When you check in for your flight - the airline's computers automatically apply certain criteria to your itinerary. The computer is what designates you "random search victim" or not, so the ticket and gate agents really have nothing to do with it. The gate searches look a little more random because they aren't allowed to page you up by name, so they have to look for some indication on your boarding pass, but the whole system is designed to keep the airline employees honest. I swear to you that if they saw one of us coming with 500 pounds of luggage, they would be absolutely sure that we were NOT randomly searched. Tip to the frequent traveler: keep your original confirmation code with you and if you have to make any changes to your itinerary or pick up a new flight, use the old booking. It will have all of your information in the record already and may save you *some* of the selection criteria.