Tired of removing your laptop at airport security? TSA is looking into solutions

by Jeffrey White on

Are you sick of having to take your laptop out of its case every time you pass through airport security? Apparently, the Transportation Security Administration is sick of it, too — or at least tired of how this ritual is slowing down screening lines.

The TSA is busy soliciting prototypes for laptop bags that would be able to pass through X-ray with the laptop still inside. The plan is to begin testing these bags in June with the aim of rolling out a TSA-compliant model soon thereafter.

What would the bag look like? It’s unclear, though USA Today floats one idea: A bag that looks like a large book, with the laptop fastened to one side when opened and gear fastened to the other (though this still sounds to me like you’d at least have to open the bag, if not remove the laptop). Maybe there is a line of clear bags in the offing, like the ones that popped up in high schools after Columbine, to make viewing what’s inside easier.

Whatever bag companies come up with, TSA-approved bags are likely to have a few identifying features that screeners can spot, allowing the bag to go right onto the X-ray conveyor. (Right now, you have to remove your laptop because it is too difficult for X-rays to see through them and catch what else might be in your bag.)

Clearly there would be a huge market for this, as it’s hard to imagine frequent travelers (the vast majority traveling with laptops) not shelling out for a bag that is pre-approved by the TSA. But then again, who knows how much of an inconvenience travelers really see in removing their computers.

Blogger Andrew B. Einhorn over at OhMyGov has to be joking when he says that removing laptops is the most time-consuming requirement in security lines. Removing shoes and belts is far more cumbersome, in my view.

What do you think? Does removing your laptop each time through security annoy you? Let us know.

New ‘Zip Lane’ debuts at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, California

by Jeffrey White on

The Transportation Security Administration is making a big fuss over its new Zip Lane screening line, which made its national debut yesterday in a trial run at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, California.

Now, I’m one of those who never considered Bob Hope that funny. But this Zip Lane has the makings of being a gut-buster. It’s essentially an express lane for business travelers carting one very small bag, i.e. a brief case. The lane is open from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., — peak business travel time.

A TSA spokesman told KABC TV in Burbank that since there will be less bags for screeners to check, the line will move twice as fast as regular security. Uh-huh. I’ve traveled at those peak business times, and seen many corporate types with only a laptop bag in the regular lines. In fact, seldom do the regular lines move faster than early in the morning. So, the TSA is banking on less baggage to screen at times when there often is…less baggage to screen.

Still, the Zip Lane does not eliminate the procedures that really slow down lines: Shoes, belts and jackets still need to come off. Laptops still need to be pulled out.

Not surprisingly, few interviewed on KABC TV yesterday found much to praise about the express lane. “Well, so far it’s not very express,” one traveler, Dorothy Johnson, told the channel. “I’ve been waiting in line about half an hour.”

The TSA response? “When you’re talking a 15 minute wait at the security checkpoint and you save somebody five minutes, that’s a third of the time they don’t have to wait at the security checkpoint,” a spokesman told the channel.

Security officials admit the Zip Lane is not perfect, and they will be ironing out bugs in the coming months. But the TSA hopes that if it proves successful, express lanes can begin popping up at airports across the country.

But I have my doubts. I mean, how good a litmus test is Bob Hope Airport in Burbank? Let’s see them test this sucker at O’Hare.

Scan-It: Airport security toy for kids

by Anna Brones on

I get frustrated about airport security, lots of people do — what’s new? But maybe that’s just because some of us grew up in a different era without today’s strict regulations; I remember a time when family members followed you to the gate to wave goodbye, you left your shoes on and bottles of water from home were not thrown into the trash. But today things have changed, and traveling children are exposed to post-9/11 security measures at a young age. To help them better understand the complexities of airport security, what better way than an educational game?

