Last Friday at JFK T3 (the checkpoint without a NOS… the one thing I will miss when T3 gets demolished), the TDC asked me “where are you flying to?” I was in no mood for their stupid security theatre so I replied “it’s listed on my boarding pass.” He asked me again where I was flying to. I pointed to the boarding pass and said “right here.” He then said “so, you don’t want to answer?” and called for a supervisor. The LTSO came over and asked what was going on. I told him that the TDC seemed confused as to where I was going even though it was clearly listed on my boarding pass. The LTSO then went going on some long rant about how they are allowed to ask our destination and our name blah blah blah. At that point, I requested an STSO. He told me that I was not allowed to access that checkpoint and walked away. I waited there for a while, asking multiple TSOs to call for a STSO – NOT an LTSO. I eventually got the picture that they were ignoring me so I gave up and walked to another checkpoint, which unfortunately had the blue cancer boxes activated. I of course opted out and was about to get my grope when three STSOs approached me and asked if I was the guy causing a problem at another checkpoint. I said no (I think we may have disagreed on the definition of a “problem”). They called over to the other checkpoint and asked for a description and sure enough, I turned out to be the problem-maker. They then started lecturing me about how they’re allowed to ask where I was traveling to, my name, blah blah blah. I then ask if I can get my patdown and be on my way. One of the STSOs was about to give me a patdown when another asked for my boarding pass. I felt a bit trapped. If I refused to give them my boarding pass, would they let me out of the checkpoint in a timely manner as I had already begun the screening process? I really didn’t want to miss my flight as it was the last one of the day (normally I have no problem missing my flight if necessary). With great hesitation, I gave the woman my boarding pass, while praying that she didn’t also ask to see my ID (thankfully she didn’t). Once I was cleared, I collected my belongings and proceeded over to the STSOs who were now standing around doing nothing (i.e. their regular duties). I took out a pen and paper and jotted down their names from their nametags. One of them had a last name identical to a naturally occurring sweetener, to which I commented “Oh, so you’re sweet like _____, huh?” He responded with, “Sir, do you want to fly today?” I told him that he and his colleagues could go f*** themselves, that they were a complete joke, and to go to hell. He huffed and puffed and said “ok, I’m calling Port Authority.” I give him the finger and started walking to my gate and I board the plane without incident. I am still pissed that they got my boarding pass, but I have a pretty common name and the only piece of identifying info was my FF number.

^ ^ Well done! Swine like that should be in prison.

of course they're allowed to ask name/destination, etc. What they fail to understand is that no law requires me to answer them.

And no law requires them to admit you to the sterile area of the airport if you refuse to answer them, either. (At least, this hasn't been tested in court.)

I doubt they will want to have this tested in court as 1) it will expose their precious little SOP and 2) if they end up on the wrong side of a decision it could make them liable for prohibiting a passenger from traveling (somewhat) freely.

I think the one thing that gave me comfort in the whole situation was that even though I was clearly subject to retaliation from those goons, I never did have to state my destination :D

I switched back to mobile boarding pass and the Destination question was asked again. I'm fairly certain that is the trigger.

"You know, I've been flying around so much these days, I'm not even sure where I am now! Isn't that crazy?"

"Well, I know my flight's at Gate 7, but I forgot where I'm going today! Sorry."

"I think I'm in seat 34D."

"Hold on, can I take a look at that boarding pass again?"

"O...R...D... wherever that is."

"Way up high!"

Point to a law that even suggests TSA can deny admission for that.

Last time I looked at the statute authorizing TSA, it said something along the lines that the passenger had to submit to screening of persons and property for weapons, explosives, and incendiaries. I think due to the farce of (in)Secure Flight, it also says something about providing name, DOB, and gender and presenting an ID document. It says nothing about answering questions beyond that.

I'm not a lawyer, and I didn't stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night, so I won't even pretend to be able to site a relevant law.

However ... my completely uninformed speculation suggests that the law is silent on the issue. And as you and I have already demonstrated, we can read that silence in two different ways. There's no law requiring TSA to admit you if you don't answer, but there's no law requiring TSA to deny you admission, either. Which is why it would be interesting to see this adjudicated --- and (as has been pointed out upstream) why we'll probably never see it adjudicated, as TSA will find a way to settle out-of-court before that happens.

This states very well the state of airline security today. At one time we went to the airport with the expectation of traveling and the purpose of security was to find those people that presented a danger to the travelers or the aircraft. However, today, unless we can adequately prove that we are not a danger to our fellow travelers, we can be denied the ability to travel for no other reason than that of uncertainty.

They seem to be almost the same thing, but in application they are worlds apart.

It's not just in the area of airport security. That change has also taken place in the way the US federal government views the citizens. Hence the scanning of the citizens' communications, both phone and email, economic transactions, web activity, reaching down to monitor local levels via the fusion centers, and the beginnings of video monitoring/facial recognition infrastructure.

We are all potential threats until proven otherwise. I fail to see any real grounds for any of it.

should have said "im going to meet a nice blond hooker"

There's nothing "friendly" about small stations. Typically these small airports are the ones with the worst TSA screeners, ones with too much time on their hands and that have fully imbibed the Kool-Aid and sincerely believe that they are on the front lines of the war against terror.

I'll take the jaded, go through the motions, it's a job, just here for my workfare paycheck types at really busy large urban airports.

+1, MOB is an example. I'll never ever set foot there again if I can help it.