Thats what I originally said. It's a distraction while they steal your watch.

Thats funny I hardly ever do laptops on the "snatch and swab" as you call it. I concentrate mainly on bags with a lot of electronics in them.

Lead Bags have different densities to them. Some you can see through but most you can't. I call bag check on most of them because of this. You also again have to mix into the factor that if you have items on top and bottom of the flim bag you might get more bag checks.

As for a request on why the flim bags don't come out prior to going through, need to talk to Washington. My airport has issued a request for more eletronics equipment to be taken out of the bags before screening. We can't make up local policies anymore and my airport seems to be sticking to that.

You seem to fail to relieze that the screeners don't make up this policy. Washington does, so I guess Washington is more dense then the laptops.


Is there any data on has our European counterparts fair on test and such? That seems to be a gauge that everyone on these boards likes to use against us.

I've asked "why" a few times, as I did again today. I was told, "there's a reason."

Ya' gotta' believe!

-Mark

This doesn't answer my question. I always carry just the film bags in a carry on. Nothing else. No confusing images. Also, I always use two bags, one inside the other. There may be diferences from one brand of bag to another, but the bags I use are all the same. So why the discrepancy? Either they can see the contents or not.

I don't 'relieze' anything. I do realize that The screeners are not policy makers. However...
1. If they let bags through that they cannot see into, they are not protecting anyone.
2. If they CAN see into the lead bags, then the TSA has been lying to us about the laptops.

Most lead bags you can see through, and I know for a long while there was a policy out that we had to check every single lead bag that came through. My airport told us that the policy had been changed and it was the screeners choice to do so. As I haven't had the chance to completely read the new SOP and my question on the subject hasn't been answered yet by a Supervisor or Screening manager, I can't honestly tell you the current policy.

You also don't see the same screener on x-ray everytime you go through. There is always going to be screeners that are just more comfortable on a x-ray then other screeners. So in one case, the screener may look at your bag, feel they can see through it completely and it's set to go. Then you might get another thats just not comfortable with the image and would like to do a bag check. Your dealing with humans here who have different levels of comfort on the xray.

No, TSA hasn't lied to you. Like Spiff stated, there are items in a laptop that you can't see through. But there are also other reasons that have to remain SSI, I guess.

How about asking the folks in Europe why it is that don't require it? They might give you a good reason and maybe it is better training, I can't say for sure. Most of us here have said that we feel training with the TSA is a joke so far, btw.


Why is it some airports require all shoes off but others don't? Why is it some airports are fast and others aren't?

Because every airport seems to be inconsistent with how the policies are enforced. You really can't expect a good answer from most of us because the fact is we can't provide it. We see inconsistently from Supervisor to Supervisor and how they read and apply the SOP to daily activity.


Sorry about the spelling mistakes btw.

Well, there goes the intelligent conversation.

What I don't understand is why the TSA doesn't provide padded containers for our very expensive and delicate equipment. We are forced to take our laptops out of their padded cases which were designed to handle bumps and drops. The screeners don't seem to treat the laptops as the fragile and costly items that they are.

My laptop's backlight bulb was broken last year after it was treated callously by the TSA at the BWI checkpoint. I lost use of the machine for two weeks while I sent it to be repaired. I'm sure others have similar stories.

Why can't we just have some soft foam for the plastic dish trays that we must put our electronic equipment into? Sometimes I am successful in putting my jacket or sweater underneath the laptop to cushion it on its bumpy ride, but often the screeners catch it and I get a scolding.

Hardly.

By "snatch and swab", I was referring to the practice of an agent going to the cutout in the x-ray return and picking up a laptop to be swabbed at the ETD machine.

If the laptop is already out of the bag, it makes it easier to select a laptop, rather than making the ETD person either look at the x-ray or open a bag to determine if it contains a laptop.

By observation, it appears that laptops are the most common thing being swabbed.

I agree also the laptop out of the bag is rediculous and the shoe obsession is out of control. (I don't take mine off ever even though they have that gucci metal thingy on the top).

Just flew from Costa Rica where I didn't have to take my laptop out and my shoes were fine. IT WAS GREAT!.



BTW, not to hijack the thread but I asked about INSPass at Immigration in Miami, Concourse A and the IMMIGRATION JERK 'AGENT' told me all INSPass's were cancelled because of 9/11. I had to bite my tounge so hard to keep from laughing, apparently working fine at LAX is INSPass.

Actually, txscreen, I have a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering. How about you? And, I can assure you that with the exception of a disk drive, the components in a DVD player are nearly the same as in a laptop computer. They both have memory, microprocessors, LCD screens, and video display systems. And, many laptops today approach the small size of DVD players or other electronic devices. As I said, I regularly carry a radio in my carry-on baggage. What *is* so special about laptop computers other than ten years ago they were a rarity, so they deserved special attention?

Personally, my opinion is that the shoe and laptop dance at security checkpoints is all for show...to make grandma and grandpa feel good about flying. And, the fact that the rest of the world doesn't find it necessary for passengers to partially undress, and to unpack laptops, just speaks to American arrogance...which we've been seeing a lot of lately.

But Laptops usually have bigger battery packs with about 10 seperate batteries in them, making it difficult to see through. Most DVD players have battery packs located towards the rear of the item. Laptop batteries come through a lot darker compared to a set of DVD batteries.

I still say that TSA should make it a requirement to remove all eletronics from the bags, DVD, Laptop, PS2, PS1 etc..., if the TSA is really there for security. This is where I started to believe that the TSA wasn't really security but a show and made me look for new employment.


I agree that many laptops are about the size of a DVD player but I usually see them in a store. Most people still own the Apple, IBM, or Sony models that are larger.

Spiff, my apologies. I though you were referring to Highflyers comment about stealing your watch.

We have asked and are only allowed to buy one type of bin from the vendor.

As an FYI, many of the X-Ray machines (especially the Smith-Heimann) calibrates itself by backing the belt up then proceeding forward. This happens often especially if a bag is cut on the screen. This is not controlled by the operator so when putting your laptop on the belt make sure the belt is moving forward and don't just load it behind a bag and walk away. We have tried to position the tables so the items won't fall but sometimes they get bumped and moved. I have sent a complaint to the manufacturer and suggested some type of stop at the end but don't expect much.

The Rapiscan series does have a steel table right before the belt to stop this. It's really nice, in that it won't let a item be pushed off when the machine goes in reverse like it does.

Problem is, a lot of people place their items on that table then leave it there and proceed through the WTMD. And depending on the positioning of the WTMD in relation to this table, the screener may not see that the passenger has done this.

So a little advice, if you encounter a x-ray with a steel table right before the belt, make sure your items are on the moving belt before you proceed.