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I am traveling from the US to the UK and then to Portugal. Round trip. I have a laptop without a battery, so I am hesitant to bring it as carry-on in the plane because I had troubles already with a laptop not turning on through security.

Is there any problem with sending the laptop in the checked-in luggage? If they open my luggage and they find it, would that be a problem? Could they take it away?

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  • Why do you carry a laptop without a battery? – DJClayworth Jan 27 '17 at 16:39
  • The battery was damaged. I had to remove it. I ordered a battery online but I didn't get it on time for my upcoming trip. – diegowc Jan 27 '17 at 16:44
  • You will definitely not be creating any danger by putting the notebook computer in the checked luggage, sans battery. Whether that breaks any rules I will let others answer. Do not bring the bad battery at all. – Spehro Pefhany Jan 27 '17 at 17:08
  • It's also perfectly logical that a laptop battery may simply be dead on arrival at a security gate... they know these things happen. No one is going to lose their laptop to the authorities cause it won't turn on. Just bring it with the power cord available. Not sure about the UK, but in the states is pretty uncommon for them to have you turn it on. Everyone has a device now... think about the extra hours it would take to validate each one is real. – maplemale Jan 27 '17 at 17:48
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    @maplemale your comment is perfectly reasonable and thus inapplicable to the TSA. – emory Jan 27 '17 at 21:31
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There is no issue with traveling with a laptop without a battery. Just plug it in if you are asked to demonstrate that it is really working and it isn't a fake laptop. If I were you, I'd rather travel with it as a carry-on luggage to keep it with me. It is certainly safer. And if they have trouble with that, you can check it in as a fallback.

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    My only problem is that last time through security they didn't just let me plug it in and show that it worked. I had the battery at the time and I had to go outside, charge the battery up, and go through security again – diegowc Jan 27 '17 at 17:53
  • I'd suggest you to take a busy lane. Then they will probably take less time to check these kind of things... – Olielo Jan 27 '17 at 17:58
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    @Ollelo that's not a bad idea. I was unlucky last time because I got selected for random extra security... Which meant I had to go through every control possible – diegowc Jan 27 '17 at 18:08

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