Re: what you actually need...
 

Medal detectors, huh? So does that mean they'll know if we won Nats... hehe...

Re: what you actually need...
 

I've never had to remove my shoes ever, and I fly a lot, and a fair bit recently...In the past 6 months the "big" airports I've flown from: Toronto's Pearson Int'l, NYC: JFK Int'l, Detroit Int'l, Amsterdam Int'l, Paris Int'l, and Barcelona Int'l.

The US Customs when flying from Toronto to Detroit were definitely the biggest pain - But even then it wasn't a very big deal...mostly "Whats in your bag?" type stuff.

I am not expecting any problems (or smelly feet ;)) at the airports flying down to Houston - Just make sure you have some Government issued photo ID (passports always work).

Just think, this time tomorrow we'll be in Houston...YAY!!!

From my recent experences is that they do make you take off your shoes if you set off the metal detector. You get ONE shot to walk through without setting it off. If you pass, then you wont have to, if you dont they will take you aside and manually scan you and in this manual scan, they make you take off your shoes.

Now I dont know what you would have to do if you were randomly selected to get searced at the gate, or someone just walks up to you and wants to search you, but thats my recent experences with flying, and flying in and out of the Houston airports.

A lot of shoes have metal shanks in them for rigidity which sets off the metal detector.
Clothing Advice

You need one photo id. I could not find a defintion of 'photo id'.
Access Requirements

To get the offical word, check the TSA website for travlers.

That swab was run through a Explosives Trace Detection machine, "ETDs work by collecting samples and detecting vapors and residues of explosives. The human operators collect samples by using swabs to rub different areas of the bags. Swabs are then dropped into chemical analyzers that separate and identify any threat explosives present in less than 10 seconds. ETDs are characterized by small weight and size, and relatively low cost (about $40,000 each). "


Wetzel
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www.tsa.gov

They take much more than 10 seconds.

Nope. Less then.
I had my laptop done at Long Beach on the way home from the LA regional. Wipe a thing across the screen, the back, bottom and keyboard, insert swab into machine..few seconds later I was good to go.

If I recall correctly, a Ion Track Itemiser was used.
Boeing Products


Wetzel
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dootdoot

why do the swab laptops?? doesn't make sense...

It has to do with the way things look in an xray. I think it is the battery, they went though my other bag and found my spare AA batteries, then said I could go.


Wetzel
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Your questions answered

Meh, I get scanned every now and then (I travel relatively a lot compared to people I know), and usually I'm there for around five minutes. Expieriences always vary; for me, it might be just the machines at JFK - the whole place is unfriendly in general.

Last year going to nationals I had ma CD player w/ headphones in a small shoulder bag inside my carry on, and also I had a pair of drumsticks. They just swabbed my bag and let me go. The reason is I assume that they way they were positioned it looked like a bomb.

the entire situation is still iffy in my experience.. flying down from toronto to LA this summer (15, no parents or guardians accompanying) i had to check my CD player into my regular baggage because it wouldnt work when i was going through customs in pearson.. but on the way back they didnt care.. though i did have to take my shoes off on the way back

it still seems incredibly subjective right now