AAce_Inthe_O

I was going through DFW terminal D last Friday night on my way to EZE. I handed the smurf my TX DL with my BP and he asked for my passport...I asked him if my TX DL was not an acceptable form of ID and he responded no not for intl flights..? I have never heard of this requirement so I refused stating that he was a TSA agent not a CBP officer he then just asked again...After refusing for the 3rd time he waived me through.

Is this a new SOP? Or was he just on a power trip?

Thanks

RoyalFlush

Likely just an ignorant power trip.

GUWonder

On my flights this year from DFW to Europe and various points in Latin America -- EZE included -- I've been showing my DL to the TSA's ID-obsessed clerks. Not one of the ID smurfs created a fuss with my doing as you attempted last Friday.

Some TSA employees are more eager to step up and deliver on the tolerated bigotry of the day and to that purpose are aware that some passports are an excuse to harass passengers. By more often demanding that passengers present a passport instead of a DL at the screening checkpoint, there is a higher chance that the ID smurfs can deliver on the tolerated bigotry of the day and harass passengers on the basis of the passport shown.

Yaatri

They don't need your passport, but it hasn;t stopped them for asking for it. Did you have the passport in your pocket where it was visible? TSA asked me for our passports which were in my shirt pocket when clearing security for our onward connection after customs and immigration. I refused to hand our passports to them. I had agreed to putting them in my wife's pocketbook and sending it through X-ray again. But they wanted our passports in their hands, which I DID not allow. My refusal led to a typical drama surrounded by their usual power play and threats. This resulted in police, the station manager and the director od security at the airport being called. I never did give up our passports. TSA threatened to recommend to the airline that I be refused to fly. The airline not only allowed us to fly, but also upgraded us to F on a flight where upgrades complimentary to your status are not normally given.

They have absolutely no need to see your passport nor get their hands on it. In the days immediately following 9/11, I used my passport as an ID a few times thinking they would be calmer dealing with a U.S. citizen. But my looks trumped my citizenship. Now I show my passport only to the airlines employees for document check or immigration and/or customs people. No one else needs my passport.

senseker

This, or the TSO didn't know his SOP. You do not need to show us a passport to travel international. We don't care where you're going.

goalie

kudos to you, AAce_Inthe_O for standing your ground but give little smurfey credit as he did read your bp and noticed that you were flying internationally

GUWonder

If this happens to me, I'll respond with an off-putting statement: "I didn't realize I needed a passport to go to Arizona/stay in America."

Yaatri

How come there are so many TSO's who are ignorant of the SOP. We her all the time, "The TSO must not be aware of SOP" Why are they allowed on the job and/or allowed to continue of they fail to familiarise themselves with SOP?

We Will Never Forget

He could have been checking to see if you were from a special interest country, thus requiring additional screening. That selection process is supposed to happen at the ticket counter, however.

Himeno

I've been saying that for years.

I have three documents that can act as ID. Each issued by a different government (Australian, ACT and Victorian governments). The stupid idiots at TSA refuse to accept two of them and demand the passport, which they then start flipping through looking for visa's. The sensible TDCs accept the ACT issued card (never tried with the Victorian one).

KCK

Aren't people from special interest countries subject to secondary screening for all flights, international and domestic? If so, your rationale would logically require that all passengers present a passport for domestic flights so screeners could determine if they required additional screening.

Himeno

Logicaly, such people should have a mark of some sort on their boarding pass much like "random" pax used to get with SSSS.

goalie

wonder what would happen if you were flying to new mexico?

star_world

On a domestic US flight, how would the airline know to make such a mark? There is no check of nationality performed.

goalie

and even if such a mark was written on one's bp, all you have to do is re-print it once post security and then toss the "marked" bp. real secure, huh?