Arrrgh! I Left My Notebook at Airport Security!
Posted by Harry McCracken | Wednesday, May 04, 2005 3:37 PM PT
Confession time: I did something really, really dumb last Saturday. After a week-long trip to Boston, I took an early flight to Los Angeles, and when I opened my briefcase on the plane, I discovered that there wasn't a computer inside it. Thinking back, I was almost positive that I'd somehow left my Apple PowerBook at airport security after it had traveled through the X-ray machine. (My only excuse was that it was 6am and I was less than bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.)
I was nonplussed, of course--in part because my taxes were on the computer, which meant that an identity thief could really go to town with it. But I figured that if I had in fact left it at security, there was a decent chance I'd get it back.
Once I got home, I started making phone calls--to the lost and found department at the Boston airport, the Travel Security Administration (which is responsible for stuff left at security), and, since I wasn't positive I hasn't somehow left it on the plane, to the Los Angeles airport.
I didn't hear back from anyone, so I left a second round of messages. And I started to wonder if the chances were so good I'd be reunited with my laptop.
But this afternoon, I got a call from the TSA. Good news: They had my machine, and the only reason they hadn't called back the first time was that they'd written my phone number down wrong.
After I arranged for them to ship the notebook back to me, I asked the nice lady at the TSA if I was the only person dopey enough to do something like this. Nope--around five people a day leave notebooks at security at that one airport alone. Which means that hundreds and hundreds of laptops must get left behind at security every week in this country. Another common problem: Two people with similar notebooks go through security at the same time, and take the wrong laptops at the other end.
Anyhow, you can bet I'm going to be very, very careful about remembering to retrieve my machine at security from now on. But just in case it
does get lost again, I'm going to tape a business card to it. And I'm going to try to be a password-protection fanatic. You never know...
Why do they make you put it through out of a bag. Lines would go faster if it could stay in a bag.
I can relate... since I lost my Motorola Smartphone MPx220 three weeks ago. All my contacts, e-mail, pictures...
It's a lot harder finding an honest person that will actually drop the lost item at a police station. Most people would just take their new found toy home and use it like it was there's.
Finders keepers, Duc Luu.
If you're silly enough to lose a valuable piece of technology, maybe you don't deserve to have it in the first place. :P
I have no sympathy for people that don't back up their data, music, pictures, or whatever, on removable media.
While I can go along with the lack of sympathy for those who do not back up the data...tis not truely the point he is making.
While I can easily reload all I need in matter of minutes, I would like to make it at least a bit more time consuming for someone to get at my data on a stolen/misplaced laptop.
Oh...business card on the laptop. Okay idea. Better idea (and one I do for my travel users) is a bright-colored clingy sheet with company logo and name on it. It can be taken off quite easily, cinch to replace when worn/tattered, saves a few dings and scratches on laptop AND MAKES IT STICK OUT !
Do you feel properly roasted?!
Never had this problem, and I fly though security with my laptop quite a bit. Guess it's nothing more than "attention to detail".
Also agree with finders' keepers in theory, but not sure about a 2,000$ laptop. I might keep it if I didn't see anyone that seemed to be looking for it.
Didn't the briefcase feel a LOT lighter?? Even "less than bright-eyed and bushy-tailed" I hope I would notice my briefcae was less than half it's usual weight.
I could see you going to that much trouble for a REAL computer...but an Apple? You should have counted your blessings, turned the loss over to your insurance and bought a Dell XPS2 :)
You ever watch "Everybody loves Ray"? His wife has a saying for him when he does something stupid. Idiot!!!
Call me naive and idealistic, but I don't believe in "Finder's Keepers". If it's not yours, don't keep it. Do your best to return it; if not possible, then donate it to your favorite charity.
Don't feel bad as it is not a fault of yours but a fault of TSA and a bad round of procedures that require the notebook out of your breifcase in the first place. I travel internationally and only Australia and the US have this requirement. I have not been to Boston lately but some TSA staff want your shoes and belts off plus your coat so you have two or three trays plus a potential spot inspection then you are rushed collect your gear. What really is bothersome is that we are not any more secure than before all of this started. To really top it off is that my wife has items stolen here in Atlanta from her purse.
Note to Croydon: I have a light notebook (the lightest and smallest PowerBook model) and had a ton (well,. figuratively speaking) of other stuff in my briefcase (MP3 player, digital camera, DV camera, smartphone, card reader, many magazines, work-related papers, etc.)...so I didn't immediately notice the difference in weight.
you are so stupid do you know that
Yeah, right! I'm sure all the people calling you an idiot have never done anything they regret and lead perfect lives. Karma people, what goes around comes around!
It only takes one instance like this to make you start thinking about just how easy it is to get totally screwed by someone NOT trust worthy.
Lock-up your valuables, both material and digital. . .
Notebooks hurt but at least mine was p-word protected and backedup. Now my cell phone that was not backed up REALLY hurt! So long 148 contacts. Same thing happened last year when I changed phones.
