The legislation that authorizes TSA only allows for a limited administrative search for WEI.

Also in 357 U.S. 116 Kent v. Dulles the Supreme Court ruled:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/htm...7_0116_ZS.html

In my judgement TSA violated your civil rights and should be held legally accountable. INAL so what do I know?

Same thing happened to me at IAH B. The TDC called over the LTSO...and she said "aww hell no" when I repeated the name. Then they tried to tell me to "wait over there" for some unknown authority. Needless to say, I didn't stick around for the drama. It's not like you have to follow there orders outside the sterile area...:cool:

As I left, i told them that they don't know how my name is pronounced...

I wound up taking the train over to C where there was much less attitude.

"I said a name that didn't match my boarding pass and ID"

And why would you do this?

At 8:30 am today, I approached the TDC at LGA Terminal D (Delta). After examining my boarding pass and Global Entry card, she asked me to say my name. I said, "It's right there on the boarding pass and ID." She said -- yes, she really said this -- that she never learned how to read. I think it was intended to be amusing, but it wasn't -- and I didn't laugh. I told her that I objected to stating my name in front of strangers for security reasons. She called over another TSA guy, who took my boarding pass from her, read my name to me and asked if that is my name. I agreed that it is my name, and he then sent me toward the regular security line.

I asked if pre-check had cleared. He said that because I had refused to say my name, I couldn't go to the pre-check line. Obviously, he was just making that up. I asked for a supervisor. He said that I could find one on the other side of security -- after I passed through the regular line, of course. I refused and said that I wanted to see a supervisor now, right where I was standing. Eventually, he summoned one, and she showed up a few minutes later.

After telling her my story, she rechecked my boarding pass, saw that pre-check had in fact cleared, and sent me through that line. She also "had a word" with the obnoxious guy who tried to punish me for not saying my name.

Bruce

Let me correct the original statement.

cottonmather0 pronounced his name, which does in fact match his boarding pass and ID, in a manner that would not necessarily be the most common pronunciation assumed by a native speaker of American English. He in no way intended to mislead the TSO, but disclaims any responsibility for confusion caused by the TSO's erroneous assumption as to his choice for pronunciation of his name.

The real question is why does TSA ask?? It goes beyond the administrative search doctrine (Davis 1973).

I don't willingly submit to illegal requests.

A document checker played the name game with me at SFO some time ago.
I told him my name was "smith'. He asked if I was sure, and after my affirmative response, he called over a supervisor.
I explained my rationale (theater, as well as a security risk), and the supervisor said I didn't have to say my name if I didn't want to. He told the screener they can't force me to say my name.

My opinion is that if you didn't want to say your name, you should have refused to do so. Many people have reported doing that on FT, and they all get through after some amount of hassle. However, once you gave them a fake name, you gave them probable cause to believe that you are using a fake ID or stolen boarding pass, and they are justified in denying you entry.

I don't see that the OP is saying he/she gave a fake name, but perhaps OP pronounced it differently than the TSO felt it "should" be pronounced. Who determines the 'correct" pronunciation? I think it should be the individual bearing the name. not some government agent.

Take the name "Thibideaux" which is rather common in some parts of the country. In New Orleans it is pronounced "tib-uh-dough" but a TSO who hasn't studied Cajun/French thinks it should be pronounced "the - bid - ox."

Mr/Ms Thibideaux is denied entry because the TSO doesn't care for the way he/she pronounces their own name?

come to think of it, in all my years of flying, I've never seen Brett Favre (pronounced "farve") on a plane, so the TSA must be doing their job.

Because I wanted to see what would happen.

And let me point out, I did make my plane just fine with no trouble at the other checkpoint, so it's not as if I was harmed by not playing along with this nonsense. If enough people do what I did today and just resisted their foolishness just a little but, this whole mess would go away.

When I fly out of IAH again on Monday, I'm thinking I'll just refuse to play the name game altogether and see what happens then.

This was the response when I asked TAS IAH last year about the failure to provided my name:

To some degree, this is what I was trying to accomplish. The TDC and Supervisor very clearly could read my name - it's a very simple and common name - so what's the point of me saying it if my boarding pass matches my ID? They kept saying, "that's not what your boarding pass says." How do you know? And if you do, why put passengers through it?

There's no reason for the name game. It's nothing but authoritarian nonsense.

But, my friend, there is a reason. You can be assured that some well-compendated consultant told TSA management how bouncers have used the name game to trip up underage kids with a fake ID. And it's not much of a leap of imagination from kid trying to get a beer to adult trying to bomb a plane.

That the TSA had disposable money to hire said consultant when he came calling is the reason.

I got the name game twice, and both times got a free ride. I do not recommend these techniques.

The first was in HOU, the other Houston airport. As many of you know I am hearing impaired. In fact I have a variable hearing impairment. Right now, at this moment, I can hear pretty good. Tomorrow when I go to the airport I may be nearly deaf. Like I was in HOU. I was fairly certain after the fact that that she was asking for my name, but being new to the name game, the question made no sense. People that are hard of hearing rely on context for a lot of their understanding. I know what questions they might ask and I am ready to handle those. Questions out of context or unexpected are little mysteries to be solved. After three times saying "I'm sorry, I do not understand your question. Would you repeat that?" She gave up and sent me on.

The other involved a Nexus standoff, at DAL. (What is it about Texas?) I had to escalate all the way up to the Screening Manager (he was 6th or 7th in the process) who came out to the CP ready for bear. It was not a good look. He asked one of the involved 3-stripers what the problem was, and he said "This person is disrupting the screening process by trying to give us an invalid ID and refuses to provide another ID." Well, that is a good start. He asked for the ID and boarding pass. He looked at the ID and became very, very angry. He turned to me and said (paraphrase) "I am sorry sir, but obviously my people did not recognize your Nexus as we do not get these often and I will make sure they get training." He squiggled the BP and sent me on my way. Training began in earnest immediately.

I almost forgot, the name game. Everyone else in line was asked their name. In dealing with me and then the Manager, I guess they forgot. :p