I'm not sure that is good advice. In my PhD work we made experimental apparatuses that we would have to bring with us from UCLA to NASA's test facility in Cleveland (to fly on the vomit comet). Once a lab-mate got kicked off the plane in Detroit and that was before 9/11. The good news for Heather is this is a commercially produced item, so they probably won't be suspicious of it. I doubt you will have a problem, but it is a good idea to be prepared. No one (on the forums, at the airline, or even the TSA) can tell you exactly how the TSA agent you get is going to react.