Laptops through airport security- 1 more question

[2Tiggies]

Hi guys
After being slightly on the fence about taking laptop next trip, the volcanic ash story and the stranded folks' posts and threads, coupled with my purchase of a video camera that uses SD cards I have made a definite decision it's going with me this time.

So when you go through security, I know it has to have enough power that you can turn it on if requested, but do you have to remove it from the bag for the scanners or does it stay in? And if you remove it, does it need to be taken out of the protective sleeve as well?

I know this is probably a silly question but it does help in how to pack hand luggage if you know what needs to be done.

Thanks

 

[wayneg]

After being stuck out there I highly recommend everyone to take a laptop if possible, its saved us a lot of time, money and stress. Car hire alone approx £300 saved by rebooking with Expedia rather than extending the car we had.

Yes you have to remove from bag, no idea about protective sleeve, ours just go in the laptop bags as they are. either ask them or just remove it if no-one replies.

 

[Pegasus928]

You will be expected to take it out of all protective covers so that it goes through the scanner on its own.
Also remember that if they ask you to switch it on that you let it go through its full start up process and shut ot down properly as well. We have to go through the same process at the heliport prior to flying out to the rigs and there have been countless people that have got offshore only to find their laptops have problems caused by not following the process through.

 

[2Tiggies]

After being stuck out there I highly recommend everyone to take a laptop if possible, its saved us a lot of time, money and stress. Car hire alone approx £300 saved by rebooking with Expedia rather than extending the car we had.

Yes you have to remove from bag, no idea about protective sleeve, ours just go in the laptop bags as they are. either ask them or just remove it if no-one replies.

Thanks Wayne. Yes, I forgot you were stranded there too. It was all the posts from you DIS folk that made up my mind it is no longer an optional consideration, but an essential piece of equipment! Also means I can do online check in the night before we come back and secure our prebooked seats - forgot that added bonus!

I just hate fussing about at security unnecessarily so I try to take as little as possible so we can whizz through quickly. It helps if I know what is expected so that DD knows what to expect too as I send her through in front of me. It will just be laptop, charger, camera and Video (mini one kodak zx1) some pick n mix, socks and hand wipes. Maybe a book. Best kept simple.

Thanks

 

[2Tiggies]

You will be expected to take it out of all protective covers so that it goes through the scanner on its own.
Also remember that if they ask you to switch it on that you let it go through its full start up process and shut ot down properly as well. We have to go through the same process at the heliport prior to flying out to the rigs and there have been countless people that have got offshore only to find their laptops have problems caused by not following the process through.

That's a good point about shutting down properly. I do at as a force of habit every day, but I guess if you aren't thinking about it it could be too easy to shortcut the process. I will remember that. What do they want to see if they ask you to turn on? Is it just to see that it starts up as a normal computer? Sorry, I know as I am posting this is a silly question but this is new turf to me.

 

[madmumof2]

I didn't even get asked to do anything. I told them I had a laptop, which was in my hand luggage, and they just told me to put it straight through the scanner along with everything else.

 

[disneyholic family]

my nephew and brother in law had the customs agent from hell last week in detroit (they were coming in from the far east)..

the customs agent (a woman - always avoid women), took every bit of their suitcases, carry ons, wallets, apart...looking through every piece of paper..

and then she had my nephew turn on his computer and she looked through it for 10 minutes...

when she was done and had found nothing, she told them she was looking for child porn!!! unbelievable...

after an hour of completely taking them apart she didn't even apologize...

she probably went after them because my nephew has a neurological disease that causes his hands to shake pretty violently....so possibly she thought he was nervous (he's 33 years old by the way)...
but he even told her that his hands shake for that reason....she just grunted at him..

and at the end there was no apology...

and this is despite the fact that they travel all the time and their passports clearly show that they travel all the time (they're in the home center business and had samples with them....ladders, locks, obvious what kind of business they're in)..

what a witch...

but the turning on the computer to look for child porn was completely off the wall....

that was detroit....first time that ever happened to them there, but it was very upsetting for them..

anyway...that's a computer story - not related to security, but be aware that they can not only turn it on, but in customs go through it...

 

[2Tiggies]

Well customs can go through my stuff. They will be quite disappointed to see how boring my life is and will probably hurry me through the gate to get to Orlando for that reason Actually I pretty much don't mind anything if it is really, and I mean honestly intended, to be for our safety.

BTW, I usually aim to avoid women anyway - especially in supermarket checkouts. (Aim for the blokes, even if the line is longer, you sail through )

 

[2Tiggies]

I didn't even get asked to do anything. I told them I had a laptop, which was in my hand luggage, and they just told me to put it straight through the scanner along with everything else.

I think it is often a case of who you get, what their frame of mind is, how busy they are, etc etc. They do advise on the airport info websites that you are to take it out the bag - but that's the only reason I knew about it as I thought I would read it before posting.

