TSA-friendly backpack

[tcw5678]

Any thoughts about a TSA-friendly backpack? I love the Checkpoint Flyer except that it's a shoulder bag. If a backpack had the same functionality, I'd be ordering it immediately!

Thanks!

[timothy]

I think the basic shape of the Brain bag would be great adapted to the Checkpoint Flyer's origami folding system, with one exception: hidable backpack straps. From the user's back out, it would be:

- backback straps
- layer of back-protecting padding (inside of which the straps could be hidden / protected, even if lumpy), with fastex buckles at the bottom
- dense-foam cell for laptop (but with internal shaping / spacers to accommodate various laptops, rather than the exact-sized insert of the C. Flyer) mounted on swiveling clips
- big pocket (sized for ... large packing cube?), with one slim divider built in, and with clips for the fastex buckles on the outside bottom of this section.
- outer pockets, attached to the outer big pocket.

Would also have
- Strategic connection points for shoulder strap
- Tri-star style water-bottle pocket
- molle-style connection loops for connecting to other stuff
- flat grab-handle on the bottom of the bag and on each of the sides
- poron / comfy handy on the top, for grabbing but perhaps carrying when necessary

This would be ...
- a bit smaller than the Tri-Star
- structured, but not quite as much as the Tri-Star / WF

To use it, a lot like the Checkpoint flyer. At a phoney-baloney security line, at least in a U.S. airport, remove the backpack, unclip the fastex, swing out the laptop portion from the other parts, lay flat on conveyor belt. Remove your shoes, belt, dignity and common sense, each of which goes in a separate bin. Get wanded, retrieve most of the above, re-fold, re-click the buckles, get to gate A22 (or whichever gate is at the very end of the terminal), board plane, do crossword.

timothy

[maverick]

timothy,

i like the idea of the checkpoint flyer like origami folding backpack!

even with internal shaping/spacers for the laptop compartment, i think you need at least 3-4 sizes. imagine a 13" macbook at one end and the laptops that require the 2XXLT brain cell at the other end. why take so much space for a laptop that doesn't require it?

[timothy]

Maverick: Maybe multi-sizes would be OK, but I'm thinking for structure of the thing, I'd want the laptop shell to be as wide as the main / open compartment.

When I traveled with the Checkpoint Flyer, with a netbook rather than the MacBook Pro it's sized for, I used that extra space (put some x-ray neutral clothing in there); the weight savings for a netbook-sized insert (if there even was such a thing) would have been very small, I suspect.

ETA: Maybe TWO sizes, that vary only in their depth (same height / width) The fat one would accomodate those honking "desktop replacements," the slim one would be sized for Apples of the current and one-back generation, whatever those happen to require. A briefcase handle on the side of the insert would mean you could walk on the plane with that in hand, if you're a laptop-on-tray type, rather than fumble to de-orgamify the bag while a line of people behind grumbles as they wait for the aisle to clear.

timothy

[MtnMan]

Is this thread based on the assumption that the current Checkpoint Flyer could not be redesigned to be used as a backpack?

I already sent my feedback via e-mail to Darcy, asking that the Checkpoint Flyer be re-released as a backpackable version (Checkpoint Flyer II?) and she thanked me for the feedback.

In March, I flew to Washington, DC to visit the offices of federal legislators with Kitty Benzar of the Western Slope No Fee Coalition. I flew on a two-leg flight, the first leg on a turboprop, the major leg on a small jetliner. I flew down with my laptop in a Kensington Saddlebag. At the airport security, of course, I had to take my MacBook Pro out and well as other items from my garment bag. I want very much to avoid that again.

While on Capitol Hill, I carried the Kensington from office to office all day long. Whenever you enter either a House Office Building or a Senate Office Building, you have to go through a security checkpoint like a mini version of what the TSA does at airports. So, here I am, lugging my Saddlebag, and I have to take it off, take off my belt, my shoes, and even my hat. I had to empty my pockets as well.

I understand the need for security. But I'm never going to go through another security checkpoint with my laptop again unless it's in a checkpoint-friendly backpack.

I want a backpackable Checkpoint Flyer II. And yes, it will be worth at least $220.

[Darcy]

A checkpoint friendly backpack is coming, but it won't replace the current Checkpoint Flyer. It will be offered in addition to the current Checkpoint Flyer, as many find the briefcase/shoulder bag format of the current bag preferable to that of a backpack, just as many would find a backpack preferable.

[MtnMan]

Forgive me for being abrupt about this, but if Mr. B can find a way to make this mystery backpack so that it can be carried both as a backpack AND in the same ways as the Checkpoint Flyer (by hand and on the shoulder), like what was done with Aeronaut, Western Flyer and Tri-Star, that would be a HUGE plus!

[thorn]

Tri-Star Flyer? The larger capacity with the travel bag functionality.

[MtnMan]

Hey, as long as it's as "checkpoint friendly" as the original Checkpoint Flyer and it's unlikely I'll have to go through the old TSA "take your laptop out of the bag" hassle, you can call it the Flying Wallendas for all I care. If it works, that's all I care!

[mattotto]

Do you have any more information on when this might be coming? I was considering getting a new backpack for a holiday present, but I'd hold out for a TSA friendly backpack if it was going to be available in the near future.

Thanks,
Matt

A checkpoint friendly backpack is coming, but it won't replace the current Checkpoint Flyer. It will be offered in addition to the current Checkpoint Flyer, as many find the briefcase/shoulder bag format of the current bag preferable to that of a backpack, just as many would find a backpack preferable.

[Darcy]

Do you have any more information on when this might be coming?

Sometime next year - maybe the middle of the year.

[tcw5678]

Any update on this? I'm still hoping!

[Margot]

Yes, please! I would love more backpack options!