J. Leslie

Just through security (transborder) at YYC. My iPad and Kobo were permitted to stay in my carry-on. It's CATSA, I know, but the airlines have been telling everyone up here that everything larger than a cell phone had to come out. CATSA folks were cool with doing it the normal way.

WolfieG

What about smartphones with very large screens, like an iPhone 7 Plus? Will those be affected, as the wording was kind of vague. I typically travel with a Canon A590IS point and shoot camera, an iPhone 7 Plus, and sometimes an iPad 2. I don't usually have PreCheck, so I am wondering how this will affect me? Thank you!

MSY-MSP

Yes I have been saying that for a while as well. I also recognize that the impact would be fairly bad on many business. However, it also would also create new businesses out of it. Not that that is a good thing.

The threat that they are addressing is a real threat. The likelihood of it actually occurring is extremely low. I would guess that the odds are somewhere in the neighborhood of 1 in a 100 million, or something close to that. The reaction is way worse than the threat. But that is how TSA has worked from almost day one. Overreact to every threat. The liquid ban was based on legitimate risk, the reaction to it was where they went off the rails. Same thing will occur here.

Do i think limiting electronics is a good thing. No. Do I think TSA thinks it is a good thing. Yes. They have to create a story to get what they want. By backing up the lines quite a bit, you end up with angry passengers who are complaining. TSA comes out and says folks are bringing too many electrical items through the checkpoint. They encourage folks to bring fewer items with them. The lines stay long. TSA comes out and says that the lines are not manageable, and in order to make the lines manageable, they impose limitations, and point out (spin) that they are reasonable for the average traveler. They acknowledge that some travelers may be inconvenienced by these restrictions. Maybe they exempt PreCheck from the limitations. (sell more of these) The end result is a limitation on the electronics. (fewer electronics may actual help their numbers in terms of finding the red team stuff, but then again probably not). The news gets some folks at the airport with the "anything for safety" speak, and some other folks stating that the restrictions are reasonable in their view. And before we know it, this becomes the new norm.

Do i want to see this happen. Absolutely not. Do i believe it will happen. more likely than not.

catocony

As far as I know, except for flights going through pre-clearance in Canada, I've always been interviewed on a US-bound flight, going back decades.

So, two problems here. One, there already are interviews for US-bound flights. Second, it has zero to do with TSA, and zero to do with domestic flights.

If they want to go back to the stupidity of 20 years ago where ticket agents and gate agents asked you a couple of questions before giving you your boarding pass, then the airlines can say goodbye to kiosks and on-line check-in. Which their business models depend 100% on these days.

Wise-Broccoli8301

I fly out of YVR regularly and I swear security at Canadian airports even for the trusted traveler lanes is the most stringent I've ever seen. They're extremely slow and on one trip where I spent 1 night only they scanned my bag 4 times. I had a pair of gym shorts, gym shoes, and a change of work clothes and that was it. The worst part is that it's just a single line and my coworker who went through the regular line was waiting for me at the end.

FlyWithKaeMarie

Interesting, I didn't realise this wasn't the case as I've always been told to separate these belongings. I've had to put my ipad and laptop in their own bins. It's frustrating having to take so much stuff out of my carryon but *shrug* I thought it was the same all around.

warrenw

I never flown to/through Canada so I can't speak for that, but I never get questioned upon exit outside of the US. Nowhere in Asia have I ever been questioned for a US bound flight. Ever, and that's with 150k miles per year.

Now the airlines on the other hand, some ask questions. Asiana is the worst, but they've been burned by people without valid visas and since I'm a visaholder I always get at least a question or two, but that's so they don't get dinged if I end up being someone who can't enter the country.

Even leaving the US I rarely if ever get questioned. Entering, the most personal question I've ever been asked is "what do you do for a living." Entering other countries at least in Asia I never get questioned. Frankfurt asks a lot of questions though.

MrAndy1369

Would that mean that:

a) laptop
b) iPad
c) battery pack

Would have to be placed in separate bins each? If so, that's a major PITA :\ hoping I can just put them in the same bin, or at least the iPad and battery pack in the same bin.

sleuth

You can't see where the three of those devices practically on top of each other in a bag would make it more difficult to see the details of each individual piece on the x-ray? The bins are certainly large enough for an ipad and battery pack to lie flat next to each other, not on top of each other.

I have no issues with taking my ipad out of my bag. It takes 10 seconds. I do have issue with flight crew using crew lanes and maybe one out of ten getting pulled for random search.

beachmouse

So for the Spousal Unit's camera kit, does each lens need its own bin? (Common for him to pack 3-4 additional lenses as well as the one on the camera back.)

Gig103

Another reason TSA XTortion (i mean PreCheck) is worth every penny. I was just telling someone at work, "If you skip a week of Starbucks every year, it's paid for." He is just starting to cultivate some wanderlust as his kids have left the house, and he's going for Global Entry at my recommendation.

Susu Chou

It's not a big deal on its face

catocony

The security questions asked either at the gate or at check-in is the interview. The airlines don't do it, generally some form of rent-a-cop does.

T8191

Our flights to the US usually involve going via DUB (Dublin, Ireland) and having US Preclearance there. The staff you describe so unkindly are employed by the airport authority. They work the lines at check-in/bag-drop, are extremely polite, and kindly affix a sticker to the back of our passports to show we've been spoken to. The whole ex-DUB experience, including US preclearance, is painless, usually VERY quick, and infinitely better than we usually encounter elsewhere. YMMV.

chollie

I was in London again last summer. I did not have to take my Kindle or my P&S cameras out of my carry-on. I always travel with the cameras, and I have never been told to take them out.