Increased Scrutiny of Electronics on Flights to the US
 

I got a call yesterday (7/18) from my girlfriend in Colombia because there was a rumor that a laptop and large electronic device ban was about to go into effect between the US and Colombia. I checked airline forums and even called Avianca and no one knew anything so I called her back and said "fake news" and then an hour later a Colombian government official came on the local TV in Bogota saying there WAS a ban going into effect, and then an hour after THAT the same TV station issued a bulletin saying, "false alarm, no ban", just "increased scrutiny".

And NOW in https://thecitypaperbogota.com/news/...colombia/17668
where it says... "if the lap-top or tablet fails inspection for exterior damages such as scratches, missing parts, the airlines authorized to fly to major hubs within the United States will not be allowed to transport the device."

... so what does that even MEAN? Scratches? The article implies this is coming from the TSA.

Here's a potential related story from CNN about increased scrutiny on Mexico-US flights:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/19/politi...hts/index.html

As is typical, there is a lot of overly-hysterical media which is then repeated on social media sites. Best to look at your carrier's website.

There are not, so far, any new "laptop bans" and in fact almost all of the laptop bans which did exist have been removed.

There are heightened security measures at many airports. What is an unknown is how unforgiving anyone is of the newly-posted deadlines for those airports and whether those deadlines are enforced by air carrier employees / contractors or security personnel.

This is the notice from the official Colombian government site. Just mentions increased security and "greater control" over electronic devices for flights to the US.

See Post #1 (this thread)
A "presumption" that the laptop may have been disassembled to install some type of contraband?

OK, but that also mentions the part about " if the lap-top or tablet fails inspection for exterior damages such as scratches, missing parts, the airlines authorized to fly to major hubs within the United States will not be allowed to transport the device."

That's what I'm asking about. I'm flying down there from Boston in August and back a week later and I usually bring my oldest, cheapest most beat up laptop when I travel because it's the most "sacrificial". But obviously it's also the most scratched.

I've never heard of security caring about stuff like that. Has anyone here? Are these directives coming from TSA or are the Colombian authorities thinking them up on their own? Is this related to a terrorism threat like the other proposed laptop bans, or is it something new related to drug smuggling or similar activities? Air travel is getting insane these days.

How much do I have to worry about bringing an old-beat up laptop now? Or for that matter, old beat up cameras? I often travel with expensive, professional photographic gear, and I DELIBERATELY paint the bodies different colors and mark up the lens barrels - partly to discourage theft and partly to allow me to make fast identifications when shooting quickly in the field. Much of my photo gear looks like it's been through a war followed by an earthquake even though it's technically in mint condition. Although I'm not planning to bring it on this trip, I will on future trips, and I also have other international photographic trips planned.

Moderator's Action
 

Thread title has been updated to accurately describe the topic of the discussion.

TWA884
Travel Safety/Security co-moderator

The policy is coming from the US.

How Colombia or Mexico or any other country may apply the rules is impossible to know at this point. A colleague flying in a few days from PTY to the US on UA got an email with a very generic "beware of enhanced security" advisory.

Here's the full text of an email I received from UA regarding my flight from MEX this week:

Yes, conceptually this is not anything new in security. In general, bad guys tend not to be sophisticated nor very skillful in their tradecraft. Think of mailroom security - either at your office or just at the post office - it will (or should) have a poster about indicators of potentially dangerous mail items. Here is one example http://www.sobran-inc.com/wp-content...AL-231x300.jpg. A well-educated consumer such as the denizens of this fine forum could be expected not to submit a package with excessive postage or leaking caustic chemicals but you would be surprised to find out how regularly such mail bombs are received by the postal service/fedup/dhl, etc.

In the same way, we expect that the devices bad guys making into incendiaries and bombs with "large electronics" are likely to have damage, missing parts, etc. It is easy to understand a person building a bomb will have shaking hands when using a screwdriver to open a laptop. Also, they might well not have the particular driver for the tamper-resistant screws used by the manufacturer and so they did what the Army does when the right tool doesn't work - they just used a bigger hammer.

Also, most people take good care of their (relatively) expensive sensitive electronics so seeing one with significant damage, missing parts/doors, broken casing, etc, might well indicate a person that does not care about a device (since they aren't expecting to use it again.....)

With all due respect, is there any actual evidence or data to support these ideas? That bomb-makers will be clumsy (especially after reading that this is now something TSA and other security services consider suspicious)?

I'm also skeptical of the second claim, but that's probably partly because my own anecdotal evidence is so contrary. I know a lot of active outdoor people and youngsters. Trust me, I've seen buffalo head nickels with fewer scratches and nicks than some of their electronics. My own cellphone is battered but usable and anyone who takes P&S cameras mountain biking and rock climbing likely has damage to show for it. One particular ding in my current favorite P&S actually made the camera slightly easier to grip.

This sounds to me very much like TSA's voodoo non-scientific BDO program, where perfectly ordinary actions are used to justify harassing innocent pax because those actions might also be performed by a 'bad guy'. They're just an overly-simplistic excuse to justify targeting certain pax based on the assumption that they are already guilty.

Extra security out of Mexico today consisted of airport agents "randomly" selecting passengers at the boarding gate, immediately after scanning their boarding passes, to proceed to a separate table for additional screening.

I was not selected. However, the additional screening appeared you be swabbing of passengers' electronics items and their outer clothing.

In my opinion, none of this necessitates arriving at the airport any earlier than normal.

I just returned from my Colombia trip (BOG-BOS, via Avianca) with my old, scratched, beat up laptop. No one gave it a second glance. In general security did not seem unusually overwrought.

The checked luggage coming off the plane took a really long time to arrive at BOS and my Colombian girlfriend said it's always that way and she thinks that it's because they're sniffing everything for drugs.

I experienced "enhanced security" at PTY for my flight to IAH. At PTY there is secondary security for all flights to the US, then I was directed to a separate table for tertiary inspection. There one of the contracted security staff took out my computer and very carefully observed all the screws on the bottom of the laptop. I was also carrying a network appliance, and a server component. The security person was much less interested in those, and I had to explain what they were.

Pretty harmless and unobtrusive procedure, but also, I can't imagine a panamanian minimum wage security worker has any real expertise about any of these items, therefore making the whole process absurd, i.e., total security theater.