Scan-It, made by Operation Checkpoint, is a toy airport metal detector, meant to get kids used to the idea of security in airports and other public spaces. The toy is intended to provide “healthy fun with education and awareness,” which includes wooshing items through security to find hidden metal. Nothing like a toy to make you feel like a TSA agent. If only I had a Scan-It when I was little…

Via Boing Boing

Your driver’s license may not work for airport security check. Get ready for REAL ID

by Jamie Rhein on

If you thought getting an American passport renewed this last year was a pain, be glad you have one if you do. You’ll be covered for getting past airport security if new regulations from Homeland Security go into effect this spring. The rules were just “unveiled.” If you only have your regular state issued run-of-the-mill driver’s license, it may be just too bad for you if your state doesn’t have a plan to comply to the REAL ID program. In this case, there may problems for that non-compliant state’s residents for passing through an airline security check this May. Or, the government may be bluffing.

In the continuing quest to foil terrorists, the idea is that states need to incorporate the REAL ID program into their mix of valid identification requirements. The REAL ID is a drivers’ license that is obtained through a process designed to ensure that we are who we say we are and not terrorists.

Hmm, when I look at my drivers license, there I am. Maybe there could be a statement under our pictures on our REAL IDs that say, “I promise that the person in the photograph is really really really me and I promise I am not a terrorist in disguise.”

As far as I can tell, if you were born before December 1, 1964, you have until 2017 to get a REAL ID. But, if you were born after this, you only have six years. The thing is, not all states are interested in this program so they may not apply for the waiver and therefore, you may have problems getting the REAL ID when the time comes. If you can’t get a REAL ID you could get a passport, or you could get a special federal border pass. I don’t think these federal border passes exist, but they could be used to go across the border to Mexico, for example.

The reason for this brouhaha and proposed $3.9 billion cost is that the terrorists involved in September 11, had an impressive array of fake ids and fake documents between them. There were 350 aliases. An off-shoot of this is that identity theft might be harder–or it could be easier.

Just to reiterate, people don’t have to get the REAL ID this year. THE PLAN IS IN THE WORKS, but from what I understand, states have to have a plan. Ohio, for example, has plans to start the stricter screening for a license in 2010. The regulations look a lot like the old regulations, but perhaps there are some extra layers I’m missing.

The photograph, by the way is of fake ids on a wall of Wet Willies in Savannah, Georgia. Thanks, Germany Jay for the pic. Maybe the government does have a point? I wonder if perhaps there is a name branding problem. What if the ids were called Elite IDs? Or Turbo IDs? Premier IDs? Platinum IDs? Something that doesn’t have a name that implies that the ids states are already passing out are fake. When I hear REAL IDS, it just sounds bogus to me. Maybe it’s just me.

For info about the states that have a beef right now with the government over this plan, read the AP article. It also gives more details.

TSA at Newark receives praise

by Jamie Rhein on

On December 24th, when I was at the airport in Columbus to send my mother off on Continental Airlines for a trip to see my brother in Manhattan, I heard a few announcements over the loud speaker. One was from an airline about an article of clothing left on the plane. Would the person who left it please return to the gate? Then there was an announcement about a cell phone left in the bin at security.

With travel having a hectic quality about it, leaving belongings behind is common. I hoped whoever was being beckoned heard the come hither notices and thought how nice it was that an effort was being made to reunite people with their belongings even though the loss was due to passenger error. I’ve had my own left behind incidences. Most ended happily.

According to Jaunted, TSA in Newark gets kudos for making more effort than all TSAs to make sure people hook up once more with whatever they’ve left behind. One person left a $30,000 Rolex watch. Can you imagine forgetting such a thing? I’d be sad if my Swatch watch with the butterfly on it that I bought in Hsinchu, Taiwan went missing. Come to think of it, where is that thing? The laundry room. I need this TSA in my house.

There are four people with Newark’s TSA who spend their work days helping to make the reunions happen. Most people never get their stuff back because most don’t go looking. If you ever leave anything behind, go find it. Maybe you’ll get lucky. If you’re in Newark, chances are you will. There is also a chance that Newark’s TSA methods will be implemented elsewhere since it’s been successful. Hmm, if 15% is successful and they have the best system, just think about the stockpile of stuff at airports.