I nearly lost one that way.

- Check IDs against the actual passenger manifests, or check them at the gate, not against something I can duplicate in Illustrator on my PC at home.

- Drop the senseless ban on liquids – the explosives they are looking for don’t actually exist.

- Screen the ground crew as well as the passengers.

What the TSA does at checkpoints is security theater. It’s a collection of largely ineffective procedures intended to reassure the public that something is being done.

Before I comment further, I must say I rarely, if ever, see business travelers slowing down the TSA security lines. It’s the once a year vacationer usually choking the line due to a lack of TSA security rule savvy. Business travelers, and in fact most every traveler with a laptop, knows the TSA drill and move through the line quickly.

Ron Davis, an executive vice president at Pathfinder said two of the new cases will be made of nylon and foam. He’s certain that the X-ray machines should have no problems seeing through the materials. I agree Ron, but that’s what most every laptop case is already made of, and that’s not the issue with the cases. The issue is TSA says they can’t see the laptop clearly because of the accessories in the bag, or they can’t see the accessories because of the laptop.

A fold-down section would solve that, but I’m not at all sure I want an open bag rolling down that conveyor belt. Plus I’ve seen a mock up of most of the TSA design Skooba and Targus bags and they don’t cut it for me.

Forget the wheeled case as far as I’m concerned. I need that bag for my valuables, medications (You can’t put that stuff in your checked in luggage since the airlines refuse to assume any liability for them, plus they would be too open to theft in checked in luggage) toiletries, and a complete change of clothes (With the airlines’ horrendous record of loosing or seriously delaying checked-in luggage you’ve got to carry-on a change of clothes), plus some other odds and ends such as my noise canceling headset and iPod.

Targus says it will roll out is a backpack design for $39 for the basic model. Ahem, $39? How long will that last in transit, your first flight?

TSA director Kip Hawley says that the new bags “should be designed with ’self-evident features,’ including an absence of buckles, pockets or zippers.” OK Kip, but please don’t tell me you want these bags to use velcro to secure a $2,000 and up laptop.

Personally I won’t be buying any of these bags soon, nor will most people I know. I’m content to put my Dell in the bin for inspection. Even if widely adopted by business travelers, I think these new bags will have little impact on the time it takes to get through security, but getting TSA to uniformly and consistently enforce their rules, and getting TSA to actually give their agents quality training might actually help. Ya think?

The agents will cover their asses 100% of the time for fear of letting a bad one through. So it will be take the computer from the case sir… and if you don’t comply, break out the rubber gloves!

It will still be a case of “remove laptop from bag”.