Is the Amazon Kindle a computer
 

I just purchased an Amazon Kindle. In many ways it is a computer. Does that mean that security will require it to be taken out of the carryon and its sleeve and put through the xray machine. I also carry a notebook computer so that means a bin for the shoes another for the computer and another for the Kindle. Does anybody have any experience taking a Kindle through security.

A computer is not removed because it is a computer, but because of the dense electronics that most computers contain.

I doubt your kindle will have to come out, I would put it on par with a PDA or PSP, neither of which have to be taken out for security.

As it stands, (and I can't vouch for other airports) shoes don't need to be in a bin, you can place things to the side of your computer in the same bin, also, you don't need to remove the laptop from any nylon sleeve it may be in -- there's no point, especially since people usually place the laptop on top of that very sleeve.

I've had a few kindles come through, and the only extra attention they got were my questions about how it stacks up against a Sony Reader (what I have, and what collects dust).

Thank you for your response very complete. Appreciate the information.

Just to be clear: whether the Kindle is a computer and whether the TSA thinks it is a computer are two completely different questions. Yes. It is a computer.

You can try putting things into the same bin as the computer. You can also try leaving the computer in its nylon sleeve. I'd bet, though, that if you do so you will be yelled at by the TSA at least 50% of the time (particularly for the nylon sleeve). It's called ineptitude -- er -- I mean consistent inconsistency -- er -- I mean, "Keeping the bad guys on their toes" :confused:

As for the Kindle -- no -- it's not a computer. Just leave it in your bag with the rest of your electronics.

I never take my Kindle out of my bag, just my laptop. Haven't had a problem....

I've never had a problem with my Sony Reader, but it doesn't have a keyboard like the kindle (keyboard + screen = computer?)

I had a TSA screener all but yell at me in front of the rest of the line, as to "whether or not I had understood their simple instructions" to take computers out of bags. I responded that I had . . . my laptop was by itself in a bin. I had a smallish video game console in my carry-on bag (didn't trust it in checked), and apparently they felt it qualified as a computer.

I spent the next 20 minutes sitting there while they pulled every single item out of my bags, inspected them, and then repacked them badly and let me go on my way. Like most things TSA related, it just all depends on who's doing the screening and their mood at the time. If you can take it out and put it in a separate bin easily, its better to be safe.

So is an ipod, pda, cell phone, digital watch, gps, smart-chipped credit card,
etc.

Really the question isn't 'what is a computer', but instead, 'what isn't a computer?'.

Depends on the idiot TSA screener. A few weeks ago, in LAS, I was stopped because they had to separately screen my portable CD drive. ok, so maybe that is considered a computer by some, even though it cannot operate on it's own, but why did I have to go BACK through the detector, re-remove my shoes, take it out of my bag and re-run everything again? 'cause there are stupid people out there. I carry that drive every week through LAS, and it has not since, nor prior, been checked. Forrest G's mama had it right.

Kindles at LAX today
 

Went through LAX today with a colleague. We both had Kindles in our bags and neither one of us removed them. My colleague went through first, the screener saw the Kindle on the screen, knew what it was, and called out "Kindle." Another screener responded to the call, collected my colleague's bag, removed the Kindle, searched the bag by hand, and ran it through again.

My bag was already on its way through when this happened, so I was sure I would be next. But no, I got lucky. Either the screener didn't see mine or decided to let it go.

The woman immediately behind me also had a Kindle that she didn't remove from her bag. She got the same treatment as my colleague.

^

Could be that the view of the Kindle was clear enough. As a rule, they are treated just like laptops and should be removed from the bag. They are very easy to spot.

To a previous post, laptops left in the nylon sleeves are good to go as long as there is nothing else in the sleeve. When you have cables, flashdrives, whatever else in the sleeve, that's where you run into a problem.

That's the TSA keeping you konfused commrade.

TSA hates Kindles, and people who read or are edumucated.

The new Kindle will read to you though

Well, BWI C C/P pulls my GPS out of my laptop bag all the time, claiming it is a DVD player...gotta love those 1.5" diameter DVDs...:rolleyes:

Is your GPS a Tom-Tom?

Yup, smallest unit they make, with the suction cup stored in a separate pocket.

I have had my kindle for about 4 months now and with almost weekly flying, I have never pulled it out of my bag and no screener has ever asked me to remove it or checked my bag because of it.

