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TSA to Screeners: Watch Out for MacBook Air
March 26, 2008 11:35 AM
The MacBook Air seems to be causing everyone trouble lately. First, it was Charlie Rose, who tangled with Manhattan asphalt (and lost) to protect his sexy-skinny laptop. Now, the laptop’s innards have proven so "mysterious" to airport screeners that the TSA has sent out notices to advise its employees on Apple’s newest gadget.
News of the potential issues with the MacBook Air at airport security checkpoints first surfaced a few weeks ago, when blogger Michael Nygard regaled gadget geeks with the tale of missing his flight because airport screeners didn’t believe his MacBook Air was a real computer. (Nygard didn’t answer several requests for comment at the time.)
The TSA responded in kind recently on its blog, which the agency launched in January of this year in a bid to open up communication with passengers. (Complaints have steadily come in.)
On the new blog, "Blogger Bob" writes about seeing the story and doing his own security screening of the MacBook Air.
"My suspicions were correct. The MacBook does look completely different than your typical laptop or DVD player," he writes.
Though Bob won’t say how it looks different, citing security reasons, he does say as a result of his experiment that TSA’s 45,000 screeners will be sent X-ray images of the computer.
--Ashley Phillips
March 26, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (4)
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As far as I am concern it's all BS. I think any TSA agent inspecting a computer with big Apple logo in the front knows what he or she dealing with. You need to live on Mars not to know what Apple has to sell.
Late February my wife went trough NY La Guardia security check to catch her flight back to Montreal. During the inspection she was asked to go to a different area for a body search wile her "day travel bag" containing her Mac Book Air (in it's own carrying bag) was being checked at different screening station. Upon her return home she realized it had being stolen. The port authority have being notified and a full investigation is underway. All this to say, this computer is so hot, it makes people do (even security people) do stupid things. Beware of the high attraction this nifty computer has on people.
Posted by: François | Mar 26, 2008 1:45:26 PM
Get real. Some people actually build their own computers. You can carry them with you if you wish. Like anything else you may run into issues when you run up against the Gestapo in any police state. A man recently found himself detained because his cat (being treated for cancer with radiation therapy) set off a radiation detector on an interstate highway. "Show me your papers old man, your papers!!".
Posted by: kevin | Mar 26, 2008 2:44:18 PM
I have the same problem with the TSA screener with my laptop. I have the Dell M2010 XPS. Every time I pass security with it, they take me to another line, swab it down with a pad and have it tested. I guess they are not use to the extremes of technology. The MacAir and M2010 are very different from the "typical" laptops.
Posted by: Julio | Mar 27, 2008 10:47:58 AM
This country is being turned into a police state.
I'm done flying. I don't need this kind of $hit when I travel.
Anyplace I want to visit can be reached by car, bus or train.
Posted by: Glockespiel | Apr 5, 2008 10:05:06 AM
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