The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will allow travelers undergoing airport security screening to leave their laptops in their computer bags beginning Aug. 16, providing that the bags meet new standards as "checkpoint friendly."
The TSA has reached an agreement with manufacturers to design bags that provide unobstructed viewing of laptops in their cases by security personnel at airport security lanes. The agency put out a request for designs last March to some 60 makers of computer bags.
After testing prototypes, the TSA determined that a bag should have a laptop-only section that unfolds to lay flat on the X-ray conveyor and be free of metal zippers and snaps. The laptop section should contain no pockets and contain only the laptop.
Kip Hawley, TSA administrator, said the bags are expected to be commercially available in mid-August.