Will airport take my laptop away??

Question

hey y'all.. i am flying in December, and i was wondering if i will be able to bring my laptop on the plane, because i have heard of some people who have had theirs taken away within the last few weeks.. please fill me in!!!

Answer 1

Did those people try to use their laptops on the plane before they were given the okay to use electronics by the pilot? Maybe that's why they got them taken away. But just to transport the laptop to and from your destination, with it turned off? You can definitely take it.

Answer 2

no. It is considered on of your carry-ons.

Answer 3

aww..of course they wont..its your personal use  

Answer 4

of course they wont. you can take it

Answer 5

no they wont

Answer 6

They probably won't, just like everybody else here says.

But if you're traveling internationally, they can.  Without giving you any reason either, upon entering or re-entering the US, the TSA or US Customs (not the airport) can take it.  The official Department of Homeland Security position is that they can access, copy, download and confiscate any information or device, laptop or cell phone without suspicion or justification.  You don't have to be on the Terror Watch List, even if you're a US Citizen, you don't have to do or be or say anything.  They may ask you to divulge your password so they can copy stuff off your laptop, and they may take it to a lab to process and send it back to you in 2 or 3 weeks, or they may not send it back to you at all.  I'm not trying to scare you or anything, but they can and have done it in the past.

The odds that this'll happen to you are pretty slim, unless your skin is brown, in which case the odds are a little less slim. That's only kind of a joke.

Some other tips or traveling with your laptop:

1. Put it in suspend/hibernate mode before you go through security.  Make sure it's charged.  That way you can get it on quickly if you're asked to.

2. Tape a business card or some sort of ID to the bottom, just to make sure you get the right laptop back.  That's a TSA recommendation

3. When you put your laptop on the conveyor belt, first put your laptop bag on the belt, than your laptop in a bin, than your shoes/wallet/etc, than your carry-on bag.  This helps to ensure other passengers don't take it.

4. If a TSA worker breaks your laptop, and you harass them about it, they can arrest you.  They have a claims office you can call at [phone] and [e-mail].

5. Back up all your important information before your trip.  And if you need the data for a presentation or something on your trip, you should have it backed up on a USB drive that you carry in a different bag than your laptop.

6. Don't anger the TSA/US Customs worker.  Even if he or she is completely ignorant, rude, threatens you, or whatever (which does happen, quite frequently).

Answer 7

Laptops are permitted.  

The confiscations you may have heard about would have had extenuating circumstances.