Originally Posted by
zombietooth
My wife lost her wallet several years ago on a trip and we tried the TSA interview thing, but they couldn't find sufficient information in any database about her even with her SSN and, after a couple of hours of calls to supervisors and a great amount of gnashing of teeth, we were not allowed to board.
Does your wife look at all Asian?
Being denied travel is very uncommon for these kind of situations. I've seen foreign visitors repeatedly allowed to fly by the TSA when they were without passport or any other ID to hand over. Some miss their flights, but I've not seen any be denied travel. The delay being until the next day is possible, for example when a relevant FBI or other contact appears unavailable and there are no available flights soon after such contact is made.
It seems like your wife (and in turn you) got very, vey unlucky or didn't show up early enough to get cleared by the TSA.