There supposed to be a new service for almost all the cell phones called CListFetch!. The program saves your Contact List simply by dialing into a database and uploading all your names and numbers for a really low cost.
All done from your cell phone in short order. Easy even for non-techies. Works with any phone so all you do is call CListFetch! from you new cell phone and zap! instantly download you old Contact List.
Anyone else heard of this?
dont carry it on, check all baggage, makes airports alot easier to get around and thru!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As a TSA screener, I must reiterate that it is a good idea to tape a business card to the outside of the laptop or have your contact info as part of the start up screen; that way we can get it to you much faster.
Removing the laptop from the bag allows for the screener to have a much clearer x-ray picture of both the laptop and the bag of wires that usually follows to screen those items for a Lockerbie-type explosive device.
The real reason for any "hassle" at security is that we are still burdened by old equipment and have had to follow strict rules like laptop removal to compensate for the problems with the machinery--the same style that has been used since the late 1960s. But I reiterate we try to do the best job with the equipment we are provided with. We should be looking for weapons and not metal, and we should be able to inspect a bag at multiple angles with better explosives detection and not just "bags flat" and random swab tests.
by the way, though some may say it stands for "Take Scissors Away" or "Touch Sensitive Areas" or "Thousands Standing Around" among others, TSA is the Transportation Security Administration not the "Travel Security Administration"
I am likely to do just what you did, I could picture myself, especially early in the morning, leaving my laptop at the screening point.
To the TSA Screener.
Thanks for sharing that information. It'll help me to be more couteous and patient next time I stuck in line.
If you check a laptop pc as regular luggage doesn't it get xrayed and perhaps the xrays can damage or erase your hard drive? Also for digital cameras with flashcards could they be erased with xrays when scanned at the security checkpoint? What is a good rule of thumb for handling portable pc's and flashcards?
XYZ,
From my experience, checking in all your baggage
isn't a problem as long as you don't mind getting your stuff back days/weeks late (or not at all, then having to contend with the long process of getting your stuff re-imbursed.).
As I'm sure many people will attest to, all it takes is for the airline to lose your luggage once to make you extremely paranoid about checking anything.
I never do it and, if my bag is to big, I usually find someway to split the difference between the carry-on and my backpack to make it fit.
check in luggage No way.
I rather send it UPS.
You now cannot lock your luggage either.
As for security lines Really you have more danger in your car than a plane. So what is the big hype all about. The terriost would have to kill around 40,000 people before they start getting close to the vehicle.
So it really makes me wonder why I need to strip just to get on a plane.
TSAis it really better than private contractors?
I think not, just they have different operating procedures to allow them to be better.
Remove laptop because like shoes and belts, you can slip explosives through them or have a "false" laptop and/or briefcase that conceals weapons. If you don't believe me, look up Richard Reid a.ka. the Shoe Bomber.
If you don't know what you are talking about then shut the hell up !
I would never leave my powerbook at airport security. I would feel soooo bad for anyone who had to live with its slow, incompatable, uselessness.
Its goos for internet, but only barely even for that. Now, a pc I wouldnt mind going to charity.
There are liveCD linux distributions that run on most PC's, and laptops. These leave no trace of your personal information when powered down. So, it the machine is stolen, or misplaced, it won't have current data on it. Your hard drive installation of Windows should be sanitized prior to traveling, or before a situation where you might lose the computer.
I left souveniors on the plane. The next 30 minutes when I realised it, it was too late. I already in the limousine, on my way back.
I called the airport lost and found, the receptionist don't even understand proper English. Then, I asked for help from my travel agent.
I guess the moment those cleaning workers clean the plane, it's all gone.
So, for any frequent flyers, please mind what you carry, all the time.
Anyone who is that stupid to leave a notebook behind by mistake should talk to my grandmother about responsibilities... "You terrible little boy!" I can hear her now waving her index finger in my face and peering her eyes over her reading glasses. "I'll show you responsibilities even if I have to break you in... and don't turn your back away from me when I'm talking to you... you little scum bucket."
I'm blind, I travel by air periodically and I haven't yet lost my laptop or even more expensive assistive technology products! Attention to detail, indeed.
i'm glad everybody in this place is so perfect. Never made a mistake. I appreciate this person sharing their story so that we can all LEARN from his mistake instead of chastizing him /her and calling him/her stupid.
People are becoming rude and nasty these days
I agree with pondhopping.......from alot of these comments above, sounds like too many people in this world today have NO conscience.....what is this "finders/keepers" BS, anyway? My conscience wouldn't allow me to keep something that wasn't mind......I would do my BEST to find its owner...and if I couldn't, I would donate to charity. Also, all of us who wrote comments are human; ALL of us make mistakes, and what goes around does come back around......you people that are pointing fingers and saying nasty things will get the same treatment in return someday. I appreciate the author putting out this article, as a warning and a reminder to the rest of us, who are no better than this invidual; we are equal.