Security tip: Ebooks and tablets

A friend asked me yesterday about Kindles and security. (You may have seen the exchange on my Facebook page.) “Do you have to take your Kindle out at security the way you do with a laptop? Or can it stay inside your bag while it goes through x-ray?” Regular readers may have noticed that I am a HUGE proponent of eReaders, and count my old school Kindle to be one of the most valuable things I travel with. I take it on every trip, so can say without a doubt that you don’t need to take it out at airport security.

However, I know the latest generation of Kindles are more like tablet computers, and I’m less familiar with those. I do have an iPad that I travel with occasionally, and I’ve never had to take it out before. But of course we know that sometimes what happens in practice does not follow the actual rule (thanks for the consistency, TSA) so I thought I would check for sure. I went to the TSA webpage to see what I could find.

Here’s what I found after entering “tablet computer” into the “Can I bring my….” tool:

Small and portable electronic items (iPods, iPads, cell phones, etc.) do not need to be removed from their carrying cases.

Super, so iPads and other tablets don’t have to come out. Just for fun I checked eReaders, and the same message came up. Good to know! Of course, laptops still have to come out and go into their own bin.

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