grantp

This has happened to a few times when returning from overseas trips at least when departing Spain or Colombia (our most recent trips). My wife or I will be called aside by an agent of some kind who asks a bunch of questions about where we went. They ask follow-up questions to detect lies. (E.g. when returning from Barcelona, when my wife said we had gone to the Sagrada Familia, they asked her how much the admission had been). The questioning made us nervous and I just wondered:
1. Do they do this with everybody nowadays?
2. Is the agent from the US or from the country we are leaving?
3. What exactly are they trying to catch? Why the follow-up questions?

TWA884

Please take a look at the following thread:

GUWonder

This has been going on for decades now, but in more recent years it has been covering even more flights by non-US carriers than was the case in say 2016.

Most commonly the people doing the questioning for US-bound flights are US-wanted-and-approved private security contractors who reside (at least temporarily) and/or work (at least temporarily) in the country being departed. The contractors aren't always citizens of the country being departed, and sometimes it even shows in their lack of local and/or regional knowledge, their accents and even struggle with the host country's primary language.

Some people get questioned way more extensively than others.

They are mostly trying to catch people being deceptive, nervous or who may be unwitting mules for what they deem to be a security threat or are told is a security risk. There is also an aspect of this that relates to immigration-control concerns for some. The more they question, the more they may be hopping to trip up the persons who have already been targeted by the screener's/screeners' prejudice(s).

garykung

Yes - SOP.

Host countries.

Bombers literally. These questionings will determine if your baggage needs additional screening.

Mats

It seems so arcane. When there are genuine threats from infectious disease and domestic terrorism, questions from ICTS and similar contractors seem like pitiful anachronisms.
It's just that no airline wants to be take a risk and stop this practice. No legislator wants to let the rules change. We're still preoccupied with liquids and shoes without acknowledging the most serious threats to our health and safety.

The questions started in the 80s, largely based on disproven pop psychology from Paul Eckman, and others. The idea is that a €10/hour employee can take a three-day course and be able to identify and predict human behavior. Psychologists can't do that; Mr or Ms Blue Blazer certainly can't.

There are usually two interviews. The first is before check-in. This is not only to identify terrorists but also to ensure that the passenger may legally enter the United States.
The second interview is immediately before boarding, and it is to ensure that the passenger did not unwittingly purchase or accept hazardous goods. The questions were required on "Category X" or extraordinary risk flights to the United States on US-based carriers. Some overseas airlines adopted the questions as well (Air France, for example.)

After TWA 800, the questions were introduced to US flights. These were abandoned after the Attacks of September 11, perhaps because everyone noticed that they didn't serve a purpose.

For the most part, the questions were fast and pro forma. Perhaps a few questions about who packed your bags or when. The agents were generally friendly or at least inoffensive. A few power trips here and there, but these were rare. I once had my laptop stolen at the airport, and the ICTS agents were amazing. Others have been welcoming and kind if they remembered me from a previous trip.

American Airlines was the exception, having adopted a disturbing pattern of asking extraordinarily intrusive questions. ("Who is looking after your children? What are the names of your children? What are the names of your pets? What is your relationship with your boss like? What is your boss' phone number?") No hyperbole; this was their practice for years. They have since seemed to have piped down or perhaps been litigated sufficiently. An AA agent once asked how my mother died. (A friend suggested that the appropriate reply was, "She asked too many questions."

A favorite question at American was, "Who was your high school headmaster." Using magical powers, their functionaires could somehow determine if you were lying. Don't blink when answering that question, you liar.

I have little doubt that intimidation became a primary goal of the interviews.

The previous US presidential administration decided to expand the questioning. The questions were extended to all airlines, not just US carriers. And the questions started to resemble American Airlines. (My neighbors got this on Norwegian from Stockholm... "How long have you been together? What is your relationship like? What do you enjoy doing together.?"
Some carriers (Air France) went through the motions so as to please the US government. These included hand-written surveys.

Amid the devastation of the pandemic, I hope that airlines will be able to rededicate their attention to flying safely and comfortably. Perhaps they can finally abandon invasive faux psychology. We can get there safely without citing our boss' phone numbers.

miamiflyer8

I faced this sort of questioning by ICTS at the UA counter at Stockholm ARN. Not only that but the agent who I believe was from Russia was rude when he asked the BS questions in a KGB manner, his Swedish was lacking so I offered to switch to English, that was met with a rude "Nej!, Jag pratar Svenska!".

GUWonder

Maybe he was grumpy because he was among the ones not covered by Forsakringskassan and his rough Stockholm night was followed by the start of the work day launching him out of bed well before it was 6 a.m. because of his reporting time for duty at ARN that morning.

Rude, friendly, or apathetic, the questioning is generally all on the same spectrum of nonsense for these US-bound flights. The questioning is imagined to be useful but it is not an effective way to detect and interdict prohibited weapons/explosives/incendiaries from getting on board the plane. And yet the questioning has been expanded to cover more and more US-bound flights in recent years than was previously the case.

Having been a regular on US carriers' ARN flights over the years and knowing a fair amount and then some about who some of these questioners have been for my many UA ARN flights and for the other times I have been around to see check-ins for those flights, I can only say that I came across more Hebrew-speakers of Slavic-origins doing that TSA-wanted-and-approved questioning at ARN for US carrier flights than I encountered proverbial fresh-off-the-boat (from Russia) Russians in the role for those UA flights out of ARN.

Not too different from ARN, some of the contract questioners used for US airlines' flights from CPH also say they can speak Danish. That is even as their most natural language is not Danish and sometimes not even Swedish. Sure they can speak Danish and/or Swedish like a foreign student arrival who has had a few semesters of intensive language training and had some months of language immersion and they can converse in routine matters in the language; but domestic, native accent speakers they often are not in these parts.

At times I have my fun with these contract security agents by toying around with languages or getting others to toy around with languages and doing what I can to try to avoid having people fitting nicely into any of the lazy stereotype boxes into which they want to stuff passengers.

miamiflyer8

It was a Saturday morning indeed so I guess he was partying the night before and then had to show up at work at the crack of dawn.