CBP doing checks @ IAH
 

Not TSA but CBP were stopping people on the jetway on Oct 14th and asking how much money they were carrying. Never seen this before on a flight leaving the US

I flew out of SLC this morning and as I was having my DL and boarding pass examined, the TSA official asked me for my father's name. I assumed that the question was part of the new procedures -- trying to see if I would stumble or hesitate answering something that almost anyone would be able to reply to immediately who was not flying under a false name. But I was wrong. Turns out that she thought that she knew my father. So she was just chatting.

I have been giving the nazi salute for the last 12 years.

In regard to questioning by the bdo, my reply will be "I TAKE THE FIFTH"

Or lying.

I'd say it's more likely that you were SPOTted by someone who was good at lying, unless you were flying out of a smaller airport.

I wonder what TSA's reaction would be if I went to the bank and withdrew a couple thousand dollars, but bundled it to look like several thousand, and then went through a checkpoint with it. The big question, of course, is if enough angst and ire could be drawn to warrant a civil rights lawsuit by only refusing to answer their questions around the source of the money - not baiting them, mind you, but politely refusing to answer something I'm not required to answer.

Just out of curiosity, how exactly would you take a couple thousand dollars, and bundle it to look like several thousand? Also, what in your mind is the difference between "a couple" and "several"?

That thought did occur to me after I made my post. But since I am a professional genealogist, I love to talk about my ancestors, so I really don't care that much if her explanation was a pretext. Maybe I should have told her not only my father's name but also the name of my father's father -- and his father, and his father, and his father. :cool: "My father is Ralph, his father was Willard, his father was Robert, his father was William, his father was John ... "

"I do not know, my mother never would talk about him, but it is a painful reminder of my tragic childhood that I thought I had put behind me years ago, and now you bring it up. Why would you do that?"

Yep, that'll work for me.

Genealogy as an anti-chatting tool
 

This absolutely does work! Genealogical conversation causes glazed eyes and somnolence in its victims! :D

ladytraveler

Was given a series of questions just a few weeks back going through security for a DL flight STR>ATL. German airport security asked a series of questions regarding my destination, name, souvenirs, etc. while examining my passport/BP. You could tell he was paying more attention to my mannerisms than the actual answers. Very polite, but strictly business. Much preferred to the scowling, power tripping high school dropouts I encounter at home.

Over $10k has been the threshold as long as I can remember, but since it's impossible to tell the value of a pile of money without counting it, sometimes a much smaller amount gets their attention. Most of the screeners have never seen $10k cash and don't know what it looks like.

But it's not a crime if you report it to CBP.. and that's when you go out of the country. AFAIK, there is NO law that says you are not allowed to carry 10K+.

Of course it is not a crime, but even a $10k cash banking transaction gets you extra attention. TSA likes to think of itself as a law enforcement agency, and will act as if they are discovering contraband during the screening process. I cannot tell you if this is still the policy, but an old post on Flyertalk suggests that there is or was an operational directive (OD) to refer to other law enforcement a pax carrying a large amount of cash.

Good ideas.
T: Where are you going today?
G: Miami.
T: Why are you going to Miami?
G: South Beach.[non sequitur]
T: Have a nice trip. or Why are you going to South Beach?
G[option 2]: For the waters.

Uh oh, I got in a conversation with a barista at my local Starbucks and she thought she might have known several of my relatives in NJ. Do you think she was just Spotting me? Has the TSA infested SBUX?

Seriously, these guys are ridiculous.

Wow, no way would I give one of those guys one of my business cards. Hopefully, you have a secretary or somebody who answers your phone, but some of the TSOs I've met came across a little stalky.

As to the article...

Yes, I avert my eyes so I don't start laughing. I'm not sure what an "inconsistent head gesture" is. And I wring my hands in disgust at how my tax dollars are being wasted.

$212 million? I would have told them the bolded portion for half of that.

Cool, he's on a tv show! Wonder if that's why he's the professor who got picked. Nice ability to name-drop.

Exactly. This isn't Israel. Forgetting about the racial profiling business, talking to passengers is one of many, many things that the Israelis do. They know exactly who you are by the time you get to the airport and, if they don't, you're going to be spending a long time there. It should be insulting to the intelligence of travelers that the TSA would even mention Israeli security in the same discussion as BDOs.

Mike

I just prefer to call them the Gestapo....