Originally Posted by eyecue
As one poster alluded to this has been discussed. IF you alter a boarding pass you could be charged with forgery, etc. IF you do the process described by purchasing another ticket that is not SSSS then you run the risk of being charged with interference with the screening process. If you have both BP's on you, then it would not be hard to prove that you did it. Besides that, there is a civil penalty and you could end up on a no fly list. Is it worth it?
A couple of points --
1. I'm not a lawyer, but I don't believe you can commit "forgery" on an un-official document (like a boarding pass). If it were discovered that an individual altered a boarding pass to avoid an SSSS gate grope, I'm not so sure the forgery charge would stick. However, I'm sure that the TSA and DOJ would want to make an example out of somebody. Surely, some sort of charge of interfering with screening and a civil fine would apply.
2. I agree with the other posters' comments about a second completely valid non-SSSS boarding pass. The TSA/DOJ would have to prove intent that a passenger bought the ticket solely to avoid the SSSS. Unless the passenger was a complete blabbermouth, you couldn't prove that unless a cop beat (figuratively) a confession out of the passenger.
3. Regardless, I think altering a boarding pass is a bad idea because the whole point is to demonstrate how useless the SSSS designation is. Challenging the system with an altered boarding pass would make the issue the altered boarding pass -- not SSSS.