Things used to be a lot worse when people without tickets were allowed all the way through to the boarding gates. This, of course, was pre-9-11. Laptops would

Things used to be a lot worse when people without tickets were allowed all the way through to the boarding gates. This, of course, was pre-9-11. Laptops would get stolen all the time by criminals just going through security, sometimes in pairs and one would slow down the line while the person in front would take a random laptop and gtfo. In some senses, the security is better by disallowed non-passengers from going through security checkpoints. I feel bad for the owner, and I hope he/she gets back his/her laptop, but I doubt the TSA will just write a check unfortunately. They simply don't care.