All major US airports have resident federal agents whose purpose is to confiscate transported currency. Any cash found in your luggage will be reported to them and you will held by airport security until the agents arrive to take your money. If you MUST carry cash, at least wear it.
This has been the case for several years. And now things are worse.
See www.fear.org and other sites.
Without bags you can procede rather quickly to your gate. If you have any carry-ons you must wait in the line near the x-ray while bags are searched.
What do you do with your laptop? I carry mine on, because I don't want to trust it in the luggage hold.
My laptop is my number 1 computer. If I lost that, it would seriously impede my "day job" as well as others.
And haven't thought about it. I have sometimes used a large suit case with soft clothing all around the regular computer bag.
There is not anything wrong with bringing it as a carry on other than it could take you an extra hour or more to get through security. With any type of electronic device, cell phone, etc, they are looking at it and want to see you turn it on and off, etc.
"Without bags you can procede rather quickly to your gate. If you have any carry-ons you must wait in the line near the x-ray while bags are searched."
Thanks, but no thanks. I'll take my chances waiting in line to reach the gate, as I don't arrive at the last minute. On the other hand, after a long flight from NY to Las Vegas, the last thing on earth I want to do is stand at the luggage carousel for the normal half hour or longer it takes to reclaim a bag at McCarran -- arguably the worst deliverer of luggage in the U.S.
Don
"My laptop is my number 1 computer. If I lost that, it would seriously impede my "day job" as well as others."
If is the case, you really, really, need to back up your hard drive on a frequent and regular basis.
Laptops on the road lead a rough life. Despite my attempts to be careful, and buying the most rugged laptops I can find (Dell Latitude), I am on my third one.
The last accident, in which I slipped and fell, landing on the laptop :-(, only resulted in destroying the screen - I was able to recover all the data. The time before that I wasn't so lucky.
I plug my laptop into my home LAN and make a copy of the entire hard drive before each trip.
I will continue to carry on my laptop and my other baggage. I agree with Don (below) - I'd rather stand in line at security before the flight than stand in line at baggage claim after the flight.
Besides, at least I know that my carryons won't end up somewhere in Nebraska. :-)
always play the slots while you are waiting ;-)
D.
I have had no problem flying with my laptop the past few days. At the x-ray machine they will ask you to turn it on to show them that it works. Make sure they dont rush you off before your computer has a chance to shut itself down.
MLB
I do backup regularly. And before each trip. But if something happened to the computer, it would still cause problems. I would have to get another computer. Re-install software. Restore files, etc.
Even with everything backed up, the loss of a computer is still a major pain.
"The last accident, in which I slipped and fell, landing on the laptop :-("
is dust it and pass the swab through the explosives detector.
anonymous, It's not necessarily as easy and risk free as that. For one thing I've read that a high percentage of our currency has traces of coacaine on it. In farm country there's a good chance it will have traces of nitrate fertilizer too. Both of these things will interest bomb/drug sniffing dogs.
If the police "suspect" that you received the money from an illegal activity they can confiscate (steal) it from you under civil law and you will have to prove that you earned it legally to get it back. This is all an outgrowth of the anti-racketeering laws which went into effect in the eighties. Hit 'em hard, The Side
