SDF_Traveler

Greetings --

An interesting experience yesterday at ORD. I was on a one-way ticket on a carrier I normally don't fly and got the SSSSpecial treatment. I cleared the check-point two times (I took a bump off my first flight and went out for a smoke before the second), and each time it was quite a different experience as a selectee.

First Time: Process went smooth & fast, the employees very friendly, and I made it through with little hassle other than dealing with the extra steps. This was at the checkpoint in T2 where T1/T2 connect (allows you to access B/C & E/F concourses directly).

Second Time: Process wasn't as smooth and 80% of the passengers in-line were selectees (primarily 240'd pax on re-routes). At one point, there were so many selectees awaiting secondary treatment, a wander yelled out "No more passengers in the holding pen".

As they put each one of us in line for secondary, the TSA officer announced "Your AIRLINE has selected you for additional screening". Now, I know the airline makes the "selections" with the CAPPS system as your boarding passes are issued, BUT isn't the CAPPS system and how it currently operates controlled by the DHS/TSA and/or FAA and their criteria? To me, this is passing the blame around and is wrong.

During the secondary, the search was much more thourough and the wander was having problems with his wand. It kept going off everywhere -- my legs, feet, back, chest, etc, areas where I had no metal at all, which resulted in a much more detailed search, which I didn't exactly appreciate -- but overall, the screeners were some of the nicest I've encountered in awhile, all in great holiday spirits and wishing everyone well.

In closing, I wish they'd do away with the selectee system as it is. It's ridicilous and amounts to nothing more than passenger harassment.

Best,

SDF_Traveler

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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Ben Franklin

whirledtraveler

Okay, SSSS isn't in the glossary.. what does it stand for? Somber Secondary Security Screening?

screenerx

The SSSS stands for Selectee. They just place 4 S's instead of one so it doesn't get missed by a ticket agent or a screener.

At least thats what a ticket agent told me once.

SDF_Traveler

I've also seen boarding passes which CO issues not only have the four S's, but one big S on the airline stub side of the boarding pass (in addition to SSSS being on both sides of the BP).

SDF_Traveler

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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Ben Franklin

SDF_Traveler

It means "Selectee" as Screenerx pointed out. Selectee's get additional screening at the TSA checkpoints (or at the gate, if the TSA is present, in the case of airports which do not screen selectees at the checkpoint).

As far as at the checkpoint, it doesn't matter if you beep or not going through - they might as well not have you go through the metal detector as you get the full body wand/search, shoe search, plus bag search regardless.

Typically it's a pain in the a$s from the viewpoint of most FF pax, especially when lines are long or if the TSA is short on staff to do the secondary screenings (which can sometimes lead to an excessive wait).

Things that will most commonly get one selected are traveling on one-way tickets, certain round-trip tickets with codeshares, or getting transfered to a new carrier after a flight cancellation.

Complete BS in my book and a waste of time & money.

Best,

SDF_Traveler

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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Ben Franklin

whirledtraveler

Hmm.... so I print my own electronic tickets and I've never seen a marking like that on them.. interesting. Do they come up on e-tickets?

screenerx

The e-tickets are the ones you get at the counter at that little computer system correct? Sorry not completely up to date on that.

If so, I was told before TSA took over are checkpoint, that if you were a SSSS, you couldn't get a ticket from that machine. But thats proably changed, and I really haven't asked like I used to.

SDF_Traveler

If you're refering to on-line check-in and printing your boarding passes online, if you are a "Selectee" it will not allow you to check-in online. However, you can use the kiosks at the airport to check-in.

This is done to prevent a self-printed boarding pass from being altered. Would be quite easy to take some white-out, remove the SSSS, and make a copy.

SDF_Traveler

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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Ben Franklin

Spiff

Yes, that's why it's a good idea to have an alternative means of accessing the checkpoint w/o the harassment. (e.g. another BP) Hopefully, the gate agent won't care that you don't have the magic double-star punch (looks like it's about 2mm across from tip to tip). Otherwise, you'll just get the harassment you avoided at the gate instead of the checkpoint.

Memo to anyone wanting to pass (probably) harassment-free through the checkpoint: If you get the SSSS on your BP and you don't want to get the extra screening, find out what that airport's punch is, get an alternate BP, punch your real BP prior to entering "security", use your fake BP to clear security, and then present your real, punched BP at the gate. No fuss, no muss, no harassment.

Memo to the Terrorism Support Agency: Get a clue and stop harassing travelers with this sort of nonsense. No one should ever be a "selectee".

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"Give me Liberty or give me Death." - Patrick Henry

[This message has been edited by Spiff (edited Dec 29, 2003).]

whirledtraveler

Huh? What's a punch? How do you get an alternate BP?

Spiff

A punch, as in a hole-punch. At ORD, as of a few months ago (updates, folks?) your SSSS BP is given a couple of star-shaped punches to show that you have been harassed at the checkpoint. The bar-code scanner tells the GA to check and make sure these punches exist on your BP.

Need another non-SSSS BP? Book a refundable ticket on an airline you have FF status with (make sure it's round-trip ). Or use Adobe Acrobat/PhotoShop/a Xerox machine to alter an online-issued BP. There are many other ways to produce a non-SSSS BP...

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"Give me Liberty or give me Death." - Patrick Henry

[This message has been edited by Spiff (edited Dec 29, 2003).]

SPG & DL Whore from ATL

With regards to whether the SSSS shows up on an E-ticket, the answer to that is NO.

I will tell you this, is you continually fly with the same airlines or airline partners groups like SkyTeam, you will Never, Ever get an SSSS on your tickets.

I fly weekly for business and in the 2 years since 9/11 I have been selected 0 times for special security search selection (there's a new twist on the 4-s). The airlines select people who seldom fly and who usually purchase their tickets months in advance rather than last minute. I have walked up to the ticket counters in ATL and bought a ticket right then for a flight leaving in less than 2 hours and never have been given a hassle by the 'security' officers.

For security concerns, I would gladly pay $300.00 a year for a special background check and iso-metrics ID badge just so that I could get through security lines quicker and easier. I think that anyone who wishes to pay for this service should be able to.





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Travel! Travel! Who wants to Travel?

SDF_Traveler

It's still the same hole-punch at ORD with the star-shaped punch as of 12/27...

I take it you got the special treatment at ORD a few months ago, eh?

Best,

SDF_Traveler

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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Ben Franklin

Mats

I've been SSSS'ed and had NOTHING HAPPEN. If the airport has no selectee lane and there is no gate screening for your flight, nothing bad will happen to you.

I really wish they'd get rid of the SSSS for people who have been 240'ed, had their flights change, etc. Having your flight cancelled does not constitute suspicious behavior.

It's really irritating. The airlines are saying, "We've cancelled your flight. Now we're going to tell the TSA to wand you and mess with your shoes." You'd think they would have changed it by now.

tmspa

In regards to the "punch". At MSP, it's a TSA security stamp, not likely to be faked. Besides, even if you have the stamp already, you still get the selectee screening again. If you come through, get stamped, and then exit and come through again...who know's where you've been?