European airports haven't yet got to grips with the iPad. We know that the US authorities are happy for the iPad to be left in a bag. After all, it is just an oversized iPhone and we've never had to pull out the phone or the iPod touch.
Over the last week I have been through eight security checks at various European airports and have had to remove the iPad from my bag on only one occasion, in Zurich. Strangely, on the return journey through the same airport I was allowed to keep the iPad in the bag.
When asked if there is a laptop in my bag I say, "No laptop, just an Apple iPaed" with the use of a rather strangled vowel somewhere between pOd and pAd with a nod to the German pronunciation, pEd. This hasn't been questioned, even at Heathrow, and the bag sails through unmolested. For how much longer, I wonder?
I wish I had this kind of luck. I get “pulled aside” in Orlando and Philly every time I leave my iPad in my bag.