whirledtraveler

Here's another tack:

Screener: "Where are you going?"

Passenger: "I'm sorry, but I can't tell you. It's a secret."

polonius

My US lawyer advised me not to answer any questions by US law enforcement, including TSA. By law, you have to provide the information in the landing card and customs declaration, but that is ALL. Doing otherwise is risky -- for example, if they ask you "where are you going?" and you innocently respond "New York", but you are actually flying to Newark, which is technically in New Jersey, they could then arrest you for lying to a federal officer, a federal crime. Then they could do as they have with dozens of people and try to turn you into al-Qaeda informant in exchange for dropping the charges. On my recent trip to the USA, I always responded, "I can't provide that information." If pressed, I would explain I had been advised by counsel not to answer any questions.

goalie

i disagree. we're talking about someone volutarily deciding to leave their job based on frustration who in no way possible, could take even the most logical and common sense suggestion (perhaps learned from f/t) for change and have even the slightest hope of getting it even considered becasue it is the nature of the tsa to not embrace change except in a knee jerk reaction. we, as travellers are faced with the frustrations from "the outside" and DCA TSO has obviously been facing his/hers from the inside. i can't speak for how DCA TSO does his/her job as he/she could be the model tsa screener that we all love to deal with (seriously meant as their are great ones out there) or the screener from he|| but again, this is someone who appears to be as fed up with the same type of BS that we have to deal with.

exerda

I have a couple of questions / observations on the above...

First, do TSOs constitute the sort of "federal officer" for which to provide false information is a crime? I'm not sure about that.

Second, just because you are flying to EWR doesn't mean you are not "going" to NYC. For that particular case, even though EWR is in NJ and not NY, it's certainly considered a metropolitan NYC airport. But in the broader case, where you are flying is not necessarily the same as where you are going; I've flown, for instance, to COS, and then driven up to DEN, or flown to SAN and driven to PSP or IPL.

voop

Actually, Goalie, DCA TSO has shown on this forum to have both wits, common sense and a functioning brain -- at least in the postings that I have seen from his keyboard. I gather that DCA TSO having these three commendable qualities disqualifies him from working in the TSA simply because he wouldn't fit in (from the boss and down, it seems that these three qualities are in scarce supply).

DCA TSO, happy that you leave the TSA if it means you will get more satisfaction elsewhere. Sad since, if you in real life are as your postings indicate, you'd be the kind of screener I'd prefer. But I hope you'll stick around FT, at least....

vassilipan

TSA "officers", with the exception of FAM's, are not law enforcement officers; please do not confuse the two. Many TSO's may think of themselves as such, but they are far from it.

Superguy

It's not secret, it's SSI.

Wally Bird

Does it really matter and is it worth adding a totally non-contributory response to a thread ?

DevilDog438

Sorry - that information is classified and you have no need to know.

bseller

You may want to listen verrrryyyy carefully:
That whump, whump sound in the background is from the black helicopters sent JUST FOR YOU!

Best, Dave

GUWonder

While I think there's an "abundance of caution" -- call it bordering on the paranoid if not paranoia itself regardless of the circumstances -- blackmailing people for legal infractions to make them informants in exchange for dropping the charges or granting immunity is not unique or non-existent.

There's alway the pretend not to speak/hear/understand what the TSAer says. That's always interesting -- more so when some idiot working for DHS/TSA or the boarding pass checker doesn't believe a hearing/speaking/language challenged person actually does have issues with communication.

bseller

Perhaps. I would tend to agree with you that it's a bit extreme. In any event, the poster's lawyer was likely simply trying to cover all the bases, and my response dealt more with the Al-Queda comment.

Best, Dave

FliesWay2Much

At the risk of straying OT for a moment, this tactic of answering a question with a question is exactly how the ancient Rabbis taught their students. I think answering the nosy screener's question with another question is a great approach!

vassilipan

I know you are but what am I?

chartreuse

Indeed. I recall, some time well after my first flight into EWR, being very surprised to find out that it wasn't in NY. Of course, that was a rather long time ago...