11-inch MBA Can Stay in the Bag: TSA

[Paul Daniel Ash]

Air passengers in the US can leave the 11.6 inch MacBook Air in their carry-on luggage, according to a ruling by the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA). However, the 13.3-inch MacBook Air is still under review by the TSA at the time of this writing, and security staff may still ask travelers to take out the smaller MacBook Air if the bag it is in is too cluttered.

Anything that is considered "standard laptop size" must come out for inspection, unless it is in a special bag that has been certified as "checkpoint friendly" by the TSA, the government agency in charge of ensuring airfreight security in the US. The problem is - as with many things involving the TSA - the rule on what is defined as "standard" is maddeningly unclear. A TSA spokesperson told PCWorld that anything "similar in size to an iPad" can stay in the bag. The iPad is 242.8 mm x 189.7 mm x 13.4 mm versus 300 mm x 192 mm x 17 mm for the MacBook Air. However, I've never been able to leave my 261 mm x 182.5 mm x 24 mm hackintoshed Dell Mini 10 in my carry-on bag, and I regularly see other netbooks riding the conveyor belt in their own trays.

As the TSA's "Blogger Bob" (wow, really?) explains: "officers are trained to look for anomalies to help keep air travel safe, and if something needs a closer look, it will receive secondary screening." The issue seems more tied to the number of items in the bag: "The key to avoiding bag searches is keeping the clutter down, says "Bob", adding that "the less clutter you have in your bag, the less likely it will be searched."

Source: AppleInsider

[Poseidon79]

Well that would be awesome for me except mine is sitting in Anchorage at a FedEx warehouse and won't be here till Monday. Come on!! Work with me here.

[iSteed]

Well that would be awesome for me except mine is sitting in Anchorage at a FedEx warehouse and won't be here till Monday. Come on!! Work with me here.

Ha ha. It's killing you isn't it??

[chrodriguezmarydown]

I know this might be slightly off topic but, what's the best laptop or Netbook (hackintosh) to run snow leopard?

[chrodriguezmarydown]

And to add to my question: I mean a laptop or Netbook where every driver works. Bluetooth, sound, graphics/video card, USB, cd drive, all applications run like on a normal Mac, etc. Thank you.

[Melech518]

Well that would be awesome for me except mine is sitting in Anchorage at a FedEx warehouse and won't be here till Monday. Come on!! Work with me here.

That sucks. Mine arrived early on Wednesday and I can tell you that it was well worth the wait! This thing is amazing. MBA 11" 1.6GHz 128GB 4GB Ram!

[Brinky]

Too bad TSA will never share that little bit of information with that actual screeners. What they tell you that has to come out of your bag varies from airport to airport. Usually the smaller the airport that worse they are.

The ipad is a perfect example. Half the airport I fly out of they tell you before you even go through security it has to come out of the bag. I don't mind doing it, I just hate that most of the screeners have no clue.

[xwinger]

I know this might be slightly off topic but, what's the best laptop or Netbook (hackintosh) to run snow leopard?

make your own thread don't hijack this one.

[JSkywalker217]

I travel alot and I believe the reason they do not need the MBA and iPads out is becuase the fact that they are very thin, and I do not think they (terrorists) can use them as explosive devices. When I fly, I have my GPS, iPhone, iTouch in my carry on bag and they never asked me to take those out.

[kickerman65]

Looks like mine wont arrive till the 2nd

[sub zero]

no tsa....thats pretty sick...VIP STATUS lol

[dq13]

I travel alot and I believe the reason they do not need the MBA and iPads out is becuase the fact that they are very thin, and I do not think they (terrorists) can use them as explosive devices. When I fly, I have my GPS, iPhone, iTouch in my carry on bag and they never asked me to take those out.

they can make an explosive in a pen, it is not a size problem... they make you take it out of the bag because most laptop bags are with a zipper on top. for you to keep the laptop inside the bag, it has to open completely and have a clear view of the computer from the top, so if yoy have an 11" Air and its bag only has a zipper on top, you will have to bring it out of it, if you have a 17" MBP and the bag opens all the way, then you can keep it inside of it

[madczech]

hmmmm.... that's strange, cause they made me take out my iPad from the carry-on

[LGgeek]

To me TSA employees deciding what has to come out of the bag and what doesn't makes about as much sense as having the supermarket cashier verify your signature on the charge slip against what is on the back of your credit card.

if these people were security or handwriting experts they would not be working in the job they're in. No dis to anyone I just hate stupid bureaucracy.

update:
just thought about what I wrote, guess stupid bureaucracy is a double negative and smart bureaucracy is oxymoron,
guess I better stay out of the airports for a while I think the Backscatter Scanners are cooking my brain.

[CaptainChaos]

I know this might be slightly off topic but, what's the best laptop or Netbook (hackintosh) to run snow leopard?

The best netbook is the Dell Mini 10v. It is so easy that it seems Dell manufactured it just for that reason. It will run you about $200 for the black one, a little bit more for a fancier color.

[IndoMonkey]

Anyone knows what bag this is? I really like the design of it, it would fit my mba perfectly

[CaptainChaos]

So now that they are grounding planes due to finding explosives on multiple planes, I wonder if they are going to allow this?

[quidam_brujah]

Too bad TSA will never share that little bit of information with that actual screeners. What they tell you that has to come out of your bag varies from airport to airport. Usually the smaller the airport that worse they are.

The ipad is a perfect example. Half the airport I fly out of they tell you before you even go through security it has to come out of the bag. I don't mind doing it, I just hate that most of the screeners have no clue.

+1 on that: the biggest thing in TSA's favor is that it seems like no two airports do the same thing -- and I don't think that's by design.

I travel alot and I believe the reason they do not need the MBA and iPads out is becuase the fact that they are very thin, and I do not think they (terrorists) can use them as explosive devices. When I fly, I have my GPS, iPhone, iTouch in my carry on bag and they never asked me to take those out.

Try carrying a backpack or small carryon with a laptop, charger, USB cables, cat5 cable, iPad, charger, iPod cables, laser pointer, dvi-VGA adapter, USB memory stick, etc. I keep everything in two small gadget bags and pull those separate.

they can make an explosive in a pen, it is not a size problem... they make you take it out of the bag because most laptop bags are with a zipper on top. for you to keep the laptop inside the bag, it has to open completely and have a clear view of the computer from the top, so if yoy have an 11" Air and its bag only has a zipper on top, you will have to bring it out of it, if you have a 17" MBP and the bag opens all the way, then you can keep it inside of it

My MBP is in a zippered sleeve. It stays in it and goes thru xray. My iPad is in an Otterbox Defender and goes thru xray. "Clear view" of the laptop doesn't seem to matter as much as whether or not there's a clutter of other stuff around it: a separate zipped compartment for the laptop that gets it away from the rest of your junk seems to be the key. But again, it depends on your TSA flunkeys. See my first comment.

[EddieLeonard]

I know this might be slightly off topic but, what's the best laptop or Netbook (hackintosh) to run snow leopard?

dell mini 9.

[gary86]

yeah, anyone know what case that is?