atkins Hah, seriously.
And what exactly IS a netbook? Can M11x pass through this TSA stuff?
TSA is a joke.
why did they say iPads and not just tablets?
I haven't unbagged my laptop since I bought it 3 years ago. No one cares.
What's the rationale? The CIA hasn't received intelligence saying that iPads might be part of a terrorist plot. It's almost capricious. One terrorist on some message board somewhere 7 years ago suggested hiding explosives in a computer, so we have to take them out to be scanned in detail. Trouble is you can hide stuff in innumerable places. Are they going to invent rectal sniffers and ask us to drop our drawers every time we fly?
@tristansq
A COLOR KINDLE?!?!
Kidding.
@Atkins ...or on all the various Asus models. :)
I don't know if a magnetic HDD going through an xray machine is the greatest idea.
Xray is fine. The metal detector is not I think
@Shadow08 why not? all laptops have to pass through x-ray machines and no one seem to have any problems with them.
@Atkins it has to do with what they see on the Xray. if they see what looks like a couple of bricks of something connected by tons of wires, they are supposed visually inspect.
with tablets and netbooks there's typically not all the extra wires and such. and often they are packed in a way where they don't touch.
that said, a friend just flew Sunday with an ipad and was asked to take it out due to the xray. and to turn it on and show that it was indeed a real ipad.
another friend flew tuesday and took his out and put it in the bucket on top of his shoes and such without being asked and just shrugged off when the guy at the other end said he didn't have to. He didn't think it was that big an issue. Said he figured it would speed things up if the xray was bad. he flies a lot so he thinks like that.
@bigdonny because apparently is just the ipads... sorry the other tablets
@tristansq
That's... Odd. I always thought the huge battery pack (that an xray can't see thru) was the main reason for running them separately to ensure it looks like a real laptop, rather than just an impenetrable box hidden somewhere with the rest of your luggage.
Netbooks with big batteries and standard HDs are really not much different from a laptop.
But whatever, who cares. Not like they're keeping us safe anyway.
True say theres enough spare space in an iPad to smuggle drugs or a small bomb or small knife, plus its has a metal back that should stop x-ray machine from detecting hidden content inside
@OCEAN CLAK
yeah it kinda seems like we will now see a sudden influx of iPad related suicide bombers... not sure I want to fly anymore...
And yet, I'm often asked to power up my phone.
@joelaf Wow, really? I fly three times a month, at least one of those to and from the US, and I've never been asked to power on my phone, laptop or anything else.
@joelaf
Weird, I have never been asked to power on my laptop/phone either. But I do remember when I was a kid, the airport security wasn't happy until they saw the Win95 bootscreen on his laptop. But we lived in England then, and I guess the UK tends to have petty strict airport regulations. I mean, that "only one carry-on" bullshit in Fall '07 was such a pain in the ass; I sincerely hope they're not still doing that.
But seriously, can we please just keep our laptops in our bags?
The TSA blog is amusing
They try so hard to make their policies sound sane on there and have to react to people constantly annoyed by every little thing that happens, making it seem like it is the TSA new-media team whose fault it is every time a screener screws up
@CmdX And this is entirely stupid. By being intentionally vague, they are going to cause all travelers a world of pain.
Let's say I look at my 13" laptop and say to myself "Well, that's smaller than standard..." so I don't unpack it and try to run it through. Then the TSA screener decides that 13" isn't small enough, so I hold up the entire line. Now imagine that happening thousands of times a day.
They need to specify some dimensions here or just drop this non-policy. Because when it's left to the discretion of the passengers to decide what they think they can get away with, and the individual screeners to decide what is small enough, there will inevitably be difference of opinion. And that's going to create some big traffic jams.
I guess the Sony Vaio P isn't exempt then.
Nor the ThinkPad X100e. :(
@Atkins Did you not read the article? It says any laptop smaller than standard.
It was only Engadget that went so far as to specifically say Netbooks. Do what you wish, but I won't be unpacking my Vaio Z unless they tell me to.
@Luxury Guy That was intended as a joke, but anyway...
@Luxury Guy Well I take that back, but they do clarify that they are not only referring to netbooks in the TSA blog
"Great question! Electronic items smaller than the standard sized laptop should not need to be removed from your bag or their cases. It’s that simple."
I still don't get why I'm so worried when I'm on the plane. If I finally get on the plane I'm safe and sound, it's getting there that I should be worried about.
Great. I travel with a netbook and a 17" ASUS. Have made 2 trip like that over the last couple of weeks and I was always required not only to take out both machines, but put them in separate bins. This is good news. I'm finally going to buy the TSA friendly backpack so I don't have to take anything out.
