Getting ahead of the TSA

A little company called Aerovation claims to be first-to-market with a checkpoint-friendly laptop bag. Just one problem, some TSA screeners never got the memo that laptops can stay in these approved cocoons:

But Mr. Bosma’s little company had already quietly claimed the title. Being first, of course, can have a price. Some customers complained to Mr. Bosma that some airport screeners had told them they knew nothing about the new rule and required owners of checkpoint-friendly bags to remove their laptops just like everyone else.

So Mr. Bosma posted a disclaimer on the Aerovation Web site (www.aerovation.com) that says, in part: “We’ve had customers who’ve been told to remove their laptops from the bag for screening. This isn’t the fault of the bag. T.S.A. is moving as quickly as possible to deploy signage and new standard operating procedures to their screeners.”

Agency officials were amazed that a retailer could get the bags produced so quickly. “We’ll get the word out,” Kip Hawley, director of the agency, told me the other day. The agency is now accelerating training and other procedures to be ready by mid-August. - New York Times

note: TSA now says they’re ready…