Taking laptop through Airport security

SteveyJC

Whats the procedure for this? My laptop is a bit tempermental and I'm worried that if they take it to pieces it might not work for a presentation i have to give.

Do you just have to open it up? I think it'd be foolish to put it in my checked luggage.

Stevey

Jamp

Where are you going from/to? In my experience laptops are just sent through the scanner as normal hand luggage when departing the UK (I've tried Gatwick and Manchester). At Newark (NYC) they require it to be removed from its bag before being scanned, and in Malaga it had to be scanned and then removed from its bag and switched on to show it was a working laptop. I think my latter experience is the worse you're likely to come across.

SteveyJC

Thanks Jamp, Hope its ok, Sometimes if it gets knocked about a bit it goes a bit funny, so I guess i'll just have to be gentle with it. If the worst the ask me to do is switch it on, then thats ok, If I have to start !!!!!!ing about with batteries, then it may go ka-put! Argh

Thanks again
Stevey

VickyA_2

My OH takes his laptop on as hand luggage on Ryanair and it survives.....

Bob63

The answer is simply - it depends.

Fly from the USA and they will definitely ask you to take the laptop out of your briefcase and scan it separately. At random they will take your laptop off you and swab it for explosives. You may also be asked to power up the laptop to show that it is a real working system. In some European countries they do the same now. I had my laptop scanned separately on a recent flight out of Bristol and the same again at both Amsterdam and Warsaw so it seems like it is becoming more common. None of them asked me to power it up though.

If you are going to Israel, unlikely I guess considering the current troubles, then you can expect to have to do all the above plus remove the battery and even unscrew the compartment that contains the hard disk and extra memory.

Mike

ronnie_2

If your taking your laptop onto the plane with your hand luggage, the security staff will ask you to take the laptop out of the bag so they can scan it.

alanrowell

At Heathrow you have to take it out of the bag, put it in a clear plastic bag (provided) and have it scanned separately from the rest of your hand luggage