US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - Getting "SSSS"ed on US Airways

I'm flying CHO (Charlottesville, VA) - PIT - SFO tomorrow afternoon. I was originally booked on a later departure from CHO connecting to the evening flight from PHL to SFO, but called to change to the earlier PIT flight once I was sure it would fit into my schedule. Since this is a full Y fare, there was no problem switching flights and I was immediately confirmed in First on the new itinerary.

Just tried web check-in and it showed an error message, telling me to "try again or see a US Airways ticket agent." Does this mean that I'll be flagged for secondary screening at the airport tomorrow?

Out of all the times I've flown US this year, with plenty of last-minute changes and one-way tickets, I've never gotten an SSSS. United, JetBlue, and (eek!) Southwest all subjected me to the extra scrutiny when I flew one-way.

An SSSS in Charlottesville won't be too big a deal since the airport here is so small, but it'll just be an annoyance to have to go to the ticket counter and (possibly) endure yet another wanding and bag search tomorrow.

Has anyone else been SSSS'ed on US Airways when making a last-minute ticket change?

Haha yup, in C'ville two weeks ago. Went standby for a much earlier flight (which happened to look like a 1-way because of the routing of the trip). The boys at CHO are never THAT busy though, so it shouldn't take very long at all. Also, the entirety of CHO has free wireless now - check it out.

I got SSSSed a few weeks ago after I had to make a last minute change to a US ticket and I ended up flying on U.

It must have taken a few hours for my updated itinerary to show up in the Web check-in system, since I was able to print out my BPs without a problem this morning with no SSSS.

Thanks for the tip about Wi-Fi at CHO, Cavalier...I'm sitting here at the upper deck US Airways waiting area now writing this post.

I'm not even sure US does/follows the SSSS rules. I've never had one on my US BP's.

I think they most certainly do as I got smacked with it on a one-way first class ticket from SFO-PIT.

I thought nothing about booking it, but when i did, I realized that my record was throwing up red flags because of the nature of the ticket.



I'm not even sure US does/follows the SSSS rules. I've never had one on my US BP's.

I've gotten the SSS. It was when my flight was cancelled due to weather back in December and I had to take the next flight out. My original boarding pass didn't have SSS...but my new one did :td:

Back to the first post... These technology "snags" are becoming more and more annoying. Personally - I can live with something that doesn't work 100% for a little bit...but don't you think they'd have the "bugs" worked out by now? How long have we been doing web check-in now anyway? Its been a decent amount of time now.

-Chris

I'm not even sure US does/follows the SSSS rules. I've never had one on my US BP's.

I got nabbed on a RT flight within the last 2 weeks. Boy, was I irritated. Web booking with the same credit card i always use a month or so before the flight. No changes. There was the scarlet letter with my nice chairmens pref on the BP.

What happens when you get "SSSS"ed? I have a MR planned for this weekend and when I called to request exit row seating -- the agent asked me why I was turning around so quickly and told me to prepare for extra screening. I am going PHL-SAN Friday evening with the redeye return and following that up with PHL-LAX and return on Saturday. A quick 26,000 EQM's with triple preferred DM Visa and over 50,000 total miles with GoFares bonuses and elite bonus.

What happens when you get "SSSS"ed?

Essentially the same thing as when you set off the metal detector. You get wanded, your shoes get run through in a bin and any electronic carry-on gets rubbed and sniffed. In larger airports, you will be assigned to a special line.

What happens when you get "SSSS"ed?

When it has happened to me (twice) it has meant going through a special line with extras screening. They open all your bags, give you the wand treatment, xray your shoes, etc., etc.

Getting SSSS'ed can be annoying and time consuming. In addition to the many things in your "travel profile" that can trigger SSSS in CAPS, there are also true randoms. I am familiar with some, but only a few, of the elements that can trigger SSSS. I certainly will not discus them in a public forum but some are well known (thanks, USA Today). It can happen to airline employees, even when flying their own carrier.

Just be glad your name isn't one that matches a name on the "bad boy" list. :)
Remember the "Dave Nelson" stories in the press last year?

