Sounds like the same scanner tech that has been deployed at some Australian airports.

Flying out of Melbourne 18 months ago and I'm getting ready to take my laptop and water bottle out. Nope, firmly told to keep it all in my bag. They still pulled me aside, but had a cool 3D model of the inside of my bag.

Of course they ruin the efficiency advantage of that by then putting us through body scanners. If you're not in the ideal BMI range the thing needs to fail three times before they ask you to grope yourself and then do a swipe/scan of your hands.

Ahh is that why. I'm pretty heavy too and I've been groped way too much in Amsterdam too :(

Hah! When flying back to the states through Heathrow, some years ago, the TSA gentleman frisked me so well I jokingly asked him if I owed him dinner. He very briefly cracked a smile, then told me to move along.

I got dinged by the hand wipes for "positive explosive residue". My only guess about that it could have been was I was still using the nicotine pouches at the time and they do have an interesting powder on them. They said it happens pretty often, but I was pretty wigged out and I'm usually a very calm traveler.

Most people are within BMI range, I for one, actually enjoy the benefit. And as long as the majority of the people benefit from it I prefer it this way then the other way around.

It is a little different, so you get to see the machine work. It actually does a 3D rendering of all the contents in the bag and the person running the scan can pull out the items without even opening the bag. It is wildly crazy futuristic tech.

I saw them look at my tiny notebook and go what is that then swiped it to the side and spun it around in a 3D space.

2 billion dollars to upgrade the airport wasn't just for the looks.

You're lucky you get to use those.

In Holland they had those at Schiphol Airport and we were able to leave liquids in our bags and the 100ml limit was removed. But the EU ordered it to be reintroduced because they wanted the rules the same within Europe.

Edit: This previously said we could no longer keep the laptops in our bags but this part was not affected, I've amended this post to avoid confusion.

> But the EU ordered it to be reintroduced because they wanted the rules the same within Europe.

This is incorrect, though there was so much confusion around the reporting on this that it's not surprising that people got this impression. The EC allowed the scanners in the first place, but has reinstated the 100ml rule because they don't work properly. This is implied to be a software problem, and the reinstatement is implied to be temporary, but there's no timeline to lift the restriction again.

Vaguely coherent, though still not great, explanation here: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2024/08/23/100ml-limit-on...

A couple of days ago this was not the case, they use CT machines and did not require anything to be taken out of bags.

Yeah it's a new EU law that takes effect soon. I'll look it up, one moment.

Edit: Ok oops I was wrong, it was about liquids. This had been relaxed with the new scanners too but it had to be re-tightened on EU orders. https://www.trbusiness.com/regional-news/europe/dutch-airpor...

CDG in Paris did not need me to take out the laptops, so I'm not sure it's the EU fault for Schiphol

Yeah I was confused, it was the new liquid rules that were a problem. Sorry.

I'm glad the laptops can still stay. I don't travel with liquids so much (I just have toiletries at the places I go to already) but electronics I have a lot.

Yeah, I saw your other comment just after posting. I didn't know there was a movement to increase the volume for liquids. Hope it gets done soon

As you have figured out this change was only about the liquids to adhere to EU standards, I of course dislike it as somewhat frequent flyer, but it makes sense to make a standard.

Now if only I could leave my laptop in everywhere, that would be nice. I never fly without my laptop and it gets old quite fast somehow having to figure out if I should take it out (and spent 5 minutes putting it back in, which sucks if it was not required) or try to take it out when people are waiting on you. I just wished airports would put clear signs up what you have to take out so I can prepare before I get to the belt.

> people don't pay attention

Let's start from the fact that people never asked for TSA. It was imposed on them and never went away.

There's nothing more permanent than a temporary government measure...

Almost nobody wanted TSA to be temporary. It was created permanently with near unanimous support, 2 months after airlines' own security had quite an infamous failure.

They're back to making me take my belt off, though. I had purchased a belt with a plastic buckle specifically for this purpose...

If you had TSA Precheck -- which if you fly more than a couple of times a year is well worth it IMO -- then you already didn't need to take your laptop out (or shoes off). (On the other hand I see no point in CLEAR over Precheck)

The only point I see to CLEAR is to cut the line in airports where everyone has precheck.

makes sense but so far I haven't experienced that -- well, one time the precheck line was longer than the regular line (so I just went to the regular line)

but maybe for travelers who regularly travel at super busy times (i.e., flying out of DC on a Friday evening) benefit from CLEAR

This varies from airport to airport in my experience. I’ve had precheck for almost a decade by now and have been through several precheck scanner lines where I’ve had to pull out laptops.

You don't need TSA precheck at PDX because the airport is sooooooooooooo fast.