TSA "random check" in ZRH
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 8
TSA "random check" in ZRH
Hi all,
Hope not to be re-posting,
Yesterday before boarding LX40, when I presented my passport agents to the gate, a beep went off and they asked where my journey originated (answer: Berlin). I am traveling on a US passport. They asked me if the agents in Berlin told me I had been selected for a "random" TSA screening (they hadn't), and then circled a line on the boarding pass "SSSS" meaning to perform this inspection.
I was running late and let to a little cubicle next to the gate where two Swiss security agents rummaged through my bags with gloves on, just touching things, not looking for anything particular.
Has this happened to anyone before? I am used to extra checkpoints in Munich when headed to the States but this had never happened before...
Hope not to be re-posting,
Yesterday before boarding LX40, when I presented my passport agents to the gate, a beep went off and they asked where my journey originated (answer: Berlin). I am traveling on a US passport. They asked me if the agents in Berlin told me I had been selected for a "random" TSA screening (they hadn't), and then circled a line on the boarding pass "SSSS" meaning to perform this inspection.
I was running late and let to a little cubicle next to the gate where two Swiss security agents rummaged through my bags with gloves on, just touching things, not looking for anything particular.
Has this happened to anyone before? I am used to extra checkpoints in Munich when headed to the States but this had never happened before...
#2
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: WAS
Programs: enjoyed being warm spit for a few years on CO/UA but now nothing :(
Posts: 2,503
Hi all,
Hope not to be re-posting,
Yesterday before boarding LX40, when I presented my passport agents to the gate, a beep went off and they asked where my journey originated (answer: Berlin). I am traveling on a US passport. They asked me if the agents in Berlin told me I had been selected for a "random" TSA screening (they hadn't), and then circled a line on the boarding pass "SSSS" meaning to perform this inspection.
I was running late and let to a little cubicle next to the gate where two Swiss security agents rummaged through my bags with gloves on, just touching things, not looking for anything particular.
Has this happened to anyone before? I am used to extra checkpoints in Munich when headed to the States but this had never happened before...
Hope not to be re-posting,
Yesterday before boarding LX40, when I presented my passport agents to the gate, a beep went off and they asked where my journey originated (answer: Berlin). I am traveling on a US passport. They asked me if the agents in Berlin told me I had been selected for a "random" TSA screening (they hadn't), and then circled a line on the boarding pass "SSSS" meaning to perform this inspection.
I was running late and let to a little cubicle next to the gate where two Swiss security agents rummaged through my bags with gloves on, just touching things, not looking for anything particular.
Has this happened to anyone before? I am used to extra checkpoints in Munich when headed to the States but this had never happened before...
You were simply selected, whether randomly or due to some particular information about you, for secondary security screening.
#3
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: on the path to perdition
Programs: Delta, United
Posts: 4,782
You got an SSSS, been there done that in ZHR. The biggest PITA is that it nullifies any onward PreCheck in the States.
Last edited by FlyingUnderTheRadar; Dec 19, 2015 at 8:45 pm
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: jfk area
Programs: AA platinum; 2MM AA, Delta Diamond, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 10,291
I fly several times a year from ZRH to JFK, out of 20 or so trips, I had SSSS on my bp ONCE--it is (in general) RANDOM. They send you to a special cubical for further "checking"; they (at least AA has) a list of names of those selected which they check-off (it looked like there were 15 names).
Even though ZRH has NO TSA, my bps from ZRH to JFK have TSA PRE-CHECK on them.
Even though ZRH has NO TSA, my bps from ZRH to JFK have TSA PRE-CHECK on them.