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.
ChooChoo:
To perhaps better answer some of your specific questions:
The "SSSS" is the code used to indicate to TSA that a person has been selected for additional security screening.
When TSA told you that your airline said you were a "suspicious person," he was perhaps technically but not completely correct. The program used to determine who gets the SSSS is administered by the airlines and takes place on airline computers, though it is required by and overseen by the federal government.
There are three different reasons a person can get the SSSS:
1. Your name matches the name of a person on the "selectee list." The list is maintained by the government, and the government won't say much about who has ultimate control over the list, or even how many people are on the list.
2. The "old" criteria, still in use, are circumstance based. Here, as another poster mentioned, one way tickets, cash purchases, and last-minute ticket purchases are deemed to be more suspicious in nature than "normal" round trip or advance tickets. It is also less likely that you will receive SSSS on these grounds if you have a frequent flyer number in the computer for the same airline that is operating the flight.
3. Random. A very small percentage of passengers who aren't on the list and don't meet any of the triggering criteria get SSSS on a random basis.
It could be you just hit the lottery this given day.
In any event, you definitely encountered screeners far to the rude side of the spectrum, which is unfortunate.
I would like to go on record as agreeing with 90minfromJFK's sentiments as well. :thumbsup: