MacBook Air Confuses Airport Security

Ant writes "MacNN reports that the thin design of Apple's MacBook Air is causing some confusion for the technically ignorant, according to one blogger who says that the ultra-portable caused him to miss his flight. When going through the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) airport security checkpoint, blogger Michael Nygard was held up as security staff gathered around his MacBook Air, trying to make sense of the slender laptop/notebook. One of the less technically knowledgeable staff points out the lack of standard features as cause for alarm..."

TSA has a hard job

TSA agents have a difficult job as it is. How much harder do Apple fanboys have to make it for them by insisting that their toys are "computers"?

Is this news? or marketing?

Anyone who's ever tried to bring a less-than-common piece of electronics through airport security has probably had them happen to this. I've had TSA agents inquire about my TI-89 on two separate occasions. Is this story really news? or just cleverly embedded marketing?

Sounds like his fault

He should've gotten to the airport earlier. It sounds like he was operating on razor-thin margins, and got bit. Tough. Deal with it.

Question about missed flight

Its a real bummer that these TSA guys end up being no better than night club bouncers, but heck I suppose technology is not their forte, which is kind of ironic given they need to understand recognise what's going through the machine.

Anyhow, my question is if you miss a flight because of these TSA guys, does your airline put you on the next available flight at no extra cost?

Show up on time, dumbass.

Everyone else should read the original blog post, and note that his flight was taking off AS he was talking to customs. Meaning he showed up at or after boarding time. Airlines suggest showing up 1 to 1.5 hours before takeoff, not at the last minute. Furthermore, I call bullshit on this story. I've recently traveled internationally and went through 8 major airports (plus 'random selection' secondary inspection in Philadelphia) throughout the world, with a laptop, Nintendo DS, two Ipod Mini's, and a case of DVD's all stuffed into my laptop bag, while returning from an Islamic nation and nobody asked me to show them anything.

Not always true

I too have been through countless security check points with enough electronics in my bags to make my back hurt. I have never had a problem with the people at security. However, I travel with a wife and colleagues who are not always so lucky. The difference? I am a white guy and they are not. Sad but true. Next time you are in line watch who is being searched or detained.

Re:Not always true

A company I worked for in the past was very slow at paying expense accounts. Since I knew it was ending anyways, I just told them I was happy to travel, but they had to pay me cash up front and I'd document my expenses and return what I didn't spend. Strangely, they didn't have a problem with this, and always gave me more than I spent (but then, I never was the type to pad expense accounts). Since I was ferrying airplanes for them, I was traveling on the airlines one-way.

So, I was a middle-aged white male, paying cash at the last minute for a one-way ticket traveler, with an airplane headset and flying charts in my bag. How many times do you think I got the extra-special treatment?

Every. Single. Time.

Kind of makes me wonder what would happen if...

What kind of world of hurt would the person in TFA have had to go through if the battery was flat, or the laptop was defective?

Five Finger Shoes

One morning the fate of the free world depended on my screener's determination on if a pair of Vibram Five Fingers [vibramfivefingers.com] was a shoe or not. Never mind that I own bulkier socks than this, but apparently it's a shoe.

Airport security manual

When faced with new and strange technology first

A) Strike with hand, grunt and run away.

B) Strike with rock, grunt and run away.

C) Strike with club, grunt and run away.

D) If first three methods fail strike passenger with club, grunt and run away.

Re:Ok - this is just getting silly!

I bet during training they are told to look for things that may be designed to "look like" common things, and a laptop without ports would probably gain the notice of less tech savvy screeners.

I am sure those uber tiny laptops get as much attention as well.

Re:Ok - this is just getting silly!

Back in 1996 or 1997 I got some funny looks from security after the wire connecting the main AA cells in my Psion Series 3a PDA broke, in the International terminal at Boston Logan. The button cell that served as backup power for the memory wouldn't last the duration of the flight to London (where I might have gotten it fixed professionally), and I had data in it that I'd need after I got there. So I bought a travel sewing kit* at the newsstand (the safety pin made a good fine tool), got out my tweezers and Swiss Army knife* to help disassemble the PDA and to strip the wire a little, and spent the half hour before my flight in the waiting area at the gate, hunched over the "device" and performing emergency field surgery to make a solid connection between the AAs and the electronics. I snapped it all back together just as they called for boarding.

And the in-flight movie? Executive Decision, in which the Bad Guy uses a Psion Series 3a as the remote control for a bomb on the plane.

*Did I mention that this was way before Sept. 2001?

Re:Ok - this is just getting silly!

This seems very reasonable. No ports, no disc drive, completely metallic instead of plastic. I could see how it would set of some warning bells that there might be more to this guy's laptop than he claims. Taken in this light it actually raises my views of the TSA and certainly makes it seem like they're actually looking out for potential safety threats.

Either way, had he been there a little earlier he could have had plenty of time to explain his new gadget and boarded the plane. TSA (and common sense) - 1, jackass blogger - 0.

Re:Ok - this is just getting silly!

Perhaps those technically adept people choose not to stand behind an X-ray scanner for 12 hours a day.

Re:Ok - this is just getting silly!

I'd be a bit careful about water. Everyone who has ever died on this planet has drunk water at some stage in their life. Coincidence? I think not...

Re:Ok - this is just getting silly!

Hey man. I have never drank water and I AM DEAD, you insensitive clod!

wait...

Ooga Chaka

In other news, the Ooga Chaka tribe brutally murdered a tourist to their village who was carrying a double-blunt-ended walking stick.