I was flying with someone LAS - LAX the other day and they were SSSS'd and I wasn't. No line at security, so we both entered our line at the same time.

He got through first. Go figure.

BTW, my name does match someone on a "bad boy" list -- I get bugged everytime I hit immigration in the US on a return trip.

Thanks for the responses. I'll keep you posted. I plan on filing my first ever trip report following my weekend aloft. If I do get "SSSS"ed on my trip, what is the likelihood that for the return flight I will have the same "SSSS"? I ask this only because I do not plan to leave the security area upon arrival in SAN, back in PHL, or LAX.

Just checked in on-line at the 30 hour mark. No "SSSS". No upgrade either yet, US is holding at least 8 seats back. Hopefully will clear at the airport.

In addition to the many things in your "travel profile" that can trigger SSSS in CAPS, there are also true randoms. I am familiar with some, but only a few, of the elements that can trigger SSSS. I certainly will not discus them in a public forum but some are well known (thanks, USA Today). It can happen to airline employees, even when flying their own carrier.

The two big flags for extra screening seem to be 1) traveling on a one-way ticket; and 2) when your original flight is cancelled and you're rebooked on another carrier without having your FF number on airline #2 entered into the reservation.

Sometimes it is true, though, that at busy airports the SSSS screening area can be less congested...and faster than the standard security line!

Right after my last post, I got SSSS'd when a US flight was delayed and they signed my ticket over to UA. The US ticket didn't have it, but my UA one did.

Right after my last post, I got SSSS'd when a US flight was delayed and they signed my ticket over to UA. The US ticket didn't have it, but my UA one did.

I've said it before: rebook yourself and get your FF number for the new carrier prior to ticketing. This will substantially reduce your risk of unwanted and unwarranted haraSSSSment.

I got it earlier in the year when traveling DEN-PHL on an FF ticket that was booked on very short notice...

N674UW

I've said it before: rebook yourself and get your FF number for the new carrier prior to ticketing. This will substantially reduce your risk of unwanted and unwarranted haraSSSSment.

Great idea, Spiff, but how can someone rebook him/herself on a new carrier when holding an e-ticket? The only time I've been interlined recently was in Greensboro, where the US Airways agent had to print a paper ticket along with an itinerary of the Delta flights I was to be taking instead. Sure enough, once I took the ticket over to the DL counter to be endorsed, my DL boarding passes had the SSSS on them. Wouldn't I have had to book an entirely new reservation on a paid Delta ticket to do it myself and avoid the SSSS?

As people have discussed on the Security board, this seems to be a glitch in the CAPPS system rather than a true flag of suspicion.

Great idea, Spiff, but how can someone rebook him/herself on a new carrier when holding an e-ticket? The only time I've been interlined recently was in Greensboro, where the US Airways agent had to print a paper ticket along with an itinerary of the Delta flights I was to be taking instead. Sure enough, once I took the ticket over to the DL counter to be endorsed, my DL boarding passes had the SSSS on them. Wouldn't I have had to book an entirely new reservation on a paid Delta ticket to do it myself and avoid the SSSS?

As people have discussed on the Security board, this seems to be a glitch in the CAPPS system rather than a true flag of suspicion.


Not so much a glitch as how CAPPS is supossed to work. Without revealing anything, remember that CAPPS looks at the ticket and reservation data. Had the US agent electronically endorsed the ticket to DL, instead of printing to paper, CAPPS would have had more information to score.

The US agent should have electronically endorsed the ticket to DL. Two reasons for not doing so: either he/she didn't know how or he/she had tried to to do so in prior instances only to have the other carrier bounce the customer back. There is an astonishing lack of awareness of interline reroute procedures among the staff at all carriers.

The proposed CAPPS II system will look more at the traveller, as oppossed to the ticket.

I've had some interesting SSSS experiences lately. I have booked some last minute tickets in the last two weeks.

Booked 06/17/2004 : One Way: - IND - CLT - PHL 06/18/2004 UAL fare but on US metal. I'm US Silver. No SSSS - I was pleasantly surprised.

