What to Do with Your Laptop When You're Taking a Flight

Here are some tips to help you keep your laptop safe and make sure you have a trouble-free time while at airports and taking flights. Mostly it's about being alert and 'streetwise' and keeping your eyes open.

(1) Stay under the radar
Keep a low profile at the airport and on the plane. Thieves are looking for a 'mark' so make sure it's not you. Be aware that if a fellow passenger asks you about your laptop, with probing questions about its newness, price and capabilities, they may be assessing it to see if its worth stealing. In such circumstances it's best to politely say you're tired from working and wearily put your laptop away, saying it's an old model, slow and inefficient.

(2) Watch your laptop like a hawk
Keep it with you at all times and don't take your eyes off it and your hand luggage for a second. Thieves are assessing people and what they have with them. If you give the impression that you're not really 'with it' then pretty soom your laptop will no longer be 'with you'. This still applies even if your things are being looked at by security or customs - a classic area for thieves.

(3) Paperwork is important
Make sure you have the reciepts and the right customs paperwork for your laptop when taking your return flight. And have them accessible so you can show them to customs quickly without rummaging through mountains of paperwork at the bottom of your briefcase. This way you can prove that you bought your laptop into the country with you and didn't buy it there. If customs suspect that you purchased your laptop on this trip, you'll be asked to pay taxes and duty.

(4) Be prepared to turn it on
You may be asked to turn your laptop on, so it is sensible to have it charged up and on standby. Containers that are made to look like laptops are often used to smuggle items or to hide terrorist equipment. So its common practice for security to ask people to turn on their machine. Also customs may want to see if it's brand new. If so, it may be subject to taxes and import duty.

(5) Have your laptop with you all the time
Do not pack it with your other luggage, which usually gets rough treatment from baggage handlers. Bring it on the plane with you as hand luggage, and keep it with you. Aviod using the overhead compartment, where other passengers could steal it or accidentally dislodge it when pulling their coat out, making it drop on the floor.

(6) Conveyor belt scams
Here's a scam to watch out for. Two thieves slip in front of you as people are drifting towards the security conveyor belt. You've put your laptop on the belt and off it goes. The first thief goes through but the second one makes problems for the security staff and creates a dramatic scene. Everyone is distracted except the first thief who takes the opportunity for a quick getaway with your laptop.

(7) X-Rays won't hurt your Laptop
Rest assured that X-Ray scanners are fine and will not harm your laptop or your information stored on it. The security people need to be able to see inside as there's space for smugging items inside your machine, however slim and light it may seem to you.

(8) Metal detectors could damage my Laptop
Yes they could. Metal detectors can hurt your laptop so it's best to respectfully ask security people to do a 'hand check' instead, where they ask you to turn it in to show its real. After all, there's already metal inside a normal laptop so a metal detector won't tell them anything.

(9) Lock your laptop case
Open cases are easy to get into, especially for a team of two criminals. One distracts you while the other either puts something into your case like drugs. Or takes something out like your laptop and anything else that's accessible like your money or mobile phone. All in a few seconds and they're gone before you notice anything. If you have become a 'carrier' for them they will pull a similar stunt to steal the whole case from you once the flight has landed and you've cleared customs.