Originally Posted by choo choo train
This is the first time I've posted here. I figured this would be the place to get an answer to my question.
I fly from MCO to LAS 3 or 4 times a year and this is the first time I've ever run into this situation. I was flying AW and the security at MCO was a non-event as usual. But coming back from LAS it was a nightmare. I had taken my belt off and taken eveything out of my pockets and put it all in my carryon. I took my shoes off and put them in a basket. When I got to security I was told I would have to go through secondary security because AW had marked my boarding pass with SSSS. I had no idea what that was and still don't. The first TSA guy treated me like a common criminal. He was very obnoxious. He wanded me and almost knocked me over when he patted me down. I asked him why I was being treated this way and he said because my airline said I was a supicious person. Then some other TSA guy came over and told me to follow him. We went back to the machine and my carryon was sitting on the floor with my shoes on top of it. They had already gone through the machine. I reached down to pick up my shoes and the guy literally screamed at me not to touch my shoes unitl he told me too. I was stunned. He then picked up my shoes and my carryon and walked over to a table.
When we got to the table he handed me my shoes and told me to go ahead and put them on because they had already gone through the machine. What sense does that make? Then he proceeded to go through my carryon which after 4 nights in Vegas contained nothing but dirty clothes. He pulled it all out and the funny thing was he had no gloves on. He was handling my dirty underwear with his bare hands. He wiped the inside of the carryon and checked it for something but of course there was nothing. But with him not wearing gloves couldn't he contaminate my luggage with his bare hands if he had touched something earlier? I still don't understand that part. Anyway they finally let me go. I emailed AW asking what the story was but I've not gotten an answer from them. I'm a gray haired old man who hasn't even had a traffic ticket in over 25 years. Can any of you help me out here? Thanks.
I would presume that you were chosen randomly. But for the TSA screener to tell you your airline thought you were a suspicious person was way out of line.
Also, you should have
demanded that the person going through your luggage put on gloves. Why he didn't have them on, to my mind, just proves how "unbrained" some of these people are. In addition, you should have demanded that the screener doing the pat down put on fresh gloves also.
I presume that something "illegal" could have been put in your luggage had the dumb screener wanted to do so, but I would be far more concerned with where his ungloved hands had been before he went through your luggage - what might he have left in your luggage that he could have picked up from another person's luggage. Or, and please dont take offense, what could he have transmitted from your "dirty clothes" to the next unlucky suspicious person who came his way.
These wannabes were doing a power trip thing on, as you describe yourself, a "gray-haired old man".
Let me ask you, do you feel safer because of what happened or does it make you more likely to reconsider making that trip again, if you have a choice in the matter? If you would think twice about making that trip again, you need to let AW know that also.
And last but not least, you must send a letter of complaint to the TSA, the FSD at the airport and the airport director. I presume you were not able to get names and badge numbers - but if you can include in your letter the time you went through the line, which line it was - narrow it down as close as possible - perhaps someone will take the time to try to track down who was on duty at that time in that line.
No, this is last: we are paying the salaries of these clowns - we must demand that they do their jobs properly, courteously and according to the TSA's written protocols.
You get SSSS'd if your name is on a particular list, if you fly one-way, if you buy your ticket at the last minute, if you pay cash, if your original flight is cancelled and you're put on a different flight, or if you're just plain unlucky - as you apparently were. All this was designed to help catch a terrorist - do you think it works?
