SSSS - Experiences?
Nov 26, 2018, 12:52 am
#121
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: London / Brighton
Programs: BAEC Gold / M-Life Gold / HH Diamond
Posts: 1,634
Nov 26, 2018, 8:45 am
#123
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 1,060
Except if Mrs Tafflyer (or you) gets selected they will ask if she doesn’t normally travel with a handbag, or any other items. You can then choose to lie “but I only travel in the clothes I stand in with my passport in my hand” or come clean. As the check only takes a couple of minutes, it’s probably better not to lie.
Feb 17, 2019, 9:51 am
#124
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: England
Programs: BAEC Gold, UA Mileage Plus, Hotels.com Gold, Marriott Bonvoy Platinum, Pizza Express Gold
Posts: 602
Except if Mrs Tafflyer (or you) gets selected they will ask if she doesn’t normally travel with a handbag, or any other items. You can then choose to lie “but I only travel in the clothes I stand in with my passport in my hand” or come clean. As the check only takes a couple of minutes, it’s probably better not to lie.
Feb 17, 2019, 10:07 am
#125
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Vale of Glamorgan
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 2,991
Perhaps I've misunderstood, but it sounds like you did give your bag to your wife. The potential consequences of deliberately misleading the person carrying out the SSSS inspection greatly outweigh the minor (and very brief) inconvenience of having your bag opened and swabbed.
Feb 17, 2019, 12:35 pm
#126
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: San Diego
Programs: Plat Pro AAdvantage, but defected to BAEC
Posts: 1,222
My wife and I both got selected for SSSS on our trip back to the US in early Jan. We’re both green card holders and have Global Entry, so it’s not as if the US doesn’t know who we are. I only noticed the SSSS on our boarding passses when we got to the gate and the agent asked for our boarding passes to make sure we qualified for the first class/ gold queue (which would explain why I could check in online the day before, but wasn’t able to print, or download a boarding pass).
Our plane had gone tech and they were swapping it out which meant that boarding was going to be delayed by about 30 mins, so we were advised to go to the B Lounge and come back a little earlier than 30 mins to go through the screening. As we could see the gate from the lounge and saw queues began to form again at all lanes, we decided to stay up there a little longer and let the crowds die down a little. When we saw economy starting to board, we headed down to the gate and used the priority lane and were escorted down to the screening area. There were 3 people in front of us and one of them happened to fail the explosives swab test, so that slowed things down a little as they ran another test and performed a more thorough search of their hand luggage. About 5 mins later we were called up and they did a rather perfunctory search. Cases were opened and swabbed and I took out the laptops, iPads and kindle and they too were swabbed, along with our hands and shoes and that was it and then it was LPGS time!
I was half half expecting the big X at the GE machine at LAX, but we both were processed just fine upon arrival.
Our plane had gone tech and they were swapping it out which meant that boarding was going to be delayed by about 30 mins, so we were advised to go to the B Lounge and come back a little earlier than 30 mins to go through the screening. As we could see the gate from the lounge and saw queues began to form again at all lanes, we decided to stay up there a little longer and let the crowds die down a little. When we saw economy starting to board, we headed down to the gate and used the priority lane and were escorted down to the screening area. There were 3 people in front of us and one of them happened to fail the explosives swab test, so that slowed things down a little as they ran another test and performed a more thorough search of their hand luggage. About 5 mins later we were called up and they did a rather perfunctory search. Cases were opened and swabbed and I took out the laptops, iPads and kindle and they too were swabbed, along with our hands and shoes and that was it and then it was LPGS time!
I was half half expecting the big X at the GE machine at LAX, but we both were processed just fine upon arrival.
Mar 19, 2019, 6:13 pm
#127
Join Date: May 2010
Location: BDL
Programs: DL PM, HHonors Silver
Posts: 440
Just wanted to update this from my experience last week. Booked BAH-LHR-BOS last minuted by a travel agent in BAH got the SSSS. I'm a us citizen and didnt add my ktn figuring it wasnt worth the effort. At the gate they called all the SSSS people by name prior to boarding and got us down and searched before they began the preboarding. Ended up in my seat faster than anyone else in cattle class. Gotta say BA made it easy.
Sep 16, 2019, 9:51 am
#128
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: SEA
Posts: 79
Regarding handing off carry on luggage: I have gotten SSSS every time I fly out of LHR in the last year. Ugh! I quickly figured out the "hand my carry-on to my husband" trick. We flew LHR-SEA 2 days ago and the gate agent actually suggested that my husband take my carry-on with him! I went to the SSSS area with just my little purse. Clearly, they think it's a bit of a charade too! I do wish I could figure out how to get off the SSSS list. It might be brief, but it's annoying to get pulled out of line. And the irony of the woman inspecting my luggage with her heavily-used latex gloves directly beneath the warning about the spread of measles in Europe...don't get me started. She said I could request she use new gloves. I said I shouldn't have to ask.
