I just found out today I'll be attending a conference for work in a couple of months that will involve a plane trip. Of course one of the reasons I purchased my Cybook was for ease of carrying lots of reading material while traveling, but for the first time I thought about eInk devices and the TSA. Has anyone traveled with an eInk device? Did security notice it or comment upon it or ask "What the heck is it?" Did you have to take it out of your carryon like a laptop? I like to be prepared. :book2:

I just found out today I'll be attending a conference for work in a couple of months that will involve a plane trip. Of course one of the reasons I purchased my Cybook was for ease of carrying lots of reading material while traveling, but for the first time I thought about eInk devices and the TSA. Has anyone traveled with an eInk device? Did security notice it or comment upon it or ask "What the heck is it?" Did you have to take it out of your carryon like a laptop? I like to be prepared. :book2:

I had no problem on several overseas and domestic flights with my eb1150. It just remained in my carry-on.

Dale

I haven't had an issue with security. I do take it out but they've never looked at it. I can't remember the last time they looked at my laptop, either. I haven't attempted to read it before we were in flight and electronic devices were allowed, but I've read here that some folks have been told by flight attendants to turn it completely off.

Hi MaggieScratch. I've flown with my Sony 505 several times and the TSA guys have never questioned it. I keep it switched off until the flight crew says we can power on electronic devices.

You'll really like having it with you. Makes flights go faster and the great thing is having all those books at hand.

Just tell them it's a "liseuse", and steadfastly continue to use the term when they want clarification. That should get you earmarked for selective screening in a jiffy.

I just found out today I'll be attending a conference for work in a couple of months that will involve a plane trip. Of course one of the reasons I purchased my Cybook was for ease of carrying lots of reading material while traveling, but for the first time I thought about eInk devices and the TSA. Has anyone traveled with an eInk device? Did security notice it or comment upon it or ask "What the heck is it?" Did you have to take it out of your carryon like a laptop? I like to be prepared. :book2:
I've taken my 500 and now 505 on trips with me. My 500 has been to Scotland. My 505 has been to New York City and Naples, Florida. I've had the reader in my bag when it went through the scanner. it was no problem at all. They never checked my bag or asked about the reader. My wife's 500 has gone with us as well. Again, no problem with her taking her 500 along. Nobody has evenr asked what it is.

The only thing you have to note is that during takeoff and landing, you cannot be reading from your eink device.

It was a slow day at DFW (Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport) I was the line and the TSA person was interested in the Sony 500 so I had to give a demo. Here at IAD (Washington Dulles) it is a non-issue. Same for LAX.

The iLiad is larger that the Cybook, and I started out treating it as a laptop (i.e. sending it through the X-Ray machine separately). However, I now leave it in my bag. One time a screener asked me if it was a DVD player, but even in that case I did not have to remove it from the bag.

Our flights have originated at Logan Airport in Boston.

I have taken a number of international trips with my Sony 500 and had no trouble at all. I have not had any trouble reading my book prior to the "electronic OK messages". On the last trip I was actually sitting in from of the steward and had to give her a demo during the take-off role. She thought it was a great thing, and plans on getting one so that she has reading materials for the layovers.

Well done Bruce! Have some extra karma.

"It's an e-book reader", I answered in response to her soft-voiced query. She leaned forward for a closer look. Now, I'm a grown man, not some hormone-addled teenager - but I do love a woman in uniform. I kept my eyes on her face, her face...

"... hundreds of books use it anywhere and the screen no eye strain...". I was babbling, the neurons typically used for coherent speech co-opted by her scent, the strand of hair escaped from her perfect coif. I nearly dropped my reader as I restrained my hand from tucking it back behind her ear.

"...read it in bed I love reading in bed do you read in my bed? I mean I love your bed, not that your bed is any of my business no, sorry, I meant to say no backlight we'll have to leave a light on..."

Her slight smile and whispered "naughty boy" undid me completely. This was going to be a long flight.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Taylor51ce are you not suposed to be the depressed robot not the Frustrated Robot or did you get a new memory flash from Igor? :2thumbsup

I refuse to be pigeonholed into a single persona.

Thanks everyone! I'll take out the laptop then and leave the Cybook in the bag. I'm glad to hear the security folks seem okay with reading devices. I'll probably entertain myself with the inflight magazine or my tatting till the plane is in the air, though! On my last plane trip (which was much longer than this one will be) I finished my book in the middle of the flight...argh. No more!

