This is why I don't bring the 16" MBP on trips

[PBG4 Dude]

That sort of person can/will just follow you home.

And how did they get that info off her laptop? If you were to look at my laptop screen, it doesn't typically have my name, address, DOB on it??

Unless she left the thing open, unlocked and unattended while she got up to get a coffee or something? In which case.... that's incredibly irresponsible.

Yeah I’m having visions of that XKCD comic where the first guy complains the laptop has uncrackable security. The second guy goes, “here’s a $5 wrench. Drug the guy and beat him until he gives up the password.”

 

[raythompsontn]

He was detained for several hours & missed his flight but they eventually reluctantly decided that the sniffer machine was giving a false positive.

Security and technology has improved much since then. Those early devices may have something that was off-gassing something that triggered the detection.

I was detained years ago after gunshot residue was detected on my clothes. I had been out shooting with my brother a couple of days prior. I was given a thorough pat down and cleared. My carry on was searched and also cleared. It only took a couple of extra minutes.

The strangest I have ever had happen was when I was leaving Norway at Oslo Airport. I was already past security and in the passenger waiting area. Some security officer was walking around, came over to me and asked me to go with him. I gave all my carry on stuff to my wife to keep safe. He never batted an eye. They were interested in me, not my carry on. Strange.

I was taken to another room, my passport was taken and went to another room, and I was told strip to my underwear. My clothes were methodically searched and felt over almost every inch. The entire search took about 20 minutes. Me, alone in a room, with two security people, in a foreign country, with no passport. I was significantly concerned. The agents would not answer any questions.

Eventually I was given back my clothes, told to dress, my passport handed back, and told it was OK to leave the room. To this day I have no idea what triggered the search. I can only surmise that I must have looked like someone in which security was interested, or my name matched someone of significant interest.

Subsequent trips to Norway (two of them) I have been subject to additional scrutiny but nothing like on that first trip.

 

[Plutonius]

How can you use anything when the person in the seat in front of you decides to recline the seat ?

 

[raythompsontn]

How can you use anything when the person in the seat in front of you decides to recline the seat ?

I pay for upgraded seats. Comfort+ or Premium Select+. Especially on the long overseas flights. To be honest, I really don't do any work on those flights. Just watch movies. I also have the 14" MacBook which seems to fit OK.

 

[Andain]

I have had pretty much all apple laptops sizes, including 11 inch Air, 12 inch iBooks, 13 Pro, 15 inch PowerBooks/MacBook Pros etc.

The 14 inch MBP is my favorite laptop of all time, because of its 16:10 aspect ratio. Because of that it feels like a more compact 15.4" MBP instead of a bigger 13.3" inch one. Now if it only was as sexy and slim as the 2016-2019 models that would be heaven. It's portable yet you can do still do actual work on it without feeling cramped.

While I do respect the 16 inch crowd and can understand the need of a bigger screen in certain work scenarios, the 14 inch is simply ultimate in bringing it out in the world, much stealthier in a coffee shop etc. Does not attract as much attention as the bigger laptops.

 

[chars1ub0w]

The strangest I have ever had happen was when I was leaving Norway at Oslo Airport. I was already past security and in the passenger waiting area. Some security officer was walking around, came over to me and asked me to go with him. I gave all my carry on stuff to my wife to keep safe. He never batted an eye. They were interested in me, not my carry on. Strange.

Not strange. They have to do some additional secondary screening, so you lucked out on being picked.

I've been picked out once in Europe and a couple of times in Japan just before I boarded the plane, I get called over. But when I am traveling with my kid, never.

In the USA, we have SSSS. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secondary_Security_Screening_Selection