TSA: 11.6-inch MacBook Air is checkpoint-safe
The US Transportation Security Administration, or TSA, has officially stated that travelers passing through US airport security with the 11.6-inch MacBook Air will not have to remove the little laptop from their bags for inspection. Unfortunately, that's not the case with the 13-inch model.
Size is the differentiating factor. According to the TSA blog, any electronic device considered to be of a "standard laptop" size or larger must go through the x-ray machine solo. Apparently, the cutoff point is at or very near thirteen inches. The iPad, Kindle, Nook and other small devices, including the entry-level MacBook Air, may remain stowed away during screening.
As if travelers needed another reason to lust after the thing.
[Via The Mac Observer]
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The US Transportation Security Administration, or TSA, has officially stated that travelers passing through US airport security with the...
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I will be testing this TSA policy tomorrow morning at Phoenix's Sky Harbor Airport.....I wonder how it will go.
October 28 2010 at 9:50 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Replythe checkpoints are so inconsistent, this news is irrelevant.
you could even go thru the same checkpoint the next day and be told something different.
i guess this is what you get when TSA hires from the same pool as McDonald's....
while TSA guidelines may state - what actually happens at the security checkpoint is another. On my recent travels to Chicago and San Francisco I was asked to remove my ipad from it's case and was chastised because I didn't in the first place, even though their rules state it can remain in its case.
I obliged, swallowed my pride and let them do whatever it took so I could make my flights. The one thing I've learned is you don't try to tell a TSA agent the rules they are supposed to go by.. it doesn't make the experience any better.
I get these guys have a tough job, people are rude, the job is not satisfying - my only wish is that the TSA rules and checkpoint rules and policies were the same at every airport and with every agent.
I think half the time people are rude because the TSA tards make crap up, as you just described. They are horrendously inconsistent, which is maddening to the frequent flyer.
October 28 2010 at 6:26 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyMan these TSA people are ignorant.
October 28 2010 at 4:41 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyNo they are not. These are guidelines, not commandments. Various checkpoints do have the liberty to flex on the issue of non absolute items like under 13 inch electronics. If they feel safe that the item isn't a bomb or whatever in disguise, then fine, let it stay in the bag. If they don't feel safe, they are at liberty to send anything back through, pull you aside for a hand wanding etc.
Heck they are at liberty to keep you off your flight, no matter how important the flight it, how much money you paid etc. And if you give them crap, yelling and cussing at them, threatening them etc, they can have you arrested.
in the end how difficult is it really to take your computer, ipad, kindle out of the case/bag, set them both in a bin and send it through. Probably not as difficult as you being a jerk over them making you do it anyway and holding you up.
Odd, I have to remove my Dell Mini 9 (for those unfamiliar it has a 9 in screen) 75% of the time I go through security even though I have a "TSA Approved" bag that supposedly does not need to be opened. Granted, it is much thicker than the Air.
October 28 2010 at 4:26 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyWhat a joke! This is a perfect example of "security theatre", just like taking off the shoes and liquids.
October 28 2010 at 3:45 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyIn practical experience any TSA agent can pretty much do whatever the hell they want, so this is up there on the irrelevant scale.
October 28 2010 at 3:38 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyThis is definitely enforced on a checkpoint-by-checkpoint basis. I was boarding a flight to Europe this summer and they had someone with a megaphone specifically telling people they have to take computers -- "even iPads" -- out of their bag for screening. I asked them about this, mentioning that it was in the news that iPads don't have to come out, and they said that these 'checkpoint-safe' things are only suggestion.
October 28 2010 at 3:32 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyEver tried to discuss with TSA at JFK about the fact that electronic devices smaller than 13'' can travel WITH the bag? Fun is something different....
No you didn't mark.
You always make this crap up.
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