Fliers forced to check prized laptops

LOS ANGELES — Gwendal Auffret sat frustrated at a food court at Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday, hastily typing business contracts on his laptop.

He had no choice but to type the documents there: Airport security wanted all passengers en route to London Heathrow Airport to check their computers as baggage.

"You have to learn to live without it," he said with resignation. He was on his way home via London to Paris, where he runs a digital-film company. "You just have to hope that it's not going to stay the policy forever. It will be complicated to be a business traveler if you can't work anymore during these 10- to 12-hour flights."

It was many a business traveler's nightmare: boarding an airplane without a laptop. And it happened to hundreds of thousands of passengers Thursday flying in and out of Heathrow, indeed all of Britain's major airports.

Restrictions were slapped on carry-on luggage of all kinds, but nothing seemed so precious to business travelers as their portable computers.

"As much as the cowboy of the last century wouldn't think of walking around without a gun, these technologies are key tools for people's lives," said Ben Shneiderman, author of "Leonardo's Laptop," which explores people's relations with the portable computer.

"Time is scarce, and wasted time on long flights is really an annoyance; there is the pressure to get work done all the time."

Despite initial media reports, there were no plans Thursday to require domestic U.S. travelers to check laptops as baggage, according to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Still, U.S. travelers headed to Heathrow and beyond fell victim to the ban.

About 65 million laptops were sold worldwide last year, according to research firm IDC. And that number is increasing.

Fears of high-tech separation anxiety were coupled with passenger concerns that Thursday's restrictions were just the beginning.

Quick business trips seemed at risk. Hourslong check-in lines, lost baggage and hours of unproductive time loomed large.

Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition, said the restrictions at Heathrow had changed assumptions travelers made about what they were entitled to on the plane.

"Last week the thought of a business traveler not being able to take his or her laptop or overnight bag on a plane would have been unthinkable," Mitchell said. "This week it's thinkable."

Having surrendered their business tools, passengers were forced to alternatives: watching the in-flight movie, sleeping or reading a book.

At Border's bookstore at Heathrow, laptop-free travelers were among the store's best customers.

Popular titles included "Freakonomics" and "The World is Flat," said store supervisor Jonathan Daniel. "If they hadn't been able to get books, I think they would've been quite frustrated."