Welcome to FT and to the TS&S forum!
Originally Posted by AlanLivingston
week. During my transfer in LAX, one of my carry-ons set of the explosives scan. The supervisor came over and asked the agent which machine she used. She told him and he said something like, "Oh... You better try this one." and pointed to a different machine. The second scan worked fine and the supervisor came over again and took my passport and boarding passes and wrote various pieces of info from them down in a log.
It appears to be standard procedure for TSA to collect name, address, and BP info when the ETD (explosive trace detector) is set off. TSA won't officially say what they do with the information. There has been much discussion here as to the possible privacy act violations with respect to how the information is collected. Based on evidence from past posts here, setting off the ETD alone does not generally seem to trigger future special treatment.
After I arrived in TPE, I had a change of plans and booked a one way ticket on a different airline and cancelled the second half of my original round trip ticket.
Then I proceeded to security for my JFK connection. As I approached the agent, she called out, "I have another one!" and sent me to a different line with only 6-7 people on it. I was directed to hand over my passport and boarding passes. TSA was typing info from the passports and boarding passes into a computer and wouldn't let anyone cross the metal detector until after some response was received. Everyone on this line was wanded and groped, removing shoes and belts in the process. My carryons were checked for explosives and searched. Finally, I was allowed to the gate.
Pardon me if the question seems simplistic, but did your boarding pass have "SSSS" or something similar written on it?
It sounds like you were a "selectee" for additional screening (wand, grope, bag search). Screeners determine selectee status by the mark on the boarding pass. Flying on a one-way ticket and/or flying on an airline where you are not a frequent-flyer greatly increases your chances of being "selected."
I'm a pretty paranoid person, but if I were you I wouldn't worry too much about being on any lists unless you start getting frequently selected, or worse--denied a boarding pass, on round trips on your primary airline. If that occurs, some on FT seem to have had some luck contacting their local FBI field office and/or their congressman in addition to the TSA ombudsman, who seems pretty much powerless.
But you're a long way from needing that and probably fine.