I fly with a Tom-Tom weekly and no one has ever taken it out of my carry-on bag

Uh, no, not all the time. The problem is the TSOs who aren't trained properly and/or ignore their training and/or on a power trip. At EWR of all places at Thanksgiving, I had my laptop in a laptop sleeve by itself in a bin and was required by the TSO to take it out of the sleeve. He said I was wrong when I advised that the rules allow laptops in sleeves. And guess what? He WAS the TRAINER. This was a training lane.

I've had EWR TSOs demand that I take out a Nintendo DSI and a portable iPod player also even though the rules said that they don't need to come out of the bag. Consistent inconsistency should not apply to these simple rules. :rolleyes:

ORD last week required to take laptop out of sleeve.

This is it exactly -- it all depends on the TSA agent at the time. I have the large Kindle ( Kindle DX) and had no problem with the first several trips, but in Montgomery Ala, was told it must be treated like a computer etc. Now, simply to avoid lengthening my time with these people, I take it out of its sleeve and put it in the same bin as everything else -- my coat, my liquids bag, etc. Since then -- no problems ,and what is important to me -- no re-runs of luggage to check (again!) what they already know it is, no hand searches, etc. BTW - the agent in Montgomery said it is the size of the electronic device that is the issue for them -- so perhaps the small Kindle wouldn't have raised the threshold. How true that explanation was, however, is debatable, I know.

+1

My 8 year old stepson who flies once a month has to take his Wii out of the backpack about 50% of the time.

Have had a Kindle since 4 months after the first one came out. I have never been asked to remove it, either here or abroad.

I have flown with mine exactly once, returning home after receiving it for Christmas. I did not remove it initially. At JFK, the screener asked me if I had a computer, I said I had a Kindle, had to clarify electronic book, and he made me take it out and re-screen.

The original computers were humans. Yes, they were really slow, but they were employed as computers. There's a reason m-w.com says the word dates from 1646.

A Kindle is a computer. Watches (even mechanical ones), phones, MP3 players, pacemakers, aircraft, AVOD, etc., all either are or contain computers.

^ ;)

But TSA is paralyzed with confusion over whether 3 is, or is not, 3.4, by fluid ounces vs avoirdupois ounces, by whether ice is a "frozen liquid" or some other state of matter, and by 8-year-olds who "aren't on the list" but must be treated as if they were. Let's not confuse them any more, shall we? :D

Kindle stays in my bag. I use one bin for all of my stuff: netbook, shoes, Kip Hawley is an idiot bag.

The Seven Bin Hipster
 

Last week I was going through security at ORD and this hipster was in front of me as we were preparing to place our items through the security scanner. This guy had a suitcase, a duffle bag, a laptop bag, and a backpack. He put his coat in the first bin. He took some sweatshirts out of the duffle bag and placed them in a bin, as if he had been wearing them as outer garments. The then took four plastic bags of toiletries and placed them in a bin. In the fourth bin he placed his Kindle. The fifth bin was for his belt and jewelry. He put his shoes in the sixth bin and somehow did not get scolded. Then he realized he hadn't cleared his pockets and put the cell phone and change in the seventh bin.

He rolled up the duffle bag and put it into his suitcase, and then placed the suitcase, laptop bag, and backpack through the scanner.

As I was watching this unfold I was thinking it was amateur hour, but it became clear to me this was his routine because he did it so quickly and repacked swiftly on the other side of the scanner.

Sounds like SMF
 

Usually my Kindle DX has sailed through without issue, but last time through I got the full scream treatment for leaving it in the bag. This was immediately followed by a demand to put your "damn Ipod" there too. When I attempted to explain that the "Ipod" was an insulin pump the screamer insisted there is no such thing. I got pulled out for the full paw through for all my carryon stuff.

Usually SMF isn't that bad, but they do have a few that give the rest a bad name. They don't seem to cope well with busy days.

What morons! All it would have taken was a simple, "Sorry - I didn't realize," but these people are so ill-trained; this person could have learned from this situation, but instead -- you get a moron.

I have the worst time at SMF, especially terminal B there. A-side doesn't seem all that bad, but for some reason the B-side has gotten really persnickety lately. The last time, the guy in front of me got the whole "Kindle!!" treatment, but I did not, even though we had the same exact Kindle.

Kindle <> XBox, ok? They aren't anywhere close to each other in size.

Three weeks in a row, I've received the same treatment at ATL.