Laptops and a quick pass through security? Is it possible?
 

Anyone tried this and had good success?
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Try booting your laptop with a disk. If you get stopped at security and have to turn it on, it will come on with an error. The security folks are happy and you aren't stuck waiting for everything to boot up before you can shut down.
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It sounds good but.. any what if's?

I am in the IT industry and never though of that - excellent idea.

On the other hand, no one, except for AA, has ever asked me to boot a laptop to prove that it is real. Other airlines seem convinced by the machine that clearly shows the hard drive, battery, PC Cards, motherboard, etc. :O

It sounds like a possible thing to do but then I would have to have my floppy thingee installed rather than the nice DVD thingee.

Another thing to do is to boot it up holding the "shift" key down for a faster bootup (I forget why just now).

BTW I have not had to do this silly bootup routine for quite a while.

This sounds like a good idea. I have only had to do this once at the airport in Sun Valley, ID. They were unbelievably cautious, even making people drink from any open containers of water that they had with them.

Genius, doc.

It has been a while since security asked me to bootvup the computer; many use the "sniffer" method now.

In the past, I would put the laptop on sleep mode and if they did ask me to boot it on, I press a button, the NT login screen come up instantaneously, and I would be waved through. I am not too concerned about battery life since since I don't work on the plane (or much off the plane http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif ).

Seems like MisterNice is able to watch movies while I'm forced to read! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

The increasingly rare occurrence of being checked is most apt to happen when one is in a big hurry, no? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Wish I could take credit for the idea! A friend/colleague had suggested this simple and harmless ploy and recently (maybe yesterday biztravel) I read it as well! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

How about putting it into sleep mode and
then just hitting the button and having the
thing leap to life? I used to do this with
my first notebook (386sx20) but like many
others haven't had to turn the box on in
some years now,

I have Partition Magic installed along with Boot Commander (or whatever it's called) so if I have to turn the laptop on for security it reads the BIOS and then stops to wait for me to tell it which partition to use. Therefore if I turn it off then Windows hasn't actually started loading yet. I didn't set it up this way for that reason but it turns out to be an extra added benefit. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by RichG (edited 06-09-2000).]

May be slightly off-topic but I've found that if you carry your laptop in a pc carry case, chances are high it will be selected for further checks when it goes through the x-ray.

BUT....put the laptop in a backpack and no-one checks (or in my case for 98% of the time no one does...). Yet the X-ray signature is the same!

I've had the exact same experience as PITBULL1K. And, besides I occasionally leave my backpack unaccompanied with my notebook in it (in the lounge only) - I would never leave my notebook in it's carrying case unaccompanied. (Leaving a backpack for a few minutes is generally okay in N. America lounges - I did that once in Frankfurt's Diners Club lounge and security was all over it within 15 minutes. Luckily they didn't blow it up) http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by megamiles (edited 06-09-2000).]

Fortunately with my Toshiba I have a far easier solution. When I pull my laptop out of my bag I slide the SelectBay switch which unlocks the DVD drive to be swapped with a floppy drive. The computer then starts with an error message stating the lock in unlocked. Takes all of 4 seconds.

Dorian

I haven't been asked to boot up my computer in over two years now. Before that, I was asked 50% of the time I traveled. I was taking the DL BOS-LGA route at that time. Now, they just use the sniffer test, but a great idea Doc!

misternice: sounds like an old mac secret.. holding down the shift when you boot does a clean boot without any extensions.. useful if you're having conflict problems.. not sure if it still works under current mac os.. although not sure why it wouldn't.. don't think it'll work under dos/windows though..

Interesting idea.

I always chuckle when they ask you to turn on your pilot and your cell phone. In Hartsfield signs ask you to put your cell phone in your carry-on to save time. It shows how ridiculous it all is...either a cellphone is a danger or it's not. If it is, then they should check them religiously, if it's not, why check them at all?

I've taken my PC through security and probably once in 25 times they "sniff" the bag. The rest of the time I'm never asked anything or delayed. It is rare that they check. It seems that about 2 years ago they used to check laptops a lot more than they do now. I travel with people who get theirs checked out a lot more than mine. Go figure.