If they ask me where I'm going, I'll tell them the same thing I do to the people at work.
"Away" or "Elsewhere".

There must have been a better response than an untruth. I'd not want to risk that, in case someone actually considers the person a "federal agent."

That's why I was going through A. No Pre- in C.

And, by the way, I went through Pre- last night at LAX on my way home and, surprisingly, I guess, given this apparent new policy for Pre-, I was not asked my destination. Strange. :p

But his response isn't untrue. He is going to get on a plane to go on a business trip, just like I'll be heading to Gate Whatever. Those aren't lies. If they can't read my destination off the boarding pass, then they're functioning below the minimum level of literacy most Federal jobs require, which I believe is evaluated at about a sixth or seventh grade level.

In fact, on Monday, if I tell TSA "Mystic" or "DC", that's also true, even though my boarding pass says otherwise. If they say, "where are you traveling to today?" I think I'll name off the full name of ATL just for funnies (layover) or further confuse them by saying "Cary" since that's actually where I'm headed. So Federal agent or not, I'm not lying, and neither was cottonmather0.

He might have been referring to me just blurting out, "Seattle!" which seemed to satisfy her but was completely false since I was going to LAX.

What is confusing to me is that when I was pushing back, she tried to justify it by saying, "Well, on this machine I can't see that information." I was using an electronic BP and my phone never left my hand. As near as I can tell, most BP scanners only display the name of the traveler and nothing else, so she was probably telling the truth*.

So all that being said, I thought the stated point of the Name Game and Where Ya Headed Today?™ was to "double check" the information on the boarding pass. If the machine she was using actually doesn't display my destination, why does she need to ask?

I did push back a little bit, but I've been corrupted and I'm not about to get onto the Precheck black list and lose my privileges, so I didn't push it. If it had been a non-Precheck podium, I would have steadfastly refused, which I've done before successfully.

*DISCLAIMER: This podium uses the "green light" scanner and not the "three beeps", so maybe it does display more information and she was just lying to me about not being able to see, thinking maybe I was just a sheep who could be easily nudged. I don't know.

Ah - I missed a post or part of the original. Comes with being on night shift. :)

Destination was asked at SAN this morning and its not a pre airport. I used a electronic BP today, yesterday in BOS was paper BP

I got it out of C a few years ago... full "immigration style" chat-down, the TDC asked me "who are you meeting in Buffalo" (my destination) three times despite answering that I was going home.

Never had it out of B South (US side).

Well done -- that's exactly the desired outcome.

Today at SAN i used paper boarding pass and did not get asked where I was going. Not the best experiment as it was different TSO working.

Me too. Same airport as a week ago. Same terminal. Same podium, just a different TDC. But no nosy power trip.

Not only am I apparently unfamiliar with this new Pre- policy, other TSO's at the same airport don't even know about it. :D

My third time of TSA in SAN over the weekend MR, again with paper boarding pass, no question about where i was going. Also different TSA rotation. I'm not sure what to expect when I go back through SAN again next weekend. Flying out of BOS again on the way there, but on AS, so i will be clearing pre in the terminal i'm departing from and not transferring to C. I guess the terminal change afer security question from last weekend was my chat-down

I normally try to minimize the pain at the checkpoint, but that question would have gotten a swift "none of your business."

Mike

When I was leaving ROC the TSO looked at my ID and BP,he only said my first name,to which I replied yes. hmmmm