Some Laptop Bags Get Security Speedtrack

Punters fed up with having to take their laptops out of their bags for airport security checks might be relieved to know that change might be in the air.

The US Transportation Security Administration will now allow travellers to leave their computers inside bags that are registered as "checkpoint friendly".

The new rules, which will take effect on August 16, are intended to help streamline the X-ray inspection lines.

Apparently the TSA contacted bag manufacturers this year to design laptop cases that would provide a clear, unobstructed image of the computer as it passed through an X-ray.

Not surprisingly they listened and new bags will be in the shops this month.

To be 'checkpoint friendly', a bag must have a laptop-only section that unfolds to lie flat on the X-ray machine belt and contains no metal.

TSA-approved laptop bags are Mobile Edge, Skooba Design and Targus.

However no one has ever demonstrated how a laptop can be used to blow up a plane, or why a crystal clear image of one is vital to telling if one is faked and stuffed with Semtex.

Story source: theinquirer.net.