After enjoying security screening in Europe where I both a) left my laptop in its bag, and b) left my shoes on, I got to wondering why laptops are so special. (Shoes are another issue, but they're discussed elsewhere here). I carry a smarll portable radio in my carry-on and it's never looked at. Many people now carry portable DVD players which have very similar components to a computer. What purpose, exactly, is served by having notebook computers screened separately?

We could get by with half the TSA staff if we didn't have the delays caused by unpacking laptops and taking off shoes.

That's to keep you occupied while they steal your watch.

Don't you know? Most laptop cases are made of lead.

Yet another asinine procedure of this inefficient agency. I also enjoy traveling in Europe where these useless (new word: securityless?) policies are not used. If they can't scan through my bag with an x-ray, they have bigger problems, I think!

A laptop inside of its bag is too dense. By federal law, screeners are the densest objects allowed in the screening area.

I apologize for the superfluous post, but:

Laptops and DVD players do not have the same components (educate yourself before posting nonsense).

When you have a laptop and all your other electronic crap that goes with a laptop in the bag together we can not see through it all. If you didnt have to remove the laptop then we would have to do it after xraying the bag, then rerun it through the xray, thus making everyone else delayed because of you.

Just because you dont have the knowledge necessary to understand the reasoning does not mean that there is no reason. Security procedures make sense, you just dont understand them.

Hmmm... Let's see... You're saying that the X-ray can see though my lead film bags, but not a laptop... Hmmm...

Welcome to FlyerTalk, txscreen.

DVD players often contain a sub-set of components found in laptops. However, laptops do contain many components that are not found in DVD players.

As for the requirement that laptops be removed, I understand perfectly why we are asked to do so. However, the question was posed why it is done here and not abroad. Obviously, other countries' travelers have the same electronic devices that travelers in the US do, so there's no difference in the contents of the carry-on.

I have posted links to images of produced by x-ray examination of laptops. I agree that there are a couple of dense components (e.g. a transformer) that could potentially obscure other devices. However, the Europeans, Asians, et.al. seem to handle this problem just fine. Could it be that their x-rays function differently than US x-ray machines, peering through such components? Almost certainly not, as the laws of physics function the same no matter where you are.

So, it comes down to two (obvious) possibilities: 1)Screeners in other countries are better trained at identifying objects or 2)The x-ray machines somehow image objects in multiple dimensions/directions making identification of components in carry-ons a non-issue when a laptop is in the carry-on.

It is a matter of density, the laptop bag not the screeners.

Just because other countries do or don't do it doesn't make it the best practice nor does the US have the absolute best practices on some things. There needs to be a balance everywhere.

If the laptop was left in the bag it wouldn't make a difference on the amount of screening positions needed.

It is good to see Spiff posted an intelligent argument, sad to see he was the only one.

No HigherFlyer I did not say the xray can see through the lead film bag. If you have a lead film bag that is large enough to hide anything in or behind, a good xray operator will have the bag searched. What does a lead film bag have to do with a laptop discussion anyway?

My experience in flying every week through various US airports indicates that most TSA personnel don't have the skill or brains to see a real bomb on that s-ray machine. They squit and stare and the picture, call over others to squint and stare, all the while everyone waits. I echo everyone else's comments about the efficiencies throughout Europe. TSA personnel should learn from their European counterparts.

The squinting and staring at the screen, I don't mind so much. It tells me that they're really paying attention.

Still, the laptop out of the bag and off with the shoes thing leaves me a little perplexed. Other countries with serious security concerns don't do this, and I sometimes wonder if all the commotion and chaos created at the screening checkpoint by unpacking, partially-stripping, etc., doesn't distract from the screening effort and/or created other, potentially more serious problems.

With all the checkpoint chaos, it would be quite easy for someone to slip something into someone's partially opened bag.

This is where I wish SSI didn't exist, I'd glady give the answer then.

Because screeners only check the contents of my lead bags about 50% of the time. That tells me either they can see through the lead bags, or they just don't care what's in them. No one ever asks me to take my lead film bags out prior to X-ray, so why a laptop? Is the laptop (or the screeners) more dense than lead?

Having laptops out also makes it easier for the "snatch-and-swab" to occur...