The Transportation Security Administration announced it opened a new facility at Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport to test a new screening method. It is part of what TSA calls the Advancing the Checkpoint Environment program. The first project is testing a new screening process that could result in airline passengers keeping laptops in their bags.

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At LAS, advanced imaging machines use computer tomography technology to look into carry-on bags and give a more detailed image than current X-ray scans. The ACE facility will soon test multiple different kinds of technology.

Currently, this new checkpoint is only used about four hours a day, Sunday through Thursday. Those hours are expected to expand as ACE grows. Also, passengers still have to remove their shoes and take liquids from their bags, but this could change in the future as a result of the growing technology and testing.

ACE representatives are quick to point out the LAS experiment might not necessarily expand nationwide, but obviously that would be the goal. Newer, more advanced procedures are always in demand everywhere. Once sufficiently tested at LAS, there should be eventual nationwide expansion.

The time saved by leaving laptops and other electronic devices in bags might seem negligible, but the cumulative effect will be noticeable. Future time-saving procedures, plus the residual effect of less shuffling of airport bins, will only make the screening process quicker and less stressful.

Initial reports from LAS are positive. It’s still early, but time-saving changes are coming.

— John Wroblewski, online writer