At the risk of not being unutterably silly: I've flown about once a month since August, involving airports in Dallas, Houston (both of them), Memphis and Nashville, each multiple times, and never had mine (sometimes in my carry-on, sometimes in the pocket of my vest which goes through the scanner) looked twice at by security. I'd expect you to have no issues. :shrug:

Can I please have a custom user title, "unutterably silly"?

I fly 5-6 times a month. It is the primary reason why I've made plans to acquire an e-book reader. That's why keyboards and wifi don't appeal to me. I need a simple, attainable reader.

Most frequent airports are the hubs, mainly. Memphis, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, LAX, Newark. Schipol - and then I get on a train.

When I've flown with paperback books, I've always had the one I was reading and one unread book so I always had enough to read for the duration of the flight. I did have more books in my checked luggage as well.

Can I please have a custom user title, "unutterably silly"?Sure you can! Or anything else that takes your fancy for that matter: you can change it yourself on the User Control Panel (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/usercp.php) (under "Edit Profile (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/profile.php?do=editprofile)" over on the left). :nice:

Oh. Well, then, nevermind. Not nearly so much fun as a dispensation from the powers.

The "powers" have dispensed that you can change it yourself, is that a good enough rationalization? :beam:

Nope. Isn't it generally true that you don't want what you can easily have?

Nope. Isn't it generally true that you don't want what you can easily have?

completely true, in my world.

nonetheless, i feel that if *anyone* should receive the honorary title "unutterably silly", it is you, even if you must do the bestowing yourself.

alternatively, give me your login / password and i'll bestow it for you. :rolleyes:

"It's an e-book reader", I answered in response to her soft-voiced query. She leaned forward for a closer look. Now, I'm a grown man, not some hormone-addled teenager - but I do love a woman in uniform. I kept my eyes on her face, her face...
.

Oh, Taylor, you're such a tease. Put me on the alert list so I can buy your novel when you complete it (in Sony format, of course).

...checked luggage...

Amateur.

Speaking of checked luggage. When we came home from Florida recently, our two bags were the first two bags to come down the conveyor belt.

Great MaggieScratch. Be sure and let us know how your trip goes with your Cybook.

And BruceW, I hope you suggested to the stewardess that she join us here on this great forum.

"It's an e-book reader", I answered in response to her soft-voiced query. She leaned forward for a closer look. Now, I'm a grown man, not some hormone-addled teenager - but I do love a woman in uniform. I kept my eyes on her face, her face...

"... hundreds of books use it anywhere and the screen no eye strain...". I was babbling, the neurons typically used for coherent speech co-opted by her scent, the strand of hair escaped from her perfect coif. I nearly dropped my reader as I restrained my hand from tucking it back behind her ear.

"...read it in bed I love reading in bed do you read in my bed? I mean I love your bed, not that your bed is any of my business no, sorry, I meant to say no backlight we'll have to leave a light on..."

Her slight smile and whispered "naughty boy" undid me completely. This was going to be a long flight.


Some people have a talent :)
Karma is on its way.

Speaking of checked luggage. When we came home from Florida recently, our two bags were the first two bags to come down the conveyor belt.Heh, on the return leg of my last trip to Houston, my bag was waiting beside the conveyor before they started unloading the plane I was on. They apparently put it on an earlier flight. They tried to put me on an earlier flight, but I didn't want to pay the $45 bucks for the privilege. :nice:

European pants taught me never to check luggage.

once, they forgot to take my suitcase off the plane in the airport i got off in (the plane was continuing on to another destination). since luckily i noticed this in time, they were able to call someone in the cargo bins to retreive my suitcase before it left to Tahiti (or wherever).

however this was taking quite a long time, and meanwhile my father was waiting for me "on the other side" with no news. i thought it might be nice to tell him that i had not in fact missed my flight, and would be there shortly (with luck), and since i was not allowed to leave the baggage area and then return, i asked one of the agents to make an announcement. so they called the help desk in the waiting area to transmit the news.

this is the message they gave : "please inform Mr. K that his daughter is being detained in immigration, and that it might take a while."

i never checked a suitcase since then.
[EDIT : this decision has nothing to do with european pants, which fit my european bum just fine.]

At the risk of sounding like just another "me too!" response...

