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Comment by danvasquez29 | Hacker News Reader

I signed up for TSA PreCheck recently and have taken 3 trips with it so far, all to different locations. One thing that has stood out to me is that the security agents that check IDs REALLY check ID's. There's a notable difference in the length of time and scrutiny they put into it, and some even asked follow up questions like where I was born and where I was going, which just about never happens in regular security.

It made me think that they were maybe taking advantage of the lower volume and lower stress environment and using behavior based analysis like the Israeli's (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/20/israels-risk-base...)

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I have also had PreCheck for many years, and have not noticed this. In fact, when the regular lines are long, they just bring people out of those lines and into the PreCheck lines. The big kicker is that they have PreCheck at SFO, whose security isn't even run by the TSA. It's just some random private company.

PreCheck is basically the government admitting that nobody is interested in blowing up planes and that it's not worth the effort to thoroughly screen people (which they do not do in the regular lines either). Heart disease or a car accident is what's going to kill you. There will always be terrorist attacks. They don't matter in aggregate.

Earlier this summer when I flew from West to East coasts in the US I was bumped out of the main TSA line for my ID not matching my ticket. I never use my real first name, but it's still on my ID. In the years since 9/11, this is the first time I've been pulled aside.

I had to show 2 more IDs with the name on my ticket, which I had. I was traveling with a 15 yr old and wife.

> some even asked follow up questions like where I was born

Why? Your ID doesn't have that information.

I'd guess the parent has a "weird" last name. My significant other appears "white" but has an Arabic last name and is frequently asked these kinds of questions.

Passports do.

To see if you hesitate.

like others have said, I assume it's a combination of my hispanic last name and as a general interview technique to see how I react.

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