4 ms·

Luggage is chemically scanned for explosives, carry-ons are not.

• pgrote 9y ago
  How is that accomplished? I know sometimes when I go through the security line they take a white, circular pad, wipe my laptop, bag, etc. and put the pad in a sensor. Do they do this with every piece of luggage going into the hold?
  • panzagl 9y ago
    Probably more like a statistically relevant sample, but I believe so.
• antognini 9y ago
  Wouldn't it be less disruptive to perform a chemical scan on the laptops then rather than banning them from carry-ons entirely?
• techdragon 9y ago
  My carry on is randomly swiped for chemical residue. Leave X-ray, asked for chemical residue test, proceed to counter, open bag let them swipe the cloth in my clothes a little, and then the inside of my bag a little as well, test passes and I zip my carry on back up and I'm on my way to the gate. This is pretty routine when flying in Australia. I'm pretty sure we stared doing this for catching drugs and regular non terrorist illegal stuff in the 90s or even earlier, and just decided it was a sensible idea to buy stuff that can also detect explosives as well.