Chat Down at DTW
 

I flew out of DTW today for a business trip. One big mistake I made was I arrived a little later at the airport than I should have so I had to play along with the Behavior detection mumbo jumbo.

Clerk: " What is the purpose of your travel"
"How many days will you be in XXX"
"who do you work for?"
"Let me see your itenarary"
"Let me see your hotel confirmation"
"let me see your employee id"
"How many long have you been working for XXX"
"Which school did you graduate from?"

At this point, I refused to pull out my employee id and told her that it was buried deep inside my carry-on. This lady was wearing a jacket that said "TSA Inspector" by the way. She insisted and I stood my ground as I didn't want to dig all the stuff from my carry-ons. She asked for my business card instead and let me on my way.

This interrogation left a very bitter taste in my mouth as it is none of the TSA's God damned business which school I attended and what sort of work history I have.

On my next trip in January, I'm going to arrive very early and do a complete opt-out of this chatdown, and tell them to go screw themselves.

Is this nonsense in place now for all pax flying out of DTW?

I flew out of BOS early this morning. Two TDCs, but no SPOTters. But there were around six extra podiums where they'd stand.

Picked the lane where the NoS was roped off and went on my way.

Minimum 2 hours before flight for me. And I enjoy every minute of it.

Its bad enough that these guards are asking questions. Now they are demanding papers as well that are unrelated to your flight!?

No way will I show them my work id, hotel receipts or any other documents other than boarding passes, id's etc.

The first time someone asks for my papers I will goose step out while giving my best "Heil Hitler."

Clerk: " What is the purpose of your travel"

Because where I need to be is not where I am.

"How many days will you be in XXX"

Enough to finish.

"who do you work for?"

My clients.

"Let me see your itenarary"

No, let me see your supervisor.

"Let me see your hotel confirmation"

No, and I still need to see your supervisor.

"let me see your employee id"

I do not have one.

"How many long have you been working for XXX"

Since about 5 minutes after I left my last job.

"Which school did you graduate from?"

Who said I graduated? Now, where is that supervisor?

I travel a lot, so one day sooner or later, I'm going to be subjected to these questions. I've resigned myself to inevitable. On that day I'm going to get myself in soooo much trouble. I know myself well enough to know I will not respond meekly to this Gestapo line of questioning. Something is going snap inside my head... I really wish I could avoid air travel.

Are you serious - was this entire line of questioning like you describe, or are you exaggerating at all? I've never had anything that even approached this in frequent travels (over a dozen legs this month.) Usually I have gotten 3 or 4 questions, most often in BOS. Were you at the podium or just walking through the terminal?

Why did you feel you had to "play along?" I would have just walked away if approached in the terminal after the second question.

I'm serious, it was at the podium. I had a business trip that I needed to travel for, so missing my flight was out of the question. For my next trip in January, I will make sure I arrive 3 hours early in case they decide to harass me.

I'll answer the 1st 3 questions mostly to avoid confrontation but what is the deal with asking the rest of those questions? Asking for the hotel confirmation is downright absurd.

I would have no problem with this line of questioning!!!LOL!!

" What is the purpose of your travel"
I have to take care of several client issues>
"How many days will you be in XXX"
Depends on how stupid and stubborn the clients are.
"who do you work for?"
Myself
"Let me see your itenarary"
You have it in your hand, from here to ATL and back.
"Let me see your hotel confirmation"
My clients make the reservations and provide them when I arrive.
"let me see your employee id"
Since I AM THE COMPANY I do not have one.
"How many long have you been working for XXX"
37 years
"Which school did you graduate from?"
UHK University of Hard Knocks

It is all true and conveys nothing to the clerk, what can I say!!!!

I went through DTW for the first time in over a year this morning. I got a reduced chat down at the upstairs McNamara non-elite checkpoint.

What is the purpose of your trip to CLT: Work
How long will you be there: Till Friday (a lie)
Is CLT your final destination: Yes (kinda lie, much driving and returning from ORF)
Who booked your trip: Me

What is any of that supposed to prove?

What really annoys me is what used to take two TDCs not has at least eight people involved.

1. Polo shirted TSA Inspector pointing people to one of thee podiums. He was chatting with others. I didn't make eye contact while waiting, and he did nothing.
2. Blue shirt wandering the line
3. Blue shirt at podium one - who gave me the chat down.
4. Sport coat and tie at podium two
5. Biz casual (?) female at podium three
6&7. Blue shirts pointing you to MMW lines
8. Leather jacketed (kind of a sports coat, no logo) constantly scanning the line and tapping away on a pda/phone. I'm assuming this is a BDO.


Gumby false alarmed on my left shin, so I got a rub down from the knee down, plus a pocket check :confused:

What an incredible waste of money.

Simple response - "I decline to participate in this pilot program."

Expect retaliation.

The cost is down on my list of complaints, way down.

The PIPI that is the center of discussion in this thread is just the newest infringement added to a long list.

We now have to submit our names and personal information to be compared to multiple lists of dubious creation to allow us to enter the process without creating additional screening requirements. The source of this information is unknown and secret. The reason we may be on the list, if we are, is unknown and secret. The advanced screening to which we may be subject is unknown and secret.

We must present a valid ID with our boarding papers, an exercise of limited security value but necessary anyway.

At the discretion of a government actor, we can be selected to undergo a virtual scan of or nude body with the option of selection a law enforcement style physical search instead. This is done without any probable cause or suspicion except for the fact that we wish to get on airplane and fly somewhere.

We are told our personal papers can be searched. We are told that they may record our information from documents and credit cards. We may be asked why we are carrying cash and valuables. We have to specially declare and justify medications. People with medical implants, prostheses, medical devices must justify their existence. People requiring wheelchairs and assist devices are required to prove that they are not using these devices to hide contraband often in painful and embarrassing procedures.

Anomalies detected in any of these processes may lead to further more intrusive searches or our denial of travel. Objections to the process can lead to our personal information being collected and added to some list that is both secret in is purpose and reason. We can be fined for interfering with the process, a description of said offense being secret.

We may be further subjected to additional searches and inspections of or bodies, belongings, liquids and matches of our papers and ID yet again, before we can board the plane.

Most of this is not authorized specifically by any properly created regulation or public law except that that may be granted by an unlimited authority to "do whatever needs to be done, we will justify it later" attitude. (The previous quote is a rhetorical creation for descriptive effect of the process and is not an actual quote, so please do not accuse me of making up quotes as it was rhetorical.) Attempts to determine the actual process is met with the reply that it is secret and we can not be told, but be assured we must comply with this secret process and its secret penalties.

We are told that we can not lawfully photograph this process, even when we can, and may be threatened with arrest for attempting to do so.

All of this is on top of the reasonable processes instituted to detect WEI such as bag xray and searches, ETD, WTMD and the now defunct HHMD.

The cost is a problem, without a doubt. Yet on my list of complaints, it is way down the list.