 

[disneyholic family]

Well customs can go through my stuff. They will be quite disappointed to see how boring my life is and will probably hurry me through the gate to get to Orlando for that reason Actually I pretty much don't mind anything if it is really, and I mean honestly intended, to be for our safety.

BTW, I usually aim to avoid women anyway - especially in supermarket checkouts. (Aim for the blokes, even if the line is longer, you sail through )

they had no way to avoid her - she came up to them as they looked for their luggage carousel to ask them how much money they were carrying...
they were the first off the plane (business class)...so i guess they were her target of opportunity...once their luggage showed up, she took them over to a customs desk and brought over 6 other customs agent to completely take apart their luggage and wallets and briefcase etc...

i guess the fact that they weren't carrying much money and the fact that my nephews hands shake so badly made them suspicious..
but when you find nothing, after taking an hour of someone's time and humiliating them in front of the world, you should at least apologize...
especially when you're embarrassing someone who has a very noticeable medical condition...

 

[2Tiggies]

they had no way to avoid her - she came up to them as they looked for their luggage carousel to ask them how much money they were carrying...
they were the first off the plane (business class)...so i guess they were her target of opportunity...once their luggage showed up, she took them over to a customs desk and brought over 6 other customs agent to completely take apart their luggage and wallets and briefcase etc...

Oh, I didnt' realise it was AFTER the flight. I thought it was the routine "take off your shoes, empty your pockets, liquids in a bag" thing before you board.

i guess the fact that they weren't carrying much money and the fact that my nephews hands shake so badly made them suspicious..
but when you find nothing, after taking an hour of someone's time and humiliating them in front of the world, you should at least apologize...
especially when you're embarrassing someone who has a very noticeable medical condition

You're right, I totally agree that that is unacceptable (I am excercising good tact by phrasing it that way )

 

[disneyholic family]

Oh, I didnt' realise it was AFTER the flight. I thought it was the routine "take off your shoes, empty your pockets, liquids in a bag" thing before you board.



You're right, I totally agree that that is unacceptable (I am excercising good tact by phrasing it that way )

you should have heard what came out of my mouth when i read my sister's email!

yes, it was in customs....we were really surprised that she had erik turn on his computer and then she searched through his computer for 10 minutes....
i didn't know customs did that....
the funny thing is, my brother in law and nephew are sooooooooo clean cut you can't imagine....they look like total whitebread, clean marine types...
and they are like that...totally straight arrow.....
my brother in law doesn't even drink beer or wine...nothing..(he's a health/bicycling nut)....and my nephew only drinks beer....
neither of them smokes cigarettes or anything else..
of all people to hook her teeth into....i can only imagine that while 7 agents wasted an hour of everyone's time, some real smugglers walked right past them...

actually, my brother in law said that this woman was so nasty and aggressive and progressively frustrated that she wasn't finding anything at all on them, he was getting really worried that she was going to plant something on them...

but in the end, she found nothing and let them go....with no apology or anything...
all the while, my sister was waiting outside wondering what had happened, since she knew the plane had landed a long time before and knew they were in business class and so should be out quickly...she said they came out really shaken (and my brother in law is rarely rattled by anything)...

 

[PJB71]

you should have heard what came out of my mouth when i read my sister's email!

yes, it was in customs....we were really surprised that she had erik turn on his computer and then she searched through his computer for 10 minutes....
i didn't know customs did that....
the funny thing is, my brother in law and nephew are sooooooooo clean cut you can't imagine....they look like total whitebread, clean marine types...
and they are like that...totally straight arrow.....
my brother in law doesn't even drink beer or wine...nothing..(he's a health/bicycling nut)....and my nephew only drinks beer....
neither of them smokes cigarettes or anything else..
of all people to hook her teeth into....i can only imagine that while 7 agents wasted an hour of everyone's time, some real smugglers walked right past them...

actually, my brother in law said that this woman was so nasty and aggressive and progressively frustrated that she wasn't finding anything at all on them, he was getting really worried that she was going to plant something on them...

but in the end, she found nothing and let them go....with no apology or anything...
all the while, my sister was waiting outside wondering what had happened, since she knew the plane had landed a long time before and knew they were in business class and so should be out quickly...she said they came out really shaken (and my brother in law is rarely rattled by anything)...

Oh what a shame your family had to go through something so traumatic, its enough to of put them off traveling

I wonder if she was looking for someone who fitted there profile? even so theres no excuse for the rudeness

 

[PJB71]

Hi guys
After being slightly on the fence about taking laptop next trip, the volcanic ash story and the stranded folks' posts and threads, coupled with my purchase of a video camera that uses SD cards I have made a definite decision it's going with me this time.

