Quick question; are the airlines still anal about notebooks + batteries???

Not really, you just have to have them turned off until the plane reaches cruising altitude, and while the plane is landing.

When I went on a plane last (January 07), I just had to take the laptop out of the bag into a tray so they could xray it and that was all.

No they have cooled off about Apples and Dells which they were specifically banning from turning on at all.

Mine travels with me twice a week every week.

Ian

yes, but that's the world over unfortunately. carry it as you normally would, and when asked to take it out for scanning, take it out and follow instructions. some airports may ask for battery removal/seperation, some not.

if you're prepared that you will have to take it out of its bag for passing through the screening tunnel, then you'll be sweet. it's but a minor delay to what is the already painfully slow process of flying.

Oh okay, yeah I was aware of the removing the battery out and putting it through the xray, that's no problem. I just thought they'd be worried about the notebook on the plane. That's answered all the questions! CHEERS!!

I always turn my PB off before it going through the scanner and if I am at the airport for quite a while before boarding I usually turn it back on and do some work, does anyone know if any harm can be done if you DON'T turn it off?

I always just sleep mine.
Sometimes they ask at security to see it running (perhaps it looks like a laptop but is really a bomb), so opening screen and not waitng for boot up saves time - especially when runnning late (me always).
Never had any problem with X-Ray.