Apparently, the "spear with a lack of features" was cause for great alarm among the Ooga-Chakas.

Re:Ooga Chaka

Dude, blunt spears are no joke. Ever tried catching a fish with one? You can't just stab & enjoy, you've gotta beat the sucker senseless first. Ever tried clubbing a bass to death. Its hard work.

But with the new MacBook Air, I don't need to bludgeon my trout anymore. I can just pluck it out of the water with my newly developed mind powers and have it baked with a side of waterfowl before it even hits the ground. Yummers, pyrokineticly cooked duck! Thanks MacBook Air!

Re:slashvertisement

It really boils down to the technically ignorant doing work that requires at some point a certain minimum level of technical competence. Kind of like a PHB making computer and networking decisions. I have not flown commercial in many years. The more stories I hear from my friends who still fly, the more I will take the train. There may be a case where I will fly again some day, but not if a viable alternative is available. I used to like to fly. I liked zipping into different cities, doing my job and popping back. It was exciting. Now, it would just be painful. Not my cup of tea.

BTW, if you fly on private craft, my experience so far has been a decided lack of idiots to deal with. Kind of makes the cost and time to get a pilots license that much more attractive.

InnerWeb

Private Pilot License

Don't bother. End of this year the government has a new tax package and special user fees that will increase the costs by over 400% (proceeds going to fund tax breaks for the airlines, of course) and "increase security" for private airfields as well. It was nice while it lasted but the party's over.

Re:Idiots...

Not just any bomb, mind you. It's a really thin bomb. With NO optical drive, which makes it perfectly useless to me.

Re:Idiots...

From https://tsacarrers.taleo.net/ [taleo.net] Read to the end... I was not scared before I read this, but now...

1802-Transportation Security Officer (TSO) (Screener) - SUN107

Job Description

Apply Online

Description
As a Transportation Security Officer (TSO) (Screener):

You will perform a variety of duties related to providing security and protection of air travelers, airports and aircraft. You will be responsible for identifying dangerous objects in baggage, cargo and/or on passengers; and preventing those objects from being transported onto aircraft. You are required to perform various tasks such as: wanding, pat down searches, operation of x-ray machines, lift and carry baggage (weighing up to 70 pounds), and screening and ticket review using electronic and imaging equipment. As a TSO, you may perform passenger screening, baggage screening or both. You are expected to perform these duties in a courteous and professional manner.

* Communicate with the public, giving directions and responding to inquiries in a professional and courteous manner.
* Maintain focus and awareness within an environment containing numerous distractions, people, and noise.
* Stand and remain standing for periods up to 4 hours without sitting.
* Repeatedly lift and carry an object weighing up to 70 pounds.
* Work within a stressful environment, which includes noise from alarms, machinery, and people, distractions, time pressure, disruptive and angry passengers, and the requirement to identify and locate potentially life-threatening devices and devices intended on creating massive destruction.
* Make effective decisions in both crisis and routine situations.

Work Schedule: Full-time Split-Shift (40 hours per week). A Split Shift schedule is defined as any two shifts, lasting at least two (2) hours each, in one 24-hour period with a break of at least two (2) hours between shifts. Full-time work hours for this position consists of shift-work on any day from Sunday through Saturday, which may include irregular hours, nights, holidays, overtime, extended shifts and weekend shifts, changing shifts, and split shifts. Exceptions include additional shifts to support morning, midday, and afternoon or evening operations. Specific work shifts and schedules will be determined by the airport.

TSA will not pay any pre-employment travel expenses (e.g., travel to and from testing, medical examination facilities and assessment sites). As part of the evaluation process you will be required to travel to a TSA specified medical facility within commuting area of the airport for which you applied.

Qualifications

1. You must be a U.S.Citizen or U.S. National; AND
2. You must have a high school diploma, GED or equivalent; OR at least one year of full-time work experience in security work, aviation screener work, or x-ray technician work.

Possess the following job-related knowledge, skills, and abilities:

* English Proficiency (e.g., reading, writing, speaking, listening)
* Mental Abilities (e.g., visual observation and identification, mental rotation)
* Interpersonal Skills (e.g., customer service, dependability)
* Work Values (e.g., responsibility, honesty, integrity)
* Physical Abilities(e.g. repeatedly lifting and carrying baggage weighing up to 70 lbs, bending, reaching, stooping, squatting, standing, and walking and identifying objects by touch).

All TSOs must meet the following standards:

* Distant vision correctable to 20/30 or better in the best eye and 20/100 or better in the worse eye
* Near vision correctable to 20/40 or better binocular
* Color perception (e.g., red, green, blue, yellow, orange, purple, brown, black, white, gray) note: color filters (e.g., contact lenses) for enhancing color discrimination are prohibited.
* Hearing as measured by audiometry cannot exceed:

Re:Idiots...

Since the purpose of the TSA isn't to stop terrorism but to act as a social placebo, would you really want to waste hundreds of thousands of intelligent and educated man-hours on it?

Re:irony

No irony is misspelling the word "first" in a first-post.

Re:irony

irony: The fist thing I see on this page is an add for MacBooks!

It's not even Alanis ironic.

The whole story is part of a viral marketing campaign intended to establish the Air as different, iconic.

Behind me, I hear the younger agent, perhaps not realizing that even the TSA must obey TSA rules, repeating himself.

"It's a MacBook Air."

It's 1984 all over again...