Willard McCarty <MCCARTY@vm.epas.utoronto.ca> (02/27/90)
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 3, No. 1103. Monday, 26 Feb 1990.
(1) Date: Mon, 26 Feb 90 09:58:30 EST (9 lines)
From: Peter Ian Kuniholm <MCG@CORNELLC>
Subject: Re: 3.1094 dictionary? flying laptops? limiting Macs? (78)
(2) Date: Monday, 26 February 1990 1123-EST (23 lines)
From: KRAFT@PENNDRLS
Subject: Laptops and Airlines
(3) Date: Mon, 26 Feb 90 13:34:09 EST (33 lines)
From: Ken Steele <KSTEELE@vm.epas.utoronto.ca>
Subject: Re: 3.1094 dictionary? flying laptops? limiting Macs? (78)
(4) Date: Mon, 26 Feb 90 09:41 EST (20 lines)
From: "Now that's what I call a *dead* parrot."
Subject: Laptops and airlines
(5) Date: 26 February 1990 (34 lines)
From: Willard McCarty <MCCARTY@vm.epas.utoronto.ca>
Subject: travelling around with a laptop
(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 26 Feb 90 09:58:30 EST
From: Peter Ian Kuniholm <MCG@CORNELLC>
machine, and since I had been in line an hour or so and
everyone around me was equally impatient, I did not argue
(a knowledgeable Israeli traveler later told me I could have
raised a fuss and avoided this -- perhaps). Since there did
not seem to be any ill-effects on the Laptop or its software,
I actually have occasionally (when in a real hurry) passed
it through the security scanner on a couple of later occasions,
with no noticeable problems. But usually I try to play it
safe and bypass the security scanning machine, and have met
with good cooperation from the checkers in most instances.
Bob Kraft
(3) --------------------------------------------------------------38----
Date: Mon, 26 Feb 90 13:34:09 EST
From: Ken Steele <KSTEELE@vm.epas.utoronto.ca>
Subject: Re: 3.1094 dictionary? flying laptops? limiting Macs? (78)
Ian Lancashire was kind enough to lend me his Toshiba 286 laptop for a
wek while I was forced to be in sunny Florida rather than the drifts of
Toronto. While my experience last week was not with an inter-continental
flight, it is at least current. In Toronto, security expected me to
pass the laptop through the X-Ray machine, and as I had previously been
assured and as subsequent diagnostic checks demonstrated, no damage
whatsoever occurred to data or programs on the laptop's 20 mb hard disk.
In fact, I was treated to a rare view of the inner workings of the
machine via the X-Ray monitor, and could tell how much memory was
installed and what options were included. I don't think they worried
much about the possibility of explosives with a view like that, but then
they probably also don't question Canadians en route to Florida in
February. The security in Atlanta was a little more suspicious (perhaps
it was my Ponte Vedra Beach T-Shirt) and asked me to boot the machine
for them, after the X-Ray, but that was all. I am reluctant to trust
the X-Ray machine with much, I admit -- although the operators insist it
won't harm film under 1000 ASA, I kept my camera and film out of the
machine. (Security was more concerned to check the inside of the camera
than the laptop). The hard drive was not affected by the X-Ray process,
but of course FLOPPY DISKS CAN BE ERASED so whatever you do, keep your
backups out of the luggage!
Good Luck and have a pleasant trip, as the captain would say.
Ken Steele
University of Toronto
(4) --------------------------------------------------------------27----
Date: Mon, 26 Feb 90 09:41 EST
From: "Now that's what I call a *dead* parrot."
Subject: Laptops and airlines
Niko Besnier asked about laptops on airlines. I have traveled
cross-country (USA) several times in the past year, and I have taken
software with me. The airlines should have no problem allowing it.
Usually I just handed the bag of software to attendants at the metal
detector, and they let me pass through with out a problem.
In this case, you are leaving the country, so you might want to
contact the airlines about any special policies about software/hardware
on trans-Atlantic flights.
Good luck, and let me know how it turns out. I am going on a trip
to Europe this summer for several weeks, so the information would be very
helpful.
Jim Wilderotter
Villanova University
22433177@Vuvaxcom.Bitnet
(5) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 26 February 1990
From: Willard McCarty <MCCARTY@vm.epas.utoronto.ca>
Subject: travelling around with a laptop
Two years ago, May to July 1988, I travelled around Europe and the Near
East with a laptop (Toshiba 1000), to Italy, Israel, France,
Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, and the UK. The
only trouble I had concerned the possible (and illegal) resale of the
computer once I was admitted to one of those countries -- I could have
made a 300 to 400% profit. I simply had to convince a customs official
(whose gaze was more penetrating than any x-ray machine) that I had no
intention of selling my computer. No one ever was nervous about my
laptop, but then I never resisted the suggestion that it should go
through the x-ray machine. I also never had any electronic troubles as a
result. I recall having to show that it actually worked, once. In one of
those countries I was grilled for 45 minutes by a relay of officers, as
I was about to leave, about my purpose for being in the country --
because I had stupidly disposed of all the papers inviting me to a
conference there, thus establishing my purpose. On that occasion no one
took the slightest notice of my laptop, though it did pass through a
machine later.
All that said, it should be noted that customs people have a large
amount of discretionary authority. If they don't like your looks or
answers, then you may be subject to an experience worth recounting
later. I find it difficult to be upset with them, however, when I think
about what they are trying to prevent from happening on the airplane I
am about to board.
Yours, Willard McCarty