As a frequent business traveler, I find it increasingly difficult to travel with my laptop and my carry-on.  No business traveler in his/her right mind would ever check baggage if they can help it (and now they charge for it, to boot!).  I do my best to prepare as I stand in the security line and ready myself for the conveyor belt to whisk my shoes, my watch and my precious cargo away and scan them for prohibited items.

I can’t, however, in any way be prepared with my laptop, unless somehow, I was to grow a third hand!  There’s just no getting around having to wait until it’s your turn to hold up the line when it comes time to run your items through.  And, oh, the stares … as you unclasp your bag, remove your laptop – and it must be placed in its own bin – and the rest of your items and watch as your 4-5 gray bins go moving down the conveyor belt.  Now, of course, you have to retrieve and repack all your items on the other side – and no reaching back behind the gate of the conveyor belt – no, no!  You then have to stack all the bins while simultaneously wriggling on your shoes, putting your laptop back in your briefcase and storing away those precious 3 oz. of liquids you’ve also had to remove.

It is here where my story welcomes a very happy solution to this process.  Enter the Checkpoint Friendly CompuBrief by Pathfinder.  This ingenious briefcase removes so many hassles from the above mentioned process; it’s hard to figure out a place to start.

Firstly … the simple, yet ingenious practice of separating your laptop from the rest of the items in your briefcase makes you say, ‘why didn’t I think of that?’  Simply put, your laptop resides in one half of the briefcase, while your other items on the other.  All you do is unzip, open and send it through.  It opens in a butterfly-like fashion, leaving your laptop free of any items for necessary screening as it passes through security.  Transportation security will accept these bags at checkpoints provided that you have kept only your laptop in that portion of the bag.  This is key … if you put your power cord in there too, and it doesn’t go through – don’t blame it on the bag – consider yourself warned.

Secondly … it’s just a really nice briefcase.  You can carry a lot and organize yourself a bit while you hit the road.  The section immediately adjacent to the laptop has pockets allowing you to stow away various items such as the power cord, portable mouse and other laptop-related miscellany.  There is a separate section that opens like an accordion to keep your various projects from mixing together.  There’s nothing like showing up to a client meeting with the wrong folder!   

Thirdly … for those of us that do walk a lot through airports, there is a wheeled version of the briefcase as well.  This means less wear on your shoulder and more on the tiled floor of the airport.

Here are some facts about the checkpoint friendly laptop bag:

• Construction: Cellular Memory Frame – Rigid, superlight, and extremely impact-resistant plastic, originally developed for bullet-proof glass applications.
• Zippers: Exclusive use of world leader YKK® zippers with unbreakable zipper pulls.
  Fabric: Duramax™ brand ballistic nylond fabrics for unsurpassed abrasion and tear resistance.
• Handles: Aerospace-grade aluminum telescoping handles, engineered for life time performance: dual-tempered for rigidity
• Stitching: Double or triple-stitched seams using nylon thread at seven stitches per inch throughout
  Wheels: Quiet and long-wearing high-elastic (HE) polypropylene wheels, that last ten times longer than standard polyurethane wheels
• Dimensions: 14 x 9 x 18 inches; 4.4 pounds (empty, non-wheeled)

Simply stated, the concept and the bag are brilliant ideas.  It truly beats having to remove and repack your laptop as you flow through security.  And, I think the other passengers behind me like the fact that I’m moving it along … and that’s not bad either.  The faster and more efficient we can all move through security, the better.

You can find a Pathfinder Checkpoint Friendly Compubrief at Amazon.com or visit PathfinderLuggage.com for more information.