Uttara Choudhury

New York: Unless you have the patience of a saint you probably groan inwardly at the laptop-out-ofthe bag shuffle at US airport security checkpoints. The good news: the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is likely to allow fliers to put certain “checkpointfriendly” bags through airport x-ray machines with laptops inside.

Currently, laptops which are permitted as carry-ons must be taken out of their cases and placed in a separate bin for X-ray. But in response to the TSA policy likely to take effect this summer, manufacturers such as Skooba and Targus are designing new lines of computer bags to get your laptop through security.

TSA will begin prototype testing in June. Although it won’t formally certify laptop cases to avoid creating business monopolies it will become fairly clear which laptop bags have passed muster.

“We recognise that laptop removal is a pain point for the public and have announced guidelines for cases. Most importantly, the new laptop bags must give screeners a clean view of an encased laptop or our officers will have to conduct a search,” a spokeswoman for TSA, told DNA.

Travellers have the option of still using old cases with thick padding, pockets and straps but they will then have to continue removing laptops at airport checkpoints. The USA Today said that most of the new checkpoint-friendly bags feature “clamshell designs with two sides that fold together like a book.”

California-based manufacturers are rushing to bring the new laptop bags to the market post-June and prices will be in the $100-dollar range. Some 250 million travellers bring laptops on airplanes every year so with less opening and closing of laptop bags, expect airport security lines to speed up.

Meanwhile, last month a US court ruled that border agents can search your laptop, or any other electronic device, when you’re entering the US. They can poke around your laptop and download its entire contents, or keep it for several days presumably to discover if you have tell-tale child-pornography or terrorist links.

Source : DNA