I realise that they are more interested in the nature of the response than the actual response, but a question such as 'what did you buy at the airport today' is rather silly considering the size and quantity of shops at MUC. There is an entire shopping arcade on the way from the S bahn to the terminal, and I often do some of my grocery shopping and personal need shopping there before I check my bag. (Not to mention that the open central area often has markets etc as well) It's a little silly to expect me to recite my shopping list from Edeka (grocery) or M�ller (drug store) but if they really want me to list off tampons and other personal care items I will...

This seems to be true mostly for US airlines, not non-US ones, at least in Europe.

Note that this is usually only true when flying US airlines (e.g. UA or AA); it is not generally the case for non-US airlines (e.g. LH or SK). Yes, it is silly to walk past the line of people waiting to be searched and interviewed to get on the UA flight, before boarding the LH flight to the same city (otoh, you then have to sit in LH economy for several hours, so it's not clear who the joke is on...)

Again, this is generally true only for flights on US airlines; it is entirely possible to fly on LH to the US without any human interaction at all. (I can only speak for Europe, though).

And of course, flying intra-Europe (intra-Schengen), it's generally not necessary to show any ID or interact with anyone, unless you check bags. I think of my most recent half dozen flights or so, I've only been asked for ID once (BCN-ZRH -- go figure).

I haven't seen this in Europe. I recall in HKG, the jetway security check involved opening and closing my rollerboard...

In Europe and (at least parts of) Asia, you can usually avoid this nonsense by giving your money to a non-US airline. (Also avoid the UK in this regard; SK and LH are both low risk in my experience).

Of course, the fatal flaw in this strategy is that once you get to the US, you still have to get back out of the US.