FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - "Random" airside security check at Vienna Airport?
Old Aug 11, 2019, 11:44 am
  #11  
Mats
 
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Arizona, USA
Posts: 2,403
This has been around at European airports since at least the 1980s, and it applies only to flights to the USA.
In recent years, the random screenings have been applied to non-US carriers, such as Austrian.

In some cases, passengers are selected by a computer-based system, hence the "SSSS" or "quad" on a boarding card.
In other instances, there are the "SSSS" passengers as well as some "selected at random." The randomness is debatable.

Sometimes these passengers are selected during interviews at check-in; sometimes they are pulled out of the queue during boarding.
As I understand it, these procedures are conducted at the central screening area in Canadian pre-clearance airports, Frankfurt and Keflavik.
This is conducted on a continuous basis as the plane boards, but there is perhaps a 10- or 20-percent quota.

I have not heard of a 45-minute secondary screening.

The procedures vary tremendously between airports and airlines. The same airport may have different procedures for different airlines.
Some just require a "swabbing" of bags and shoes.
Others include frisking. Sometimes it is detailed and intrusive; sometimes just ceremonial and brief.
As you husband experienced, some include questioning--even inappropriate or disturbing questions.

These procedures are mandate by the US government, and that probably explains some eye rolling by the airlines. It is a time-consuming, labor-intensive process that the US requires.

I cannot explain why these procedures still exist. After all, the security "questions" were abandoned in the US in 2001. The SSSS designation has been dramatically reduced for flights within the US and departing from the US. Gate screening and "continuous screening" still exist, but have been dialed down.
My only guess is that the contract security companies (ICTS/Avsec) lobby for these contracts, and have cozy relationships with airlines and regulators.

As passengers, I fear that we are powerless to dismantle this system.

I'm sorry that your and your husband had this misfortune in Vienna.
Mats is offline