During the pain-in-the ass-dance that is airport security screening, I always wait until the very last minute to put my laptop in the bin, so it doesn't go sliding through the scanner while I'm stuck at the metal detector behind some idiot who left his keys in his pocket.

That's because laptops going through the scanner without the owner watching is one of the contributing factors to more than 60,000 laptops getting stolen or lost at airports every year. So to make it easier to get through security, Skooba Design came up with the Checkthrough Messenger.

A “checkpoint friendly” laptop bag, it's specially designed - with input from the TSA - to pass through airport security x-ray screening without you having to remove your computer.

When you hit security, you just unzip it at the middle, and it'll unhinge and lay flat - a clear, vinyl "window" letting the inspector see your computer. And as the bag is sent through X-ray screening, it looks just like the laptop were removed and placed in a bin.

A convenient feature is that your laptop and all other contents are always secure, even with the hinge opened. So you can get it ready in line, while waiting for that family of six to pack all their crap into bins. After you're screened, you can pick up the bag and go, and zip it up later at the gate.

The laptop section holds all 15/15.4-inch machines, most 16- and many 17-inch models, including all Apple laptops. It also packs over a dozen compartments, pockets and organizers, including Skooba's exclusive Doc-Pocket™, which keeps your ticket and passport in reach. And to get your liquids through, the bag has a removable, zippered clear pouch. A durable ballistic exterior, heavy-duty webbing and stitching, and nickel-finish hardware mean you road warriors can throw it a beating and it'll take it for years.

Now if they could figure out a way to let us go through security without taking off our shoes.

$129.95.
www.checkthrough.com