SuperG1955

All Pre-Check pax at MSY were made to remove their computers from baggage for screening yesterday afternoon. What was even weirder was that it was OK to leave tablets, iPads, Kindles, etc. in your baggage for screening.

There was one agent working the line. She would rope off the metal detector entry, come around to unscreened side, tell you to take any computers out, make you show her your boarding pass that indicated you were, in fact, pre-check, go back around to the other side of the metal detector and allow you to walk through. Then she repeated the entire procedure for the next person in line. It was like a scene from a Keystone Kops movie.

I'd have video'd the process but that would probably have resulted in a "security violation" and police involvement.

Was this a local action or did anyone encounter it elsewhere?

jrl767

sounds like a one-off power trip to me :-/

Often1

May have been Pre-Lite. Not uncommon at smaller stations and happens when they are short of Officers trained to do the bag screening for Pre.

Not a biggie. Pretty rare and adds maybe 20 seconds.

avidflyer

Happened to me at ORD on Saturday. In that case the xray machine on the right (Pre) side was down so they had to use a single xray for both sides. The operator obviously could not tell who's bag was pre vs not so they had you prep the bag like non-pre but leave your shoes on etc and walk around and through the metal detector vs the backscatter machine.

SuperG1955

This was a fully staffed (Podium, Metal Detector and baggage x-ray) dedicated, separate Pre Line.

It added minutes, not seconds.

waywardflf

JFK, Terminal 2, last Friday early morning. The Pre line wasn't open, but the TSA agent stamped my boarding pass, my computer went into a bin, and the agent at the metal detector checked to see that I had the stamp before letting me walk through with shoes on.

Fly safely,
waywardflf

.

ajwright

Even for those without Pre-Check, it's not odd to leave tablets, iPads, Kindles, etc. in the bag. The (non-precheck) TSA standard is to let you leave smaller electronic in the bag. You only need to remove large electronics (laptops, full-size video game consoles.

https://www.tsa.gov/traveler-informa...gh-line-faster

As with the others, I've experienced it in smaller stations where they weren't operating separate pre-check lines, or they were sharing x-ray machines. My bags got the standard screening (laptop out), but I got the pre-check metal detector.

If, as the OP mentioned, this was a dedicated line perhaps there was something he couldn't see that necessitated regular bag screening (staff training, security concerns, etc...)

RSSrsvp

I am moving this over to the TS/S forum which is the appropriate home for this type of discussion.

RSSrsvp - Moderator

michael_v

A 10' tablet with keyboard dock (one of those 2-in-1), does that need to be removed from the bag or not?

SeriouslyLost

Toss a coin. It will be as accurate as ny answer on any given day. TSA just make it up as they go along.

gobluetwo

I'd say a 10 foot tablet definitely needs to come out

Honestly, it depends on the person's interpretation that time of day. I have colleagues who regularly leave their Surfaces in their bags, but sometimes are told to pull it out. Generally, it seems iPads or similar with keyboards can stay in, but YMMV.

michael_v

Thanks all!

exerda

MSY isn't exactly on par with tiny regional airports where you find Pre-light, though.

gobluetwo

Even some larger airports have PreCheck hours, so this may have been outside of regular PreCheck hours (just speculating, never been through MSY).