Originally Posted by
Timfid
I think the OP should file a complalint with the TSA. The issue in isolation may be trivial, but there's a very important principle involved, or rather two principles: 1) if the question is required by TSA policy, then are we going to accept that the TSA has a right to expand into asking prying personal questions which have no clear relation to maintaining security, and 2) if the question isn't required by TSA security, are we going to accept TSA staff making up their own rules for us to follow on their own initiative?
I would be very interested to know whether this question is required by TSA policy, and if it isn't, whether a TSA staff member who decides to make it part of the standard screening procedure is acting within TSA policy.
While I know that we all like to rant about the TSA, the OP does not specify whether this happened at an airport where TSA has taken over the ID check or not. Most US airports still retain the private security firms that are "hired by the airlines and not mandated by the TSA" as their ID check stations. Honestly, we would need more information from the OP to determine if this was a TSO that asked the question or a rent-a-cop.