flyerCO

Airlines are required to select a certain percentage for random selection. The airline's also can have a system that scores and selects passengers. DHS/TSA have the same scoring system. However most are the result on random selection. If you're getting it regularly then you're on someones list. Doesn't change that most SSSS selection is random. Just means you're unlikely enough to have a high score and win the prize.

aidy

It frustrates me as i always get the intl SSSS, it was originally a CBP hit as i worked in the middle east for a while, but they have since cleared my flag and actually given me GE. However still getting the SSSS when flying to the US, last week was the best when i got it and has PreCheck on the connecting flight.

I did joke with the contractor saying its funny as i've been given precheck on US soil due to my status... her answer.. they precheck all travelers... she had no clue

GUWonder

The security contractor seems to have thought precheck was a reference to the pre-checking of booked passengers even long before the TSA started the PreCheck program. In that sense she wasn't entirely mistaken. The security contractors pre-check passengers in some ways, just not generally in the way that results in PreCheck showing up on boarding passes.

The airlines may be required to select a certain percentage for additional screening, but it need not generally be random selection.

Some airlines use a system that scores and selects passengers, and that's most of the selection for US-bound flights on at least some big US airlines.

Most SSSS hits are not random. While colloquially referenced as random by way too many, the hits mostly are not mathematically random.

Loren Pechtel

I'm not the one getting it, it's my wife and they're very Jekyll and Hyde about it--pre-check on the outbound flight, SSSS in the inbound.

Worcester

Also bare in mind that randomness make it much harder for terrorists and criminals to get around security. If you simply don't know what you are up against, you can't figure out the risks or how to avoid them. Any good security system is going to make use of random selections for this reason.

GUWonder

The so-called random selection used for aviation security can be easily worked around, since the outcome of being randomly selected is easily enough known in advance of taking a trip when "randomly selected".

The POTUS' security detail, for example, doesn't rely truly upon randomness in security.

The UA SYD-California selection of jediwho isn't random, even as there is a percentage of passenger it purposely selects for "random" selection and associated "extra" "security".

heyimbobo

Just joined the SSSS club! Had no problems two weeks ago RIC -> CLT -> LHR -> FRA. Had PreCheck all the way, including my German w/US VISA travel companion. Yesterday was a different story. We only received boarding passes for FRA -> LHR, then upon interrogation in LHR to get our passes (I thought it was the companion because she's German) noticed the dreaded SSSS while she got PreCheck! Not too bad in LHR; they seemed prepared for it. Flying back through PHL was another story, even though the TSA Supervisor said "wow another one?" had to wait about 20 minutes just to begin the process because there was one ahead of me. The complete SSSS tour: Pats, multiple swabs, turning all devices on. Really hoping this is a rare and random thing.

GUWonder

Typical AA contractor related selection. Most such hits aren't a sign of being permanently blacklisted nor even a sign of being blacklisted domestically on domestic-only itineraries. It'll probably pass on its own.

TWA884

I highly doubt AA uses contractors to chose travelers for the SSSS treatment in PHL.

GUWonder

The haraSSSSment hits for the flights out of PHL get done because AA uses contractors for flagging out of LHR. It rather systematically hits the PHL-onward flights that are part of international trips into the US on AA.

The contractor reference covers both contractor's personnel and contractor's software/database.

TWA884

My daughter, who has GE, was hit with an SSSS on a flight from MAD-PHL last year. There was no SSSS on the boarding pass for her connecting flight from PHL which was on the same international PNR.

GUWonder

LHR-PHL-onward-US-flight trips don't work all the same way that that MAD-PHL-onward-US-flight did for her. Also, that the hit doesn't happen always the way it happened for heyimbobo (and sometimes the hit happens in just the way it happened to your daughter) doesn't mean that this wasn't typical AA contractor related selection too. Both are a product of contractor use.

Mats

Has anyone asked the TSA why PreCheck cannot be applied for flights TO the US on participating carriers?

If one pays for PreCheck (or Global Entry), is there any rational reason why it cannot be applied to inbound international flights? I didn't think so.

My theories:

1. There are too many PreCheck/Global Entry members, so the airlines wouldn't be able to meet the required percentage of selectees.

2. PreCheck would effectively eliminate the need for "20 questions" before check in and "3 questions" before boarding, and the random or non-random gate screenings for all of the PreCheck/GE passengers.

This would be a good use of resources, allows the airlines to concentrate security efforts in a stratified fashion, and take advantage of the fact that PreCheck and GE passengers have already been vetted. No need to repeat the vetting process each time the passenger flies.

My guess is that their argument would be "increased threat" at overseas airports, but--errmmm--September 11th? It's not a valid argument.

Why am I even asking? The TSA hasn't been introduced to the concepts of logic and efficiency.

rpjs

My wife got pre-selected (couldn't check in online whereas I could) for extra screening at LHR last time we flew back to the US from Europe in January. Since then we've flown seven sectors domestically and to/from Bermuda without her getting SSSS. We even got complimentary PreCheck on our boarding passes to BDA.

FlyingRound

Another data point for the thread:
I have been labeled SSSS on multiple domestic flights after a recent trip to Turkey.

PART 1
1. First sign of you being a “selectee” is that you cannot check in at home or online. You will be able to use the kiosks, however.
2. If your boarding pass has SSSS, you should consider checking ALL your bags because your carry-on will slow you down at security while they go through everything, swab everything, and ask you to turn on everything.
3. do not bother waiting in line the initial boarding pass / ID check lines… if you have SSSS, just go to the front and say you need a supervisor because only a supervisor can transfer you to the screening area. You will be labeled as a “quad” in TSA lingo.
4. protocol is for you to go through both the body scanner and the metal detector. They will check the bottom of your feet.
5. you might be questioned, and they might photocopy your identification document (this is to have a picture of you for Part 2). You may even need to unlock your phone.

It is my impression that the TSA only has your name and flight but no additional information. They’re just doing their job.

PART 2
You will be monitored at your gate in two ways:
TSA agents will arrive at your gate ~45 minutes before boarding
-- They will watch you from a distance. This can occur if they photocopied your identification and have a picture of you.
-- Alternatively, your entire flight will undergo random secondary bag checks at the bridge. The TSA agents have your name and will select you for a bag screen even if you don’t have a bag. Seriously. Again, best to check all bags.

So next time your domestic flight is “randomly” selected for secondary bag checks, it’s because someone on your flight Is SSSS. All of this has happened to me. I am still a Quad-SSSS…