Originally Posted by
Sykes
The problem is that you won't know whether it is fake or real authority until you run afoul of someone who has real authority and is annoyed enough to actually assert it. In addition to the federal laws that we all know and love, airports are subject to any number of ordinances and other local regulations that are near impossible to locate ahead of time (and some of which may be covered in the airport's security program which is by definition sensitive security information and not accessible to the public). What might be legal (but dick-ish) at one airport may be against the law at another.
That's a fair point. But nonetheless, federal law takes precedence over and supercedes all state and local law with respect to federal services. And it is simply illegal under federal law for a non-federal government entity to charge for better availability of to or otherwise restrict access to federal government provided services. Federal government services including TSA are, by law, available on an equal basis to all persons. The locals are simply not allowed to interfere without federal law authorizing them to do so.