Does TSA Now Regard the Kindle as a Large Electronic?

When I flew out of LAX yesterday, the TSA screening agent made me take my Knidle (2.0 not DX) out of my backpack for separate screening. I asked if this was now policy and she said that it had been policy for several months. If so, it was news to me.

I know that TSA has long required large electronics to be screened separately, but I understood the list of such items to be limited to laptops, full-size video game consoles, DVD players and video cameras that use cassettes, all of which have space for large battery packs that could be stuffed with explosives. When I flew home that evening, I asked at SFO and none of the TSA screening agents there had heard of such a policy. I can't find anything on the TSA website about Kindles. Anybody out there also had this issue come up?

Comments

[Craig Pirrong]

She was just following TSA policy, which is "we make sh*t up as we go along." I fly an average of 3 times/week, and the variance in their interpretations of rules is huge.

[aynrandgirl]

I have no idea, but I bet the denizens of the flyertalk.com forums would.

[steven]

I had a similar problem, but it was in Toronto. I had to spend 15 minutes demonstrating how it worked, and they ran it through the screening twice.

[Snarky Associate]

For my flight out of SFO recently, they lumped kindles in with laptops for what they told the passengers to put in separate bins. I put my kindle right next to my netbook -- had no problems getting through.

I find it more interesting that the airlines have now cautioned passengers to turn off ebook readers when taking off. I was flying for about 7 months and they didn't care.

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=503715363]

T(housands) S(tanding) A(round) follows the old adage articulated best (IIRC) by GB Shaw:

"When a stupid man does something he knows is wrong, he always claims it is his duty."

[save_the_rustbelt]

Shoes on the belt, shoes in the hopper, shoes on the belt,,,,, depends on the airport.

TSA = Thousands Standing Around