So when you go through security, I know it has to have enough power that you can turn it on if requested, but do you have to remove it from the bag for the scanners or does it stay in? And if you remove it, does it need to be taken out of the protective sleeve as well?

I know this is probably a silly question but it does help in how to pack hand luggage if you know what needs to be done.

Thanks

DH has been taking his laptop with him for years as he runs his own business as needs it for work purposes - thats what he tells me anyway, I swear sometimes I wish the'd confiscate it at security just so we can have a work free holiday

Funny enough, he has always been asked to switch it on going through security in Manchester, and sometimes again at the aircraft door then there has been extra sercuity, but very rarely had to switch it on leaving the USA, notsure if this is just coincidence or not

 

[disneyholic family]

Oh what a shame your family had to go through something so traumatic, its enough to of put them off traveling

I wonder if she was looking for someone who fitted there profile? even so theres no excuse for the rudeness

she said they were looking for child pornography smugglers flying in from china....

but i know that they target the outgoing flights to amsterdam leaving detroit..
the treasury people are at almost every plane that leaves for amsterdam out of detroit..
i've never been able to figure that out...
i've flown out of lots of US airports headed to europe, but only in detroit have i seen the treasury nazis (they're all dressed in black - so they look like stormtroopers - and they have an attitude to match)...

so i'm not sure what the story is in detroit.....somethings up there....they must have smugglers coming in and money launderers flying out...
not sure what's up with that..

but you can get caught in the crossfire....just be careful not to have your own personal porn on your computer...i've been known to have some none too g rated pictures on my computer....i'll be sure to purge anything from my laptop before leaving for the US...

 

[Disneymad]

I carry my laptop in a normal laptopbag and within that I carry it in a protective sleeve similar to this.

I do remove from the bigger bag but I've never been asked to remove it from this sleeve to go through the xray (including MCO side when they had double security screenings on arrival). I've once been asked to remove it when pulled over for one of those random checks to get on the plane but that was to show it could boot up not because they didn't like it in the sleeve thing.

 

[Pooh's-Honey-Pot]

but you can get caught in the crossfire....just be careful not to have your own personal porn on your computer...i've been known to have some none too g rated pictures on my computer....i'll be sure to purge anything from my laptop before leaving for the US...

I hope they don't mind all the food porn I will have on mine on the flight home from Orlando!!!

 

[2Tiggies]

I hope they don't mind all the food porn I will have on mine on the flight home from Orlando!!!

Well for goodness sake, please rename any files that refer to drool-inducing substances in that manner

I do think that aside from anything obvious they also do random checks on every x number of electronics that come through. Last year at Manchester I beeped as usual going through security and didn't think anything of it as it happens often. The lady at security was lovely and said immediately that it randomly does a routine "alert" so I stepped aside while they searched me. I had nothing on me and she kept saying that it wasn't anything to do with me. She was also great because she saw that DD (just turned 7 at the time) had gone in first and she did it in a lighthearted "lets see if mum is ticklish" way. I was surprised when she said it was good that DD had gone first as otherwise it would have been her. I asked about this and she said they can carry out the checks on kids as well. Good to know so you can prep your kids for it.

 

[j9000]

eastpak make a great rucksack for laptops with a zip down the side for quick removal, (ie without having to unpack the rucksack to get it out of the sleeve at the back for when you are going through security.

the big plus is the zip is hidden, so it in no way looks like a laptop bag, just a normal rucksack so youre less likely to be jumped for it.
It was enough to fool immigration in Detroit, the guy asked if it was all my luggage because it looked bulky and heavy when i had to go pull my trip details out, he nearly didnt let me in (solo travel has its disadvantages, especially when you answer most questions with, 'beacuse i wanted to go there,' 'noone' and 'just me')
on the flip side, going through security for my connection to Nashville the security girl started chatting me up!

 

[2Tiggies]

eastpak make a great rucksack for laptops with a zip down the side for quick removal, (ie without having to unpack the rucksack to get it out of the sleeve at the back for when you are going through security.

the big plus is the zip is hidden, so it in no way looks like a laptop bag, just a normal rucksack so youre less likely to be jumped for it.
It was enough to fool immigration in Detroit, the guy asked if it was all my luggage because it looked bulky and heavy when i had to go pull my trip details out, he nearly didnt let me in (solo travel has its disadvantages, especially when you answer most questions with, 'beacuse i wanted to go there,' 'noone' and 'just me')
on the flip side, going through security for my connection to Nashville the security girl started chatting me up!

Lucky you!!!

Fortunately I don't carry much with me on the plane and it helps that we don't need any liquids with us so there isn't even the plastic bag or medicines. I just ordered a Swissgear laptop backpack over the weekend and it looks pretty "ordinary", although I would rather tell them it's in there than have them "find" it if you know what I mean.