# What are the purposes of various security screenings? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 26, 2022, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-purposes-of-various-security-screenings/973841 "2022-10-26T21:04:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2022, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-purposes-of-various-security-screenings/973841/81 "2022-11-10T01:26:27Z")
I’ve been asked those questions for some other reason, I think having to do with my credit reports. My guess is that TSA gets their questions from the same source. There are a lot of them - which bank did I get a mortgage from in 1988, where did I get a car loan in 2015 ,when did I pay off some mortgage or loan , what job did I start in 1994 and the phone numbers. I’ve probably been asked 20 different questions at one time or another. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2022, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-purposes-of-various-security-screenings/973841/82 "2022-11-10T17:24:03Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > Before I went, I mentioned this trip to a friend of mine who is seriously into olive oil. He asked me to get him a bottle of Libyan olive oil. > > As I left, I had had no luck finding a bottle anywhere I had been (we were very limited in where we went) but once inside the departure lounge and past security, I found a store selling tourist things, and they had bottles of olive oil. Excellent! So I bought a bottle. I then went to the gate. > > There was another security screening to get onto the plane. They confiscated my bottle of olive oil. To this day I’m sure it went straight back on the shelf in the store. Same story with my Corfu olive oil. Yes we should have put it in the checked bags but we didn’t and flying out of Europe we didn’t think it would be American style security checks. So some Venetian security guard has a free bottle of Greek olive oil. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2022, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-purposes-of-various-security-screenings/973841/83 "2022-11-10T17:26:41Z")
> [@mozchron](#): > > I travel a lot. TSA is staffed by borderline high school dropouts with toy badges and fake uniforms. They miss up to 95% of test items put through their checkpoints. They’re power-hungry goblins who shouldn’t be trusted to guard a bagel shop, let alone airport security. One time there was an unattended bag in the food court of my local international airport. I told a TSA officer about it just like the every-five-minute announcement said to. He said to me, “Did you try to find out whose it is?” I said no and his reply was, “What do you want me to do about it?” ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2022, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-purposes-of-various-security-screenings/973841/84 "2022-11-10T17:35:34Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > I’ve lived in this apartment for over 20 years. I can NOT name the nearest school. I only know it exists because it was my polling place during one election and I had to walk there. It is also entirely possible that there is an even nearer school- I just don’t know about it. “Name the nearest school” is a terrible question. - I’d have to look at a map to see what’s closest. However, I can name the middle school and the two high schools(and the streets in order) that are on one of my regular riding routes. I would hope that suffices. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-purposes-of-various-security-screenings/973841/85 "2022-11-23T13:35:41Z")
Curious thing at the TSA-Pre line this week: the agent machine-scanned my Real-ID compliant driving license but did NOT ask to see/scan my boarding pass to enter the secure zone. Either they’ve changed a requirement, or the airline is already feeding into their system the info of ticketed Trusted Travelers? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-purposes-of-various-security-screenings/973841/86 "2022-11-23T14:24:30Z")
I had the same thing happen and my driver’s license isn’t even Real ID compliant. The screener just scanned my driver’s license but didn’t look at the boarding pass. They may do an automated match to a list of Pre-Chek passengers. ---
**Author:** ![phs3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-purposes-of-various-security-screenings/973841/87 "2023-02-07T22:11:37Z")
Isn’t this how _Repo Man_ ends? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-purposes-of-various-security-screenings/973841.md?page=4)