Odd Questions at Checkpoint: Anyone Else?
 

ID and BP checked at ORD AA terminal and I proceed to WTMD when a TSA dude with a clipboard stops me and says, "I need to ask you a few questions."

1) Where are you headed today? [Boston]
2) Is this your origin [HUH?]
2a) Did you come from somewhere else? [HUH????]
2b) Did you fly from somewhere else today [No]
3) Are you connecting to somewhere? [No]

He checked some boxes on his form and I was on my way.

If this is their attempt at behavior profiling it's way off the mark. The questions made no sense and I got a sense the guy didn't even know what he's asking. At least the boarding checks in LHR make sense (where are you staying in London, etc.) Can anyone shed some light in here?

I've had customs folks ask me stuff like that but not with a clipboard, and they have a reason to ask anyway. You should have told the TSA guy that you didn't speak english or something. I wouldn't waste my precious time on straight up harrasment like that.

personally, i would have very politely declined to answer and see what would have happened as imho, that's none of their business and if they persisted, i would have asked for a written answer as to why i was being asked and then responded as follows:

1) Where are you headed today? [on a plane]
2) Is this your origin [no, my destination-that's why i'm going thru security]
2a) Did you come from somewhere else? [no but my dad was not born here if that counts]
2b) Did you fly from somewhere else today [No, i walked]
3) Are you connecting to somewhere? [depends if i get bumped]

sorry to be such a smart a$$ but personally, and unless the person asking has a degree in psychology, it's none of their bloody business.

Sounds like they're starting the behavioral profiling program there: SPOT. The questions don't have to make sense, they're just supposed to elicit a reaction. Though ones that are so imprecise as to confuse everyone seem unhelpful in this regards.

What was he writing on his clipboard? It's one thing to be questioning people for behavioral profiling purposes (which has its own issues), but quite another to be recording passengers' responses. Should have asked him if he was in compliance with the Privacy Act.

"The boarding pass says 'Boston'. Now get lost."

TSA needs a budget cut!!

Can we refuse to pay $2.5 per segment fee?

He's doing a class project for his high school diploma...

just more info: it was a clipboard loaded with duplicate copies of a white xerox document with rows/columns and little check boxes. Nothing glaringly intelligible. He seemed to read the questions or at least recall them from the clipboard.

Those questions don't even make any sense.

I would have asked to see where, in writing, it said I needed to answer those questions, and see what happened. The suggestion about the Privacy Act is also a good one.

Why should the TSA care where I am going to / coming from, as long as I don't have any prohibited items in my bags?

I'd vote for that

This would be further down the list for me.

My top three, right after the opening salvo:

1. Why do you ask? (otherwise, "Why do you need to ask me a few questions?" if I can get it in just before the interro ... , erm, questions begin.)
   
   
2. Am I under arrest?
   
   
3. Then am I free to go?

Not a thing smart-alecky about those questions (presuming an attitude-neutral tone of voice) and ones that I have right to a straight answer.

If the TSA dude(tte) tries to start the question cycle again, then out comes my request to see something in writing, pleaseandthankyou. If none is forthcoming, then I'll shrug and walk away.

What I'd really like to say after the top of the game is, "Sorry, that's SSI" and just keep on truckin'. :)

Seriously, I'd like to know what legislation compels pax to answers to those questions at any point in the screening process.

If he was writing the answers down on a clipboard, he wasn't paying very good attention to the body language, so I'd say if that is behavioral profiling, it is way off.

Can they deny you access to the secure area if you just remain mute, don't answer any questions at all, and take a secondary? Or will it be a case of 'Do you want to fly today'?

TSA at LAX asked me "Who's better, Kobe or Michael?"

I said "Who cares?" - wrong answer!

The guy actually told me he was doing some sort of profiling thus he was trying to engage each victim in Q and A.

That is 100% correct. Good security profiling does not depend on the questions asked but more on the answers given and the manner in which they are answered.

I gotta' ask -- Do you think your particular ethnicity and other physical or personal characteristics had anything to do with the question he asked?