Here are 6 simple tips to make using your laptop at 40,000 feet as simple as using it at your desk:

1. If you have wi-fi access, encrypt it.  You should not have it enabled on the airplane, but most of us have booted up and seen a number of networks available.  If you don’t encrypt, someone may be seeing more than you want them to.
2. Keep wandering eyes away from your laptop screen.  There are privacy shields that can keep your screen from being viewed by others.  Or, as a friend suggested when I complained about the wandering eyes of a seatmate, do your typing with a small font that is impossible for them to read.  Of course, I’ll then have trouble reading it as well, but at least I can get my thoughts down and do editing later.
3. When you’re working on your laptop, don’t extend it into the aisle.  Flight Attendants are pushing large carts through the aisle, people are walking back and forth, and there’s always the possibility of turbulence.  Don’t run the risk of having your laptop become a casualty of flight — keep it within your personal space.
4. Close the top of your laptop when the Flight Attendant is serving your row, or the beverage cart is nearby.  Do not hold your glass out for a refill over your keyboard.  (People actually do this!)  Flight Attendants try very hard to avoid spills, but it happens.
5. Use earplugs.  Even better, use earplugs that work.  If your music, movie, or other audio can be heard by a Flight Attendant walking through the cabin, you will be asked to turn it down or off.  You may really love that song you are listening to, but not everyone around you will feel the same way.
6. No adult content.  Whether it’s video or photos, adult content is not acceptable for the airplane.  If you can’t figure out that this material is best viewed in private, a Flight Attendant will remind you.  If you still can’t figure it out, you will be told to shut it down.

Photo credit:  SXC

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Post from: Fly Away Cafe

Using a “checkpoint friendly” bag means having one that contains ONLY your laptop (no cords, plug ins, or extraneous attachments), and that can unfold to lie flat on the x-ray belt.  No metal snaps, zippers, buckles, or pockets. 

With this type of bag, you would place the bag directly onto the belt, rather than putting it into a separate screening bin.   The design would give the security screeners a clear and unobstructed image of the laptop, allowing them to spot anything that shouldn’t be there.

The policy change comes after a call was put out to manufacturers to design a “checkpoint friendly” bag.  A number of designs were submitted, and several were approved and given a TSA stamp of approval.  However, the TSA is quick to point out that using an approved bag is no guarantee that it will automatically pass through the security screen.  A number of other factors, many of which are not made public, go into the decision about whether a secondary screen is necessary.

You can read the full “checkpoint friendly” policy and exceptions and decide if this is going to be a help for you.

Since I usually take my laptop with me when I travel, I hope to report back on how this policy is implemented and interpreted at various airports around the country.  I fear that this rule, like the rest, is going to be subject to the whim (legally called interpretation) of the individual screener.

I hope readers will chime in with their experiences.  Do the screeners know about the new policy?  Are they following it?  Is this saving you any time?

Image credit:  Amazon

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Post from: Fly Away Cafe