Originally Posted by isleroyal
I am sure this has been extensivly covered and I have not been able to search so I do appologize for asking this.
I am a first time laptop owner and will be travelling with my family from DTW to JFK onto MAD this Easter. I am wondering what to expect regarding screening and a laptop. Also my laptop has a wifi card (still learning about it), will I be able to plug in and use this laptop during layovers?
Thank you for your input. Any other issues you may think helpful are greatly appreciated.
Glad to help...
My laptop and I traveled over 150k miles last year and more than 30k already this year. You'll find a number of beat up gray rubbermaid bins at the screening checkpoints. Look for the stack of them by the gum-cracking folks in the white shirts with the sewn on badges. They're the ones complaining about their schedule and when they get to go on break.
Take your laptop OUT of its carrying case and put it, with nothing else, in the bin. I then put everything else I need to rid myself of (wallet, keys, phone, rings, pocket change...) My belt has only set the metal detector off at PDX, everywhere else it's OK. I then put my computer case on the belt behind the laptop. If you have a coat, put it in a separate bin.
Quite frankly, you'll get more of a hassle about your shoes from many of the TSA people (see which ones at the threads marked "Shoe Carnival") and you too will enjoy the TSA and their famous foot fetish.
While SOME of the TSA screeners are truly professional and speak the king's english (I just had very good experiences at ORD and LAS last week where there was no gum cracking, no "deeze, dem, dat and doze" and NO shoe carnival) you will also unfortunately find a lot of people who were formally unemployable and stand with their mouths perpetually open about 1/4 of an inch.
Also expect to show your boarding pass to at least three people within 20 feet of linear distance, one fo them will be a TSA screener, and one of them will be someone from "Prospect Airport Services" or some other organization which, more than likely, USED to do the security screening at that airport, then the TSA came in to complain about breaks and sniff your shoes, and these other morons are employed as a big jobs program after the local city administration had to react to so many locals losing their jobs because they couldn't pass the TSA's background checks and the local airport authority had to find a way to keep paying them good money for doing pretty much nothing.