Booked 06/21/2004: One Way: PHL - MDW - IND 06/22/2004 ATA. This go me SSSS and the TSA staff and A terminal security in PHL were extremely efficient although not very effective - they didn't search to the bottom of my backpack (the part where all the electronic items are located). Unfortunate if I'm an SSSS and they are not as thorough as they should be.

Booked 06/23/2004 One way: 06/24/2004 IND - MDW SW no SSSS and 06/24/2004 MDW - CLT no SSSS either. Surprise.

Great idea, Spiff, but how can someone rebook him/herself on a new carrier when holding an e-ticket? The only time I've been interlined recently was in Greensboro, where the US Airways agent had to print a paper ticket along with an itinerary of the Delta flights I was to be taking instead. Sure enough, once I took the ticket over to the DL counter to be endorsed, my DL boarding passes had the SSSS on them. Wouldn't I have had to book an entirely new reservation on a paid Delta ticket to do it myself and avoid the SSSS?

As people have discussed on the Security board, this seems to be a glitch in the CAPPS system rather than a true flag of suspicion.

Just call DL and make a reservation and tell them you will ticket it at the airport. They might quote you the fare; just ignore that part. Then, tell the US agent that you already have an alternate reservation and ask them to print your ticket. Take that ticket to DL, give them your confirmation number for the new reservation, and it is extremely unlikely you will see the un-American scarlet letters of haraSSSSment appear on your new BP.

When you change a ticket on US over the phone, even a changeable fare, the reservations agent that you talk too makes the changes, and then queues the record to the ticketing department for a ticket exchange. The agent that you talk to over the phone, him or herself, does not actually reissue and exchange the ticket. I think the exchange is done by a computer program and sometimes they refer to it as an editor. Sometimes the exchange processes in 15 minutes, usually 30mins-2 hours, but I have had it take one night to process as well. At many of the other carriers, the actual agent that you talk to on the phone fully reissues or revalidates your ticket themself and there is no back office processing queue. When you see the ticket has been issued by XTM/WAB (one example) this is the ticketing department, but really I think it is just a computer program otherwise agent XTM/WAB would have to almost work 24x7 because that sine has issued so many tickets. Personally I would prefer if the system was set up so the agent you talk too handles the entire transaction to reduce the points of failure and delay. If something isn't right when it gets to XTM it kicks it out of the queue to a manual process. You will also notice related to this that when you buy a ticket over the phone the agent you talks too puts a $1 authorization on your credit card, and then XTM actually puts the auth for the amount of the ticket. On my statement I can see the credit card auths so this is how I know that. One real criticism of res is they never infer even to US1/US2 that there is this queue and back office process. The res agent implies to the pax that he/she has completed the transaction fully. Really they should say "I have entered all the needed information in the record, and it will run a process usually with in 1 hour to exchange your ticket."
One final pointer if you want something issued right away res can call ticketing and they can process the transaction immediatley.

Just call DL and make a reservation and tell them you will ticket it at the airport. They might quote you the fare; just ignore that part. Then, tell the US agent that you already have an alternate reservation and ask them to print your ticket. Take that ticket to DL, give them your confirmation number for the new reservation, and it is extremely unlikely you will see the un-American scarlet letters of haraSSSSment appear on your new BP.

I'll have to try that next time -- they'd already rebooked the several people on my routing by the time I made it to the gate so it wasn't an option. I was in too much of a hurry to worry about it further, and it ended up that I made it through the SSSS security line a bit faster than the people waiting in the regular line. (Then I got to wait because the UA flights were all delayed too, but that was another story.)

I'll have to try that next time -- they'd already rebooked the several people on my routing by the time I made it to the gate so it wasn't an option. I was in too much of a hurry to worry about it further, and it ended up that I made it through the SSSS security line a bit faster than the people waiting in the regular line. (Then I got to wait because the UA flights were all delayed too, but that was another story.)

If you think you have even a amall chance of being rerouted (oversell, weather, mechanical, etc.) make a backup reservation as I've outlined above.

That way, you're all ready to go if you need to make other plans and you'll be on a carrier of your choosing rather than what the original carrier gives you, along with a much lower probability of haraSSSSment. You can always cancel it (you should so the carrier can sell the seat) if you end up not needing it.