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Originally Posted by jad1
What triggers secondary screening? My husband and I travel often, are grandparents, have no criminal records, have never carried anything illegal and yet we are subjected to secondary screenings? Is this the airline's fault or some higher power? If we are on some list of suspicious characters, how did we get there and how can we find out?
Officially, there is no way to find out if you are on the watchlist of suspicious characters. I actually thought that my name was on the list because I got repeatedly SSSS'ed for a period of 6-9 months. There is a supposed "procedure" to go through if you think your name is there mistakenly.
EPIC was able to obtain some information about the watchlist through a FOIA request.
Their results are available here:
If you do suspect that you are on a watchlist (you are not on the "no-fly list" because you were able to get a boarding pass) you should fill out a complaint at the ACLU's website:
No-fly or watchlist complaint The ACLU has filed a lawsuit seeking the discontinuation of the no-fly and watchlists until such time as the government provides transparent procedures for finding out whether an individual is on one of the lists and for being removed from the list if your placement there is in error.
You should also send a complaint to
[email protected], demanding to know whether you are on the watchlist. They'll send a form letter back and refuse you the information you seek, but it's good to do this anyhow.
Are you political activists? There have been repeated complaints that activists are being placed on watchlists. For example, see
here and
here.