Screening of your carryon bags

Screening of carryon bags.

After you have had your identification and boarding pass checked, the next step in passenger screening is screening of your carryon bags and your person. I am going to deal with each of these separately beginning with screening of carryon bags. All carryon items including footwear, bags, purses, pouches, fanny packs, sweaters, coats and jackets are screened using an x-ray machine. Items are either placed directly on the moving belt or placed in one of the ubiquitous gray bins or white bowls and they move into the x-ray for examination by the x-ray operator. The x-ray operator examines the item and if everything is OK, he/she keeps the belt moving and the item comes out on the other side of the x-ray machine where the passenger can retrieve it.

If there is an issue, such as a liquid, gel or aerosol, large electronic device or prohibited item in the bag, the x-ray operator stops the belt and calls for a “bag check”. The TSO assigned to bag checks then takes control of the bag and executes the predefined procedure for bag checks.

Briefly, the TSO finds the owner of the bag, removes the item in question (the passenger is not allowed to touch the bag while it is in possession of the TSO), and puts the bag back at the starting point so that the x-ray operator can confirm that the issue has been resolved and that there are no additional issues. That obviously takes time and delays the other passengers in line. And, of course, if the TSO in charge of bag checks is already working with another passenger, everything stops until he/she completes that bag check and becomes free to do the next one.

The overwhelming majority of bag checks can be avoided through a process that the TSA calls “divesting”. Divesting is the process of removing things from your bags and person. What I am going to talk about here pertains strictly to your bags. In the metal detector and full body scanner sections, I will discuss divestment of your person.

Carryon bag divesting is when passengers take items out of their carryon bags and place them separately in a gray bin or white bowl. Some items, such as all liquids, gels and aerosols, laptop computers, DVD players, CPAP (breathing) machines and full-size game consoles must be removed from bags. As discussed later, there are also items that may not be required to be removed from the bag but doing so will make them easier to inspect and less likely to require a bag check.

Proper divesting is the key to keeping the line moving and, ironically, it is completely under the passengers’ control. An experienced x-ray operator can quickly determine whether properly divested bags are safe. If you take items out of your bag, the x-ray operator can take a look and decide if they are prohibited or need additional screening. If it is a prohibited item or needs additional screening, then we don’t have to go through the dance of getting it out of your bag and the process goes much more efficiently. Nine times out of ten, however, the x-ray operator can clear the item without additional screening and you are on your way. That is much more efficient than spending ten minutes going through a bag check while the line of passengers backs up behind you.

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Disclaimer: This material was written by a private citizen hoping to be helpful, not as a representative of the federal government, the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority or of the Transportation Security Administration. Any opinions expressed as well as any inaccuracies are solely the author’s.