Now all I need is for the airlines to approve e-books during take-off. I was told they stop it to try to get people to pay attention to the safety demonstration. I get really irked when I see a dead tree book reader read all the way up to 10,000 feet.
@Craneguy - Hmm, interesting. On my previous two flights a month or so go on US Air no one was asked to stop using them. There were quite a few Kindle and Nook users on there.
@MRCUR
In the last 2 weeks I have flown with Delta, Frontier, Continental and US Airways. They were most insistent (nay Rabid) that ALL electronic items be turned off.
One guy asked why he had to turn off his Bose NC headset, and had a visit from a relief pilot. He was was told to turn them off or explain why to the cops when we landed.
It's all what someone referred to as "Security Theater"
@Craneguy I flew from CO Springs to Birmingham yesterday via AA, and both flights specifically mentioned noise canceling headsets had to be turned off for landing and heavily emphasized ALL. I put my Droid in Airplane mode, but I see no reason to have to turn it off. I also took some pics with the D80.
@Craneguy Do you REALLY need to computers to travel? Seems like that defeats the point of your netbook purchase, no?
@Luxury Guy
No, I don't REALLY need a netbook and a laptop, but I need a cad capable machine for extended periods away from home, and the netbook is great for airports, movies in flight and yanking out to show things to clients.
It only adds a couple of pounds to ye olde backpack, so not having to remove it makes almost all the inconvenience go away.
It's really no trouble. Didn't you know that the Quasimodo look is all the rage this year?
Actually if you read the blog, it says "Electronic items smaller than the standard sized laptop _should not_ need to be removed from your bag or their cases." (emphasis mine)
Note that "should not" is a very different meaning to "do not".
In other words, the TSA has confirmed nothing.
Sweet, now I only gotta get out my bottle of water, toothpaste, deodorant, nail clippers and screw driver and I'm on the plane!
In the last year I must've donated $300 worth of junk to airport security
@psc2 I never bother with the liquids in the Ziplok routine and have never been asked about it. The only thing they ever freaked out about was my watch sitting under my laptop.
The TSA is a bunch of idiots. A lot of their rule make no sense at all... I can bring tools in my carry on that are 7" or shorter (such as a flat head screwdriver, pliers, ) but if I try to bring a swiss army knife, I can't. You can bring a pair of vice grips and a safety razor, but not a box cutter. Netbooks are no different from regular laptops as far as being an airport security issue. Why do they classify as a netbook anyway? Are there specific dimensions called out, or is it up to the moron at the security station that day (who probably doesn't even know what a netbook or an ereader is).
@gittenlucky Exactly my thoughts.
"Are there specific dimensions called out, or is it up to the moron at the security station that day (who probably doesn't even know what a netbook or an ereader is)."
Another mess.
Make no mistake about it fellow Engadget readers: the TSA is still one of the biggest jokes in the US.
@MRCUR They are competing with the patent system.
The TSA won't let me keep my clothes in my bag...
slow news day..
Well this will not be much good if the air authorities get their own way and ban lithium batteries from the cabin. A few instances of exploding batteries last year as the net result, No ipod, no laptop - equals boredom, let alone the grief it will cause for the business types amoung us. Perhaps this is what "Craneguy" has experienced in the early stages of implimentation or while debate still festers. I live in hope it will not become a reality.
So far, Engadget is the only site to report the netbooks and e-reader aspect of the announcement. Others I've seen have only mentioned the iPad. Good job, Engadget.
Thats great news!
Cant wait to see how big an explosion an iPad-bomb can make!
@uHorndog Ah..Oh..did you mention "BOMB"?!
God help the first person who refuses the to take out their "Netbook" at airport screening based on this press release.
Are security regulations random?
What is the difference between a laptop (e.g. 13,3" Vaio SZ) and a netbook?
Pretty much none, but one needs to be unpacked, and the other not...
@DetlevCM From the actual blog:
"Great question! Electronic items smaller than the standard sized laptop should not need to be removed from your bag or their cases. It’s that simple."
@Luxury Guy
But how do you define a "standard sized laptop" - is that 18,4"? 13"?
16,4"?
There is no "standard size".
Yeah, they say that, but every checkpoint is different. I frequently travel with a portable DVD player which, i would say, is the same size if not smaller than a netbook, and more than 50% of the time, they make me take it out of my carry-on. To be safe, i would just take any larg(er) electronic device out. It is more of a hassle to have your carry-on stopped after x-ray, and have the device have to be ran again.