TSA: MacBook Air 11-Inch Small Enough To Stay In Your Bag
Oct 26, 2010 12:12 PM EDT by 
The 11-inch MacBook Air is so small and thin that it doesn’t need to be taken out of your bag when going through airport security. But the rules for the 13-inch model are not clear yet. That’s according to a story today by CNN, who quotes Transportation Security Administration (TSA) official Nicholas Kimball.
The official TSA policy states that you should not “pack oversized electronics (laptops, full-size video game consoles, DVD players, and video cameras that use cassettes) in your checked baggage when possible. However, please be advised that you will be required to remove these items from your carry-on bag and submit them separately for x-ray screening…Small electronics, such as iPods, can remain in your carry-on.”
Airport security is trained to screen laptops, meaning they need a clear view of the system’s innards, to see if the electronics have been tampered with in some way. And presumably, the small form factor makes it easier to get a clear shot at the inside? CNN’s same source says that this no-special-screening rule also applies to netbooks, iPads, and eReaders. We’re interested to see how long it takes for pure confusion to take over at airports. It wouldn’t be the first time MacBook Air’s have caused security line fuss.
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October 26th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
Don’t trust what TSA says. I have tried several times to get my netbooks through, but it’s never worked. Last time, I asked before we sent them through (a Wind, and a 7″ eee, and a 10″ eee), and they said small netbooks could say, but the xray tech still made us take them out and send them through separately–added a huge hassle to us. We just take them out now–saves all sorts of headaches and arguments. It’s not worth trying to leave them in, IMO.