Okay, so I am about to embark on my first ever commercial air-flight next week for work, and I have no clue what I can and cannot bring now that the TSA runs the show. Do I need special luggage, can I take my iPod, cell phone and PowerBook? Thanks for the heads up.
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TSA Travel Tips
You don't need any special luggage. You can check just about anything. For carry-on luggage, most airlines permit one bag plus one "personal item". A bag is one that fits under the seat. Check your airline's web page for exact dimensions, but it's usually the "smallish-medium" one in a luggage set. Your typical gym bag or small duffel bag would be fine. A personal item can be a purse, briefcase, laptop bag, school backpack, etc.
You can put just about anything non-explosive/flammable in your checked bags. However, there's a long list of weapon-like items prohibited from carry-ons bags. PDF with permitted and non-permitted items. You can bring just about any electronic device in your carry-ons. They all must be off for taxi/takeoff and landing. Once at altitude, you can use any of them except for those that have wireless features you can't turn off. So turn your cell phone off, don't use any blackberries or GPS or radios, turn off Airport on your PowerBook, etc.
Security checkpoints seem to be running pretty smoothly these days, but there are a few things to keep in mind:
- have your boarding pass and photo ID readily available
- take off jacket/overcoat and put it through the machine
- remove anything containing metal from your pockets (even gum wrappers), and put them in a tray
- take your laptop out of its bag and put it in its own tray
- be prepared to remove your shoes and belt and put them through the x-ray machine
- understand that a rat's nest of cables and wires in your bag may cause security to want to examine the bag by hand. It's nothing personal.
No matter what airline/plane you fly on, it will most likely be pretty tight on the plane. If you want to listen to your iPod on the plane after you take off, just keep it on your person after you've cleared security. Getting it out of the bags while in-flight will be more hassle than it's worth.
I personally like to have my iPod on me while walking through the terminal, waiting to board, etc. If you get a good mix of stuff, the music could end up being a pretty clever soundtrack while you glance around at others and go through all the motions.
Pee shortly before you have to board. Depending on how long your flight is, you probably won't want to fool with going on the plane.
If it is a long flight, you might want to consider wearing sandals or shoes that are easily...let's say loosenable. Your feet will expand on the plane, so you don't want to wear shoes that are normally just the right size or a little snug.
If your carrier has this feature, you might want to consider listening to their on-board air traffic control feed. I personally found it kind of interesting, and it gives you a much larger appreciation for how smooth, yet complex a system the airlines run. Keep a listen out for your flight number, because you'll eventually hear them say "cleared for takeoff," and then your plane will literally go from zero to very fast in a very short period of time. Kind of fun.
Enjoy the experience!
Originally posted by DanMacMan
Okay, so I am about to embark on my first ever commercial air-flight next week for work, and I have no clue what I can and cannot bring now that the TSA runs the show. Do I need special luggage, can I take my iPod, cell phone and PowerBook? Thanks for the heads up.
cell and powerbook i know you can bring.... i would think you can bring your ipod, i mean all it is a mp3 player...
Originally posted by Splinemodel
advice: travel as light as you can. Checking baggage sucks, and the less you have to carry around the terminal, the better.
this is true.. when i fly, i have one of those 1 strap shoulder book bags(laptop bags) and if it cant fit in there, then i dont bring it.. and the heaviest thing i put in there is notebooks and such for school.. next time i fly itll be my laptop
1. laptop and bag with whatever cables and accessories you need for the trip and a book to read in case I don't want to work on the flight.
2. iPod
3. It might be dorkie but I still use a fanny pack for tickets and other things I might need at a moments notice - phone numbers - candy and small papers or cards. I had a friend that use to put all those things in his laptop bag till one day it disappeared from under the seat he was sitting in.
I tend to also get to airports early because I hate to cut things too close, you never know how long security lines will be. Find a seat near an electrical outlet and sit back and enjoy your wait for the flight. Start saving your frequent flyers so you can upgrade, business class is great for long trips.
reg
Make sure all of your nuclear (nukular) devices have the big bright yellow "I'm a big, fat bomb and I belong to the NRA" sticker as required by law.
And when you pull out your concealed guns, make sure you don't point them directly at the TSA agents or accidently kill too many innocent bystanders as they frown on that.
But whatever you do: don't bring a cigar cutter. If they catch you with one: those TSA guys just shoot to kill. Ouch.
Matches and lighters are now verboten.
