You’d think a professional blogger like myself who travels a lot would have a TSA friendly bag, but you’re wrong. I still pull my laptop out every time and curse to the high heavens about it. A sane person would have invested in a bag like the Aerovation CPF Laptop Bag by now and I’m thinking real hard about it.
The CPF has ample room for one laptop up to 15 inches and another compartment for the rest of your doodads. The two compartments are held together by Velcro so you can easily pull it apart and have it ready to go when it’s your turn in the security line.
There’s also a trolley bag if you’re into that sort of thing.
I work for Mobile Edge and we actually make nine different styles of Checkpoint Friendly Laptop Bags. We use the butter-fly design which in my opinion is much better. When you open the Aerovation case and lay it flat on the belt, you run the risk of damaging your laptop because there is no cushion to protect it. However, our design is the opposite where you fold the case in half facing up, that way the TSA agent can easily identify this is a TSA compliant laptop bag, and can screen quickly and easily. Plus your laptop is safe and sound in its padded computer compartment. Check out our Exclusive ScanFast Product Page for yourself: http://tiny.cc/0Nzqh
Matthew – if you would have read the review and watched the video, you would see that the Aerovation bags ARE a butterfly model. They have patents pending on this design.
The Aerovation Bag is FULLY cushioned not just partially like the others. The laptop sits on a cushion in this bag.
TSA prefers the Aerovation design because it offers padding around the entire laptop computer and more importantly, users aren’t obstructing the line while rebuckling, rezipping, and trying to find both handles on their clamshell bags. Remember, you only have one hand at the bottom of the conveyor.
This top hinge design has more padding for the laptop than any other design and you don’t need both hands to put it back together at the bottom of the conveyor.
The trolley bag is even more convenient and protects the laptop from shock with 1/2 inch of padding. Also, the laptop computer is held as far away from the wheels as possible so the computer doesn’t take a beating while rolling.
TSA has no trouble recognizing this bag. With hundreds of thousands of successful screenings and zero rejections I don’t think that’s an issue.
They have been clearing the the Trolley Bag since last summer. Even the head of TSA security screening is a paying Aerovation Trolley Bag customer!
I have travelled over 250,000 miles in the last 2.5 years and have in that time travelled with as many as three laptops and a desktop cube. I have never found it that disturbing to pull my laptop(s) out at Security… and find it more important that the carry case be comfortable and efficient the other 99% of the time.
If you want a really simple TSA friendly system (that looks great too), I highly recommend my bag: the Cargo from Waterfield Designs (http://www.sfbagscom).
It does *not* use the butterfly system. It uses a sleeve/bag system, which I actually find to be more convenient. Rather than unzipping, hooking, etc. and re-doing on the other side, I just slip out my sleeve with my laptop inside it, and put it back in on the other side.
My biggest complaint about the other TSA compliant options I’ve seen is the look (ie. lack of style). The style and quality of my Cargo plus the ease of use are what make me a die-hard fan. They are worth checking out.
Guess the link didn’t work. Here is the actual page where you can find it, if interested:
http://www.sfbags.com/products/cargo/cargo.htm
The most common way laptop bag vendors are leveraging their existing inventories is to retrofit their stock with sleeves and declare them checkpoint friendly.
TSA wanted to improve the throughput while maintaining access to the contents of the laptop computer. Sleeves are a good solution but it means separating your laptop from it’s bag and that’s a good way to lose your laptop. It amazes me that so many laptops are lost or damaged in the checkpoint but with 500,000 laptops screened on Monday’s and Fridays and 250,000 per day the rest of the week.
Aerovation also offers a stand alone sleeve for people who can’t bear to part with their existing laptop bag or trolley bag. But, it defeats the purpose since you still have to unzip, remove the sleeve, replace the sleeve and rezip it at the end. None of those steps are required with the top hinge design.
I don’t really agree, Ben. The laptop sleeve from sfbags that I use is pretty distinct and sets it apart from other people’s gear. As I said, style and quality of materials are also important to me, so I still stand by my Cargo bag with sleeve by sfbags. I travel most weeks and can say from experience that it is the best solution, for me at least.
Jerry, I can’t argue style. I’m a stealth engineer. I only deal with X-rays and microwaves. The sleeve from Aerovation was tested by TSA and is completely invisible to X-rays. Even the zipper on it is gone under the scanner. That’s what matters to TSA. If style is what you want then go for it. Just be careful that the inks, rubber conditioners and other materials in the bag don’t create unusual artifacts or alarm the NT database in the scanners into thinking you’re carrying bomb making materials in the sleeve when it’s the sleeve that’s tricking the scanner into thinking there’s banned compounds.
What few people know is that X-ray scanners have technology in them that can sense compounds based on their X-ray defraction properties. The actual operators aren’t trained radiologists. The “intelligence” to detect bomb making compounds is built into the software. Some of these compounds are very common and off the shelf. These materials are detected by the X-ray machine not by the operator. Some of these compounds are used to condition neoprene, vinyls, silicons and other decorations on bags. There are clear vinyls out there that have UV protection that makes them opaque to x-rays So even a clear window is no guarantee of checkpoint friendliness!
There are several stylish sleeves out there that will appear as bomb-making material because they didn’t test before selling. The Aerovation sleeve is guaranteed not to alarm because they were tested with gains turned way below what a typical scanning session would look like.
Likewise, the actual trolley bags and laptop bags also contain certified materials that won’t trigger a false positive.
Have you ever wondered why TSA will do a secondary inspection if they see a prescription drug in your carryon bag? Do you really think a TSA screener is that sharp? Nope, the machine saw it, counted the pills, and they are checking to see if you’re name is the name on the bottle.
Style is definitely an important attribute, Jerry. No denying it. My personal preference is I want to get in and out of that checkpoint every time.
We offer a Check Point friendly TSA compliant laptop bag. Please visit us at http://www.G-bags.com . We look forward to your interest.