roberino

Just passed through A/B/Z security checkpoint at FRA and my laptop bag got pulled out for a swab, then I was asked to open it. The guy pulled out my laptop charger and said "This is the problem. You have wrapped the cable around the unit* and on the scanner it looks suspicious. You should never do this at airport security."

Seriously? Surely EVERYBODY does this with their laptop cable. Are they really going to harass everyone about this? What else are they going to have on the list if this is "suspicious"?


*He was referring to the AC/DC transformer.

Often1

Everybody? I most certainly do not.

TA

I think it's silly for the agent to be telling you tactics to avoid scrutiny, and the things that fool them.

Aside from that issue, I also have never seen any of my friends, family, or colleagues wrap their cable around their laptop.

roberino

Not wrapped around my laptop - wrapped around the transformer unit. The laptop was in a separate tray.

Kagehitokiri

that is not "behavior" that is what / how it shows up on the computer screen

roberino

Exactly.

VivoPerLei

There does seem to be some weird mojo going on at FRA security. I got pulled aside for secondary screening because of my empty coffee cup in my bag that they wanted to swab. And on another occasion I was pulled aside because of a pack of playing cards in my bag that they wanted to look at.

PAX_fips

"World" gone mad.

Got pulled out for "hiding" a 2g lip balm, "looks like explosives". Must be put in the 3-1-1,
then it no longer detonates. %-)

Kagehitokiri

you did not quote someone saying "suspicious behavior"

did anyone you dealt with use the word "behavior"?

if youre just talking about how things look on screen, cant do anything about it, and have to pack in ways that are not going to look bad on screen because there is no other option.

roberino

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The laptop charger was a standard laptop charger packed in the same way that millions of people pack laptop chargers every day. It was a normal item, packed normally and shouldn't have been described as "suspicious" by a security officer.

TObject

So, is the problem wrapping the cable, or wrapping the cable around something?

roberino

I honestly didn't ask, but I expect it was wrapping a cable around something that, on a 2D scan image, looked cylindrical and dense. It still must've looked like a laptop charger though.

TObject

There are blogs out there that actually suggest the opposite. Wrap the cables. They say that tangles look suspicious.

The first search result on Google for "do not wrap cables at airport security" pulls the following:

"Wrap the cords. A tangle of cords could look like something potentially harmful if it's viewed a certain way, which could mean a more thorough and time-consuming bag check. Wrap cords around their devices, pack chargers together in one bag (Ziplocks work!) and take advantage of rubber bands, twist ties, and other simple cord management techniques to keep them tangle-free."

I do not know what to do now: wrap the cords, do not wrap the cords; we are suspicious no matter what we do.

Wrap the cord around your neck and hang yourself, one fewer annoying passenger for security to deal with. LOL

enviroian

+1. I've never done this nor would I. It would make the bag bulkier than it needs to be.

TheLifeOfA_NKCM

Wrapping cords?

How doesn't it make it bulkier, it consolidates the space for other stuff and I can quickly pick up my chager rather than well the extra few precious seconds at an airport. However, even so, I have a tendency of being paranoid of what the TSA'd flag, telling agents in advance while in the nudoscope objects it might flag, and every time later finding out I was right. . One part of that is when, even in precheck, I'll still take chargers out and treat them like electronics -it saves a ton of my time w/ possible crap I might face and so far have had a nice record of avoiding any annoying stops by an incompetent agent.

If you have a laptop case, just save yourself the burden. But, yeah, I've definitely not heard of a wrapped charger causing any issues. I will admit, the display flags things and has a colored overlay for things of interest from what I can see. So, I guess it kinda' makes sense.

Just wish we could just skip all this crap.. We've gotten to the point that the biggest target for an attack isn't the plane, but the actual checkpoint itself.