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hcho3

macrumors 68030
Original poster
May 13, 2010
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I travel a lot and I am looking for a sleeve, but I am looking for one that will be TSA friendly. Any recommendations? I am looking

Radtech Sleeve
SF Bag Jacket Suede Sleeve

Those for now...

Any other recommendations you guys have?
 
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Me too. Just wanted to post so that I can come back to the thread.
 
Why bother? They usually wants all laptops out of cases and bags anyway. Are you really going to argue with whether it is TSA approved or not?
 
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What the hell does "TSA friendly" even mean? Just take your laptop out of your bag and place it in a bin.
 
Why bother? They usually wants all laptops out of cases and bags anyway. Are you really going to argue with whether it is TSA approved or not?

It's actually doable.

Any sleeve that keeps the wires separate from the machine will do it. What they don't want is a bunch of wires (power,etc.) or other stuff stacked on the machine when going through the xray. What I've found is that if you keep them separate you can put the laptop in a sleeve through without issue.

There a number of laptop bags that are TSA approved because they unzip in such a way that keeps the laptop separate (and flat) for a good scan. The sleeves will pretty much give you the same thing provided that you do not have the cables in the sleeve somehow (some have a pouch).
 
I have an incase sleeve (designed for an old MacBook Air, but still works OK with the new 13") and have never been asked to take it out by the TSA.
 
I travel a lot and I am looking for a sleeve, but I am looking for one that will be TSA friendly. Any recommendations? I am looking

Radtech Sleeve
SF Bag Jacket Suede Sleeve

Those for now...

Any other recommendations you guys have?

I've found that as long as you don't have anything but the MBA in the sleeve you can leave it in the sleeve.
 
What the idiots at TSA "usually wants" - to quote a previous poster - matters not at all to me. I well remember my PowerBook which had a couple of shoes thrown on top of it by an overpaid TSA moron after I'd taken it out of the bag.

I have never travelled with an MBA and been required to remove it from the sleeve. I use an Incipio sleeve, which I can highly recommend. In years past, I used a Tucano zippered Second Skin. I've found the sleeve easier to manage, especially if I'm trying to get work done whilst traveling.

I have had passengers in line behind me tell me to take my MBA out of the sleeve ... none of the TSA idiots has ever made a similar request.

Incidentally, I ignore all the passengers as well ... they just want to see my MBA!
 
As others have said, as long as the MB is the only thing in the sleeve, no need to take it out.

Last week, I traveled with my MBA 11", and did not even take it out of my bag (as I had read that it was TSA-approved to keep in the bag) -- no problems. YMMV, of course.
 
As others have said, as long as the MB is the only thing in the sleeve, no need to take it out.

Last week, I traveled with my MBA 11", and did not even take it out of my bag (as I had read that it was TSA-approved to keep in the bag) -- no problems. YMMV, of course.

Not in my case. Based on my experience, the larger (busier) airports are more relaxed with rules, whereas the smaller airports are ... "pain in the a__". They wanted my laptop out of the bag/case, also iPad out of the my briefcase. In another case, they wouldn't accept my electronic boarding pass on iPad, and sent me back to the counter and for a paper boarding pass, just so they could write on it :rolleyes:

In my experience, it's just easier to lay everything out up front. Take away all chances of giving them the satisfaction to yell at me.
 
In my experience, it's just easier to lay everything out up front. Take away all chances of giving them the satisfaction to yell at me.

There is definitely a game theory aspect to the entire thing and planning makes a huge difference. I've just finished 155,000 miles this year with one more round trip to go. I have a routine that works nearly flawlessly at every airport though there can be hangups depending on who/what/where/when.

Right now, I pull the iPad despite the fact that you aren't supposed to have to.

iPad, phone, liquids, misc in one bin -- computer in the other. Everything else on the belt and through the detector from start to finish in <30 seconds.
 
Not in my case. Based on my experience, the larger (busier) airports are more relaxed with rules, whereas the smaller airports are ... "pain in the a__". They wanted my laptop out of the bag/case, also iPad out of the my briefcase. In another case, they wouldn't accept my electronic boarding pass on iPad, and sent me back to the counter and for a paper boarding pass, just so they could write on it :rolleyes:

In my experience, it's just easier to lay everything out up front. Take away all chances of giving them the satisfaction to yell at me.

I simply despise TSA because they are a bunch of dbs all the time. I have been in situations where I have had TSA friendly laptop sleeves and they have, without my permission, taken my laptop out and put it through the x-ray machine again. There really is no point in having a 2008 rule saying that they allow TSA friendly laptop bags to pass through if they are going to simply pull it out.
 
this is going to be a battle for me.. next week the whole family will be out of the country and i will let you know guys what will happen.

TSA nowadays are really pain in the a$$! i will have the MBA and iPad together at the same bag.
 
they just want to see my MBA!

Ya, that's what it is. :) They just don't want you holding up the lines because, as you've noted multiple times, many of the TSA people are a pain and if they don't like the way you have your stuff laid out, you can wind up slowing the line.
 
I've found that as long as you don't have anything but the MBA in the sleeve you can leave it in the sleeve.

In Europe, where there is no TSA, they usually want you to take the laptop out of the sleeve regardless. It is not such a big deal though. Sleeve in bin, laptop on top, done.
Recently I also had to turn a laptop on a few times to show them it was not a bomb :)
 
TSA and Friendly don't belong in the same sentence.. ever.

On that note, I use a sleeve made by Booq bags which seems to be ok with airport screeners.
 
As others have said, as long as the MB is the only thing in the sleeve, no need to take it out.

Last week, I traveled with my MBA 11", and did not even take it out of my bag (as I had read that it was TSA-approved to keep in the bag) -- no problems. YMMV, of course.

My mileage just varied -- went through the same security line at SFO as last week, and they had to rerun the Air 11 through the x-ray this time.

Edit to get back on topic:

I've had very good luck with my Tom Bihn Checkpoint Flyer with my MBPro15, so would not hesitate to recommend them (I intend to get their Ristretto for my Air 11)
 
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