I've traveled several times with my Sony Reader in my carry on and the screeners have never asked about it. And most of my trips are in the overly-paranoid US.

Regards,
Michael

Thanks everyone! I'll take out the laptop then and leave the Cybook in the bag. I'm glad to hear the security folks seem okay with reading devices. I'll probably entertain myself with the inflight magazine or my tatting till the plane is in the air, though! On my last plane trip (which was much longer than this one will be) I finished my book in the middle of the flight...argh. No more!

At Heathrow they seem to have changed the rules recently. Now you should not take you laptop out of the bag. They had put signs saying that over the old sign saying you should take it out. Maybe they have capacity problems.

When I've flown with paperback books, I've always had the one I was reading and one unread book so I always had enough to read for the duration of the flight. I did have more books in my checked luggage as well.

But what if the next book is no good? I always had four books at least in the hand bagage on long trips.

Sound advice. I've hurriedly bought a paperback at one of the terminal shops only to discover it wasn't what I thought.

Last trip, yes the one with the stewardess, I actually managed to read 5 books but actually started 2 others and decided that they where "too heavy" for sun, sand and lots of rum drinks. :bookworm:

Without my Sony Reader I would never have read as much so I would have had to spend more time watching the "mobile scenery" which would have made my wife give me the “look”.:eek:

Having approximately 70 books to choose from made getting just the right book possible. Nothing like this was ever possible before. :thumbsup:

Nothing like this was ever possible before. :thumbsup:

Oh yes it was - I've been doing it for over 20 years! :)

I'll probably entertain myself with the inflight magazine or my tatting till the plane is in the air, though! It's unusual to run into anyone these days who even knows what tatting is ... much less can do it. I'll bet you get a lot more questions about your tatting shuttle than your eBook reader.

At Heathrow they seem to have changed the rules recently. Now you should not take you laptop out of the bag. They had put signs saying that over the old sign saying you should take it out. Maybe they have capacity problems. They have new-fangled scanners. They're being used in some US locations as well.

I'll bet you get a lot more questions about your tatting shuttle than your eBook reader.

It's about 50/50. I get a lot of "my grandmother used to do that!" (about the tatting, not the reader, although how cool would that be?) And of course I have a couple of Mlle. Riego's needlework books that I converted on my Cybook... ;) I actually get the most public gadget use comments about the folding keyboard that I use with my Treo. I'm not a public attention whore, really. :p

Last year the TSA agent barked at me to take out "all electronics larger than a cell phone," which is why I was wondering about the ebook reader. I went to a few travel forums and the TSA seems to be laptops-only at this point. And of course the shoes and the 3-1-1 baggie. I hope they get the new scanners and the laptop can stay in the bag. I'll be a lot more cheerful about the shoes and freedom baggie if that's the case.

I got back from Chicago earlier this week and, as anticipated, had zero problems traveling with the Cybook.

While going through the security line, I tucked it into the laptop sleeve (since the laptop was in a tray). At PHL the TSA screener put my bag through the scanner twice--he was very polite, even nice, and told me he was turning it over to put it through again. It was a combination suitcase/laptop rolling bag so it had a lot of layers to see through, I guess. No problems.

At MDW (Chicago Midway), I went through at rush hour in the "casual traveler" lane and again, no issues.

I did tatting till we got in the air, and then when electronic devices were permitted, read my Cybook. On the flight home, the woman in the seat next to me asked about the Cybook, so I showed it off. Interestingly, I was attending a geeky conference with Internet professionals and frequently took out the Cybook to read during breaks, and not one person asked me about it. Saw no other reading devices there; lots of laptops and iPhones, though. (I didn't even really realize that until after it was over. Almost every time I read the Cybook in public some Joe Q. Public type stops to ask about it. There's a metric for you to think about.) No Eee-type laptops, either, which surprised me, though I saw one really tiny Sony VAIO and a Fujitsu Lifebook.

On the way out I had the row to myself so I thought you might like to see a photo of my Cybook at 30,000 feet! Since my tatting came up in the thread, I also included it in the photo.

That looks a lot like my tray during flight -- except that I don't bring tatting with me. On a recent flight to Montreal, the flight attendant had lots of questions about the Kindle. She said she's seen about 20 people reading electronic book readers during flights in the past month. At landing, they announced "It is now safe to turn on your cell phones and other hand-held electronic devices. Laptops and other devices must stay powered off until you enter the terminal."