Lots of electronic devices in carryon
 

Hi all,

I'm moving temporarily from the DFW area to the Pacific Northwest for a contract job, and want to take a bunch of electronic stuff in my carryon, e.g., disk drives, headphones, a USB microphone, chargers for various electronic devices. This means a lot of wires, obviously. Am I likely to have trouble with TSA at DFW? If so, what can I do to prevent this?

Thanks.

I recently flew and had a ton of wires in my bag and they didn't say a thing. Worst comes to worst they may open it and take a look, but I doubt it. Just don't put a tube of toothpaste in your bag and you should be fine ;)

Best is to avoid "clutter" and pack giving a little thought to how your bag might look under x-ray. Wind the cables up tightly, perhaps with wire ties. Distribute "dense" stuff around the bag and perhaps put one or more of the densest things in a bin.

They actually use a graphic on their site on how to pack electronics and cords

http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtrav...xperience.shtm

You should not have a problem, but if you have some zip lock bags, putting like stuff together in a bag may make it much easier should they have to go through the bag. It keeps the cords in order and makes it much easier than them rooting around everything.

And of course, when you get to where you are going it will be much easier to take out a few bags of stuff then one rats nest of wires that somehow tied themselves into knots on the flight.

I carry two laptops, two cell phones, Bluetooth headset, camera, etc. etc, and all their associated chargers. Sometimes I'll also bring along a wireless router and amplifier for my aircard.

The key is to try and spread everything out so it doesn't appear like a big mass on the x-ray, but even then that should only be a secondary check and you're on your way. I have some industrial baggies from ULINE to keep the cords from getting tangled, but plain old ziploc bags would work too, they just won't last as long.

I carry a ton of electronics, chargers, wires, multiple cell phones, cameras and other junk all crammed in a little bag packed solid inside my carry-on. Surprisingly, it has never caused me any trouble at all anywhere. YMMV. If I were carrying full sized disk drives I would probably take those out and put them in a tray separately just to avoid any issues since they might be large and opaque on an x-ray. Again YMMV.

Yes, keeping things tidy and organized makes the image easier to read and simpler life for you. It is easy for them to pass a bag when there is a clear image of all your devices. Try to distribute the "toys" so it would clearly show up on the image as to what it is. Avoid "stacking", imaging the position of your bag on the conveyor and try not to pack items so they show up on top of each other on the image.
Cable tie, small pouches or parts organization boxes are best. I have a pouch with compartments and a small clear plastic box of all the wires/adapter/chargers that I need on the road and it is a quick grab and go when I need to go anywhere.

Another option, since you mention this is a "move" you might look into shipping stuff UPS insured to your destination. I have been able to ship extra items to client's premise to hold for me without any issues.

I find that it is hit or miss. I travel with a huge DSLR, several lenses, a wireless router, charging equipment for the DSLR and a smaller point and shoot camera, binoculars, iGo charging equipment, computer charger. I pack exactly the same way. Sometimes it goes through; sometimes it doesn't. I had one trip where it went through 5 security checks with no problems, but on the 6th, everything was unpacked and swabbed.

Just make sure you have a few extra minutes for the check. I usually opt out of backscatter screening machines, so I allow at least an extra 15 minutes for everything.

I too carry a large amount of electronics. I put the baggie with all of the cords, chargers, etc. into the bin. I used to put my devices in the bin as well but not anymore with all of the checkpoint thefts.

Commonly travel with a large bag of camera equipment, laptop, iPad, headphones, extra cellphone, and other equipment. I've only run into problems on one occasion, and the clerk at MCI became very rude when I asked her to change gloves and get a fresh swab.

Pack four chef's knives and you're guaranteed to be fine! :p

In my Pelican case I have a four channel FFT to USB analyzer, an analog vibration meter, a phototach/strobe light, two ICP integrating power supplies, 6-8 USB cables, 6 2-pin Amphenol to BNC coiled cables, 4 BNC-BNC cables, four Pi tapes, three feeler gage sets, at least 10 9V batteries, at least 20 AA batteries half LI ion and half alkaline, safety glasses, spare shoe strings, 9" aluminum probes, one 5 " probe, two large accelerometers, 8 100 mv/g ICP accelerometers, three rare earth magnetic mounts, masking tape, an inspection mirror, and probably some other stuff, but that is all I remember off the top of my head. They are in the bag in their own spot and packed meticulously, but in no way is it neat or easy to scan. It looks on the x-ray screen like a random mess.

I variously get the following (estimates):

Case comes flying out of the x-ray right behind my computer and shoes: 30%
Quick swab and "Have a nice day": 50%
Detailed search and multiple swabs: 20%
Everything out, split into separate bins, multiple ETD swabs, rerun in different orientations, make a general mess of everything: once, when they saw the 9V batteries. (They did not care that much about the electronics but the 9V batteries were very serious.)

I travel with a bunch of USB cables, chargers, headset, backup hard drive, extension cord, and other assorted doodads. Each cable is separately bundled with wire ties, but they're all crammed into the same packing cube. Occasionally screeners pull out the packing cube and look at it, but I haven't had any major hassles.

I recently moved by plane to another country so I had even more electronics than usual in my carry-on, along with bike lights, plumbing parts, and other non-touristy items. The scanners just wanted to see the plumbing parts.

I generally pack my cables together in a clear zip-loc bag and place it separately in the bin. This lets the screeners know what exactly it is without having to remove it from the bag later on. All other electronics (laptop excepted, obviously) remain in the bag.

I go through E at DFW on a weekly basis with a fair amount of electronics. Superdrive for my MacBook Air, a mouse, iPhone, chargers, synch cables, headphones, aux cable for the rental car, etc. They never question or look at any of it.

At the other end (Burlington, VT) they treat me like the Unabomber.

I think you'll be fine at DFW.