I am returning the the Mother Ship (Israel) for a while, and I am connecting through Central and West Africa for business. If I said this at Ben Gurion, security guy wouldn't really care: he's observing how I act, not so much what I say. However, if they ever try to give me a hard time, I'll just start talking about
Rambam and watch his eyes glaze over LOL
If I say this to a smurf at US airport, they think perhaps they can "bust" me. You see all the arrests TSA seeks to justify its existence, no?
The problem is, the TSA can't be trusted -- at all. In the US, you NEVER share info with police -- ever. Police and agents of gov are NEVER there to help you... it's just SOP. I have some American family in police, and trust me, they don't care!!!
I applaud the TSA for TRYING this method, but they need to:
1) establish that the info can't be used for criminal .... -- at all!
2) hire israelis: tons of israelis would LOVE this job. Getting paid to hassle Americans... I think that's called heaven
3) Accept the fact they'll have to pay more than 45k/yr to get someone reasonably capable for this job... that's the hard-bit.
Terrorism is a real threat, and I am sure there are guys frustrated with just stabbing American tourists in Jerusalem and want to take out a whole PLANE of us... I am beginning to think the TSA will figure it out, but it'll be painful process.
Till then, I fly in/out Canada
It only happened to me once; I had time to spare, so I had fun with it. He came up with his partner nearby but pretending not to listen. He asked me how I was and I said "fine". Then he asked me for my BP and I gave it to him. He asked why I was going to Chicago. I got fed up and replied: "See spot; see spot run; go spot; go spot go . . . bother another passenger". The look was priceless. I was given SSSS treatment and filed a complaint.
THAT'S EXACTLY THE PROBLEM with the Americans doing this: when someone gets INDIGNANT, TRULY INDIGNANT, it PROVES they're innocent.
El Al didn't want my fiance to take her computer once with her on a trip (this was a while ago -- forgot why). She told them, "I'm not flying without my lap-top." They let her go w/o a hassle. Another time, she got asked about some Jewish stuff, and she lost her temper and told them to get stuffed.
Again, they let her go on her way, straight-away.
In both cases, the TSA wouldn't budge, and they'd react as a stupid bureaucracy, rather than an intellgience(LOL!) agency of sorts.