Take your swiss army knife off of your keys if you have one. If you forget to do so, you are screwed and have to give it up.
You can take and use a GPS on a plane according to TSA rules contrary to what someone else posted above. Ive always asked pilots and they say it is OK but the airline would have the right to put the kabosh on that. A GPS cannot send out radio signals, rather it is strictly a reciever. What it does is compute how long it takes signals to reach it and then triangulate (with four signals) the location.
While people make jokes about planes and guns, there are people who take firearms, placing them in checked baggage of course and it is not that uncommon. You just have to declare it and they tag it and everything. There are restrictions on ammunition. Also if you do take a firearm you have to be very careful about picking your bag up. Firearm bag tags are a Steal Me sign for airport thieves who try to steal bags.
If you have plain black luggage then your luggage looks the same as 2/3rds of the rest of the world. Put some sort of distinctive marking or ribbon or trinket on your bag for easy identification.
Flight attendants make for pleasant partners in fornication.
Originally posted by ColanderOfDeath
A few minor points:
...Flight attendants make for pleasant partners in fornication.
Really ??
Ours all seem to be old and bitter... hardly pleasant partners for much of anything !
But once they land, flight attendants spend most of their time in strange cities where they have no cars, not really too much to do a lot of the time as they do the tourist thing the first time they visit and then they have to find something to do from then on. And the only people they know in any particular city are often just the rest of the crew. A lot of them get pretty bored and lonely which is understandable given the lifestyle where you are away from home for the majority of time. And when people are bored and lonely, well...
Of course, if they are old and bitter, then it is probably better just to get a pillow and leave it at that.
Originally posted by ColanderOfDeath
You can take and use a GPS on a plane according to TSA rules contrary to what someone else posted above. Ive always asked pilots and they say it is OK but the airline would have the right to put the kabosh on that. A GPS cannot send out radio signals, rather it is strictly a reciever. What it does is compute how long it takes signals to reach it and then triangulate (with four signals) the location.
TSA just does security. The rules on inflight use are made by the FAA and implemented by the airlines. And they don't necessarily make sense.
But the rules are obviously very conservative. I mean, lots of people have used cell phones on planes (for example) and it hasn't ever caused any problem I'm aware of. It's just a combination of CYA by both the gov't and the airlines, and some residual carefulness about carrying hundreds of people in a narrow aluminum tube propelled at hundred of miles an hour by absurdly complex electronic systems.
There's no reason you can't bring your iPod. In fact, you probably want to, since lots of planes, particularly those on domestic flights don't exactly have a wealth of entertainment (ie: they're school buses with wings)
Don't wear an excess of metal objects, or carry a pocketful of metal coins since it's a pain in the ass while going through security.
Keep all your documents on you.
Watch the size of your carry-ons (look at Ben Stiller in "Meet the Parents")
Have fun
BTW: Where are you going to/from anyhow?
j/k
Originally posted by CosmoNut
Wear clean underwear. The last two times i flew in the US they checked my...um....
j/k
wear clean underwear and clean socks to impress the hot flight attendants when you "land"
so be prepared to take it out and put it through security. meaning, don't have tons of cables all over the place. keep your main powerbook in the laptop case, check in all your cable and adaptors and so on.
ipod and cell phone... keep it side pockets of the laptop bag if possible.
this way, procedure will mostly be
check in baggage
as you approach the entry gate, take out your wallet, keys, etc, put in the tray. take out powerbook, put in another tray, put laptop bag, and those two trays on conveyor belt
walk through metal detector thingy
make sure you check and pick up all the stuff that went through the conveyor belt
are they still doing the shoe thing? be prepared to take of your shoes.
when on the plane, you can only use your iPod, cell phone, and powerbook when at 'cruising altitude', you cannot use it while the plane is taxing, taking off, or landing, for most aircraft.
USA-ians can correct any of my mistakes here with the latest in airline travel procedure
Originally posted by DanMacMan
Just wanted to update. Got back from my trip early this morning. Everything went fine, the TSA lines were extremely short both to and from. Apparently NWA doesn't have hot flight attendants.... Anyway, thanks for everyone's input.
oops.. i was a bit late. glad you had a decent flight anyway. the whole hot flight attendant thing is a bit of a retro sexual fantasy i reckon...
if you really want, go for a flight with your girlfriend and try to do it in the airplane bathrooms
edit:
(i haven't done this before)