rayikes

I very much understand ]the distinction between causation and correlation. Known affiliates and affiliations may be a factor. Without diving into the weeds, mine was a causation event. The details provided do not paint a picture either way however, I'll concede.

Additionally, it is a factor the OP may consider in resolving their issue. Good luck OP, hopefully whatever the issue is, it is resolve for you.

FYI... national origin is not USA, so not sure where the nationality jab came from.

chollie

I'm guessing you haven't been through it. IME, it's a lot more invasive and time-consuming than a last-minute gate pat and bag-slap like random pax sometimes get when boarding an international flight.

diburning

If it's one-off or if you get it here and there, you were probably randomly selected. If you get SSSS every time, then you might be flagged for something based on some sort of risk analysis algorithm. According to the experiences by other FlyerTalkers in this thread, it seems to typically last six months.

oaken

. Yes. As in patdown, and them taking EVERYTHING out of your carry-ons putting them through x ray grilling you on your address, place of work ,etc. This is what I'm talking about for secondary. I almost missed my flight from MAD to MIA because it took about 20 minutes for each secondary and I was like 6 or 8 in line. It was really irritating to be 50 feet from the gate watching the gate agent closing boarding while the police were rifling through my stuff.

GUWonder

The hit may be considered worse when it comes with additional screening done by the TSA that when it comes with additional gate-area screening done by airline's security contractors (or, less commonly, airline employees). The OP's getting hit from non-US airports, the airports where the TSA doesn't do the actual physical passenger and baggage screening.

That said, the US airline security contractors' screenings have gotten worse and more intrusive within the past 2 years than they used to be.

travelinmanS

I've started to get this too but only on AA and also only when coming from overseas into the USA. It's gotta be some stupid algorithm that picks me as a risk. Another bummer about this is that you don't get pre check on the connecting flight either once you clear customs in the USA and have to go through security for the next flight. What's the point of the trusted traveler stuff if I keep getting hit up with the SSSS?

GUWonder

Trusted traveler programs done by DHS or DHS' use of the SecureFlight info and the PNR is what gets DHS to give you PreCheck. The thing you're getting hit by is most commonly a direct result of the airline and the airline's security contrator (with the airline required to flag down a percentage of passengers for these hits abroad).

There is a way to get PreCheck on the connecting, onward (domestic US) segments after the hit abroad takes place messing up the PreCheck outcome. But this fix requires work by the airline reps on your arrival back into the US, and it involves being unchecked in and perhaps some other gimmickry for the "trusted traveler" before being re-checked in to produce (domestically in the US) PreCheck for the domestic connecting flights. I've seen AA reps do this enough times at US ports of entry to know it's possible; but it requires finding a knowledgeable and willing agent to intervene.

oaken

. Interesting. The next segment on my flight from MIA was to ORD and I believe I went through precheck Lane after global entry customs. But MAD wasn't your average private security, they were actual police or paramilitary cops at the secondary extensive gate screening. Since they took out all of my possessions in my carry-ons I was worried that they might have sticky fingers <deleted by moderator>, but these guys weren't that corrupt. That particular trip I had a lot of sensitive or expensive stuff so I was unhappy about all of the screenings plus customs.

SkyTeam777

Interesting, trip #7 back to the US and got SSSS for the first time. Lost Global Entry two months ago for having an apple...I wonder if they pulled me from the ag check "list" to get SSSS this time. Will this happen every time I fly now? It hasn't the past six times so this is odd although it's on Lufthansa...first time flying LH to the US since this happened.

SkyTeam777

Happened to me again flying Emirates. Didn't have any problems flying UA, B6, or CX into the US, but for some reason, EK SSSS'ed me. Do airlines use the agricultural list as one of the ones they pull people from?

SJCFlyerLG

About three years ago, I suddenly started being "randomly selected” for special screening (SSSS) when returning to the USA from international destinations. Considering I was being tagged about 80% of the time, it was obviously not random. I contacted DHS and applied for a redress number, and I also explained what was happening to me. In October 2021, I received the redress number, and this response from DHS:

Since I got this response and the redress number, I am still being selected – four out of my last five international flights have been SSSS. I recently sent a new inquiry to DHS, but all they did was tell me that the Oct. 2021 determination letter was final. There is obviously some reason that I getting selected, probably related to the Terrorist Watch List. I have never been denied boarding, but this is very inconvenient. I now travel with no carry-on at all, to expedite the search process. I have no criminal record at all, so this is not due to anything I have done. My next international flight to the USA is Dec. 25th, and I fully anticipate being “randomly selected” again.

I sent a letter about this to my Congressman, but he is worthless, so I don't expect any assistance. Any ideas what else I could do? This is really aggravating. BTW, I have a pretty rare last name, which is Scottish by origin: there are less than 8,000 people with my last name in the USA. I also have GE, and I never get selected on domestic flights, or outbound international flights.

Loren Pechtel

Are you related to my wife?

We haven't tried to do anything about it because the SSSSs come from PVG where they mean nothing but she's typically selected. Only on international inbounds, though.

SJCFlyerLG

One never knows...

My SSSS collection comes from BCN, LHR, LGW, and most of all, ANU.

GUWonder

If thar collections of flags are driven by the security contractors (or sometimes even by CBP employees working IAP), my solution has been to jump both from AA/Oneworld and UA/Star Alliance from Europe to the US and thereafter stick to DL/SkyTeam long enough to move up the DL status ladder and then wait for the the SSSS flag frequency to drop down a lot on the US-bound DL-operated flights; and after a big drop in the SSSS frequency with DL’s US-bound flights, it’s more likely the frequency of being hit by SSSS flags on US-bound flights drops to a more normal level with other airlines too.

Mats

I'm cautiously optimistic that this may start to subside.
The security risks have shifted more to domestic threats and microbial diseases. That's not to belittle or ignore religious extremism from other countries, but the focus has certainly changed.

With the UK's mandate to end liquid rules at Heathrow, and increasing reports that AA passengers are waived from security interviews if they have PreCheck, maybe we'll start to see some reforms.

I think it will come down to money.
Airlines are greedy (even though they're printing money at the moment.) They don't want to spend extra cash on interviews and insane numbers of selectee screenings.

I'm not sure how much ICTS charges per passenger, and much of that is passed along in security "fees" to passengers, but it still costs the airlines time, money, and staffing headaches. The "interviews" and selectee screenings are labor-intensive. Given the personnel shortages at airports around the world, this would be one area worth exploring.

Most passengers probably wouldn't notice any difference, and I strongly doubt that security would be compromised.

Of course it's impossible to collect any data since terrorism is (fortunately) so rare. But we know that Richard Reid and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab were both subjected to ICTS screening interviews but both were cleared to board (I don't recall if either one was a selectee.)

Is there any data to show that a terrorist with means and intent was ever stopped by profiling or selectee screening? In Rodney Wallis' book about Lockerbie, the interviewers in Frankfurt didn't speak English, and they didn't know what happened if they labelled a passenger as a selectee. The 11 September hijackers were selected by CAPPS. (I'm excluding Anne-Marie Murphy from this discussion as that case was El Al, and they have different security procedures and needs.)

The first, obvious step would be to honor Precheck/Global Entry. If I've already been vetted multiple times, why start that process anew for every flight?

No politician would take this on, fearing that he or she would look "soft on terrorism." So it will be up to the airlines to argue that these particular safety measures are of doubtful value and create extraordinary hassle.

I wonder if Airlines for America, the industry lobbying group, will approach this issue with the TSA.

Last week, I wrote to the TSA contact center to ask if there were plans to re-evaluate the need for interviews. I received a generic response followed by a survey to ask if I trusted the TSA.