Sep 16, 2019, 12:09 pm
#129
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: New York City
Programs: JGC
Posts: 445
Got this on LHR-JFK yesterday. Possibly because I had made 2 round trips within 10 days. I went to the gate early and told the agent I had SSSS. She told me to just get in line as usual (Group 2). At this point the crew had just started arriving and the gate area was mostly empty.
About 10 minutes later they asked "everyone with SSSS on the bottom right of their boarding pass to come to the front of the queue". I was the first at the front and was escorted through the gate and told to sit and wait in an area to the left of the escalator going down to the boarding bridge. Similarly about 15 people were led through to this waiting area. They took and held our passports / boarding passes. After a short wait, we were led down the escalator to an area directly behind the actual boarding bridge where there were two metal tables set up with some security people. We were told to sit there (there were seats) for a moment.
After another brief wait, I was called first and instructed to proceed to one of the two tables. Upon arriving, the security employee told me to put my bags on the desk (I had a backpack and a carry-on) and take out all electronic items. The security person wasn't particularly nice but not nasty like TSA. Once my electronics were out, she told me to open my carry-on, which I did. She proceeded to do some kind of swab of my electronics, and my carry on / backpack. She turned on my iPhone / iPad. I was then told to remove my shoes and place them on top of the table. The shoes were swabbed and then my hands and feet were swabbed. I don't think I had to remove my jacket. The lady went to some machine to check the results of the test and everything was good so she told me I am good to go. By the time I joined the boarding queue, I think Club World was just starting to board. I was on the UD in a 747 and probably about half the passengers up there had boarded.
All in all nothing to worry about, didn't delay my boarding much; very un-intrusive IMO and kind of pointless. I would imagine if you were in F / CW and slow to get in line for the screening you could end up boarding near the end of Economy which could be annoying.
About 10 minutes later they asked "everyone with SSSS on the bottom right of their boarding pass to come to the front of the queue". I was the first at the front and was escorted through the gate and told to sit and wait in an area to the left of the escalator going down to the boarding bridge. Similarly about 15 people were led through to this waiting area. They took and held our passports / boarding passes. After a short wait, we were led down the escalator to an area directly behind the actual boarding bridge where there were two metal tables set up with some security people. We were told to sit there (there were seats) for a moment.
After another brief wait, I was called first and instructed to proceed to one of the two tables. Upon arriving, the security employee told me to put my bags on the desk (I had a backpack and a carry-on) and take out all electronic items. The security person wasn't particularly nice but not nasty like TSA. Once my electronics were out, she told me to open my carry-on, which I did. She proceeded to do some kind of swab of my electronics, and my carry on / backpack. She turned on my iPhone / iPad. I was then told to remove my shoes and place them on top of the table. The shoes were swabbed and then my hands and feet were swabbed. I don't think I had to remove my jacket. The lady went to some machine to check the results of the test and everything was good so she told me I am good to go. By the time I joined the boarding queue, I think Club World was just starting to board. I was on the UD in a 747 and probably about half the passengers up there had boarded.
All in all nothing to worry about, didn't delay my boarding much; very un-intrusive IMO and kind of pointless. I would imagine if you were in F / CW and slow to get in line for the screening you could end up boarding near the end of Economy which could be annoying.
Sep 16, 2019, 12:48 pm
#130
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: Somewhere between SFO and LAX...FYI aka FAT
Programs: BAEC - back to lowly blue. Marriott - Lifetime Platinum
Posts: 466
Regarding handing off carry on luggage: I have gotten SSSS every time I fly out of LHR in the last year. Ugh! I quickly figured out the "hand my carry-on to my husband" trick. We flew LHR-SEA 2 days ago and the gate agent actually suggested that my husband take my carry-on with him! I went to the SSSS area with just my little purse. Clearly, they think it's a bit of a charade too! I do wish I could figure out how to get off the SSSS list. It might be brief, but it's annoying to get pulled out of line. And the irony of the woman inspecting my luggage with her heavily-used latex gloves directly beneath the warning about the spread of measles in Europe...don't get me started. She said I could request she use new gloves. I said I shouldn't have to ask.
Sep 16, 2019, 2:54 pm
#131
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 189
Regarding handing off carry on luggage: I have gotten SSSS every time I fly out of LHR in the last year. Ugh! I quickly figured out the "hand my carry-on to my husband" trick. We flew LHR-SEA 2 days ago and the gate agent actually suggested that my husband take my carry-on with him! I went to the SSSS area with just my little purse. Clearly, they think it's a bit of a charade too! I do wish I could figure out how to get off the SSSS list. It might be brief, but it's annoying to get pulled out of line. And the irony of the woman inspecting my luggage with her heavily-used latex gloves directly beneath the warning about the spread of measles in Europe...don't get me started. She said I could request she use new gloves. I said I shouldn't have to ask.
Sep 16, 2019, 3:22 pm
#132
Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club, easyJet and Ryanair
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: UK/Las Vegas
Programs: BA Gold (GGL/CCR)
Posts: 15,923
Sep 16, 2019, 6:04 pm
#133
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Dubai/Boston
Programs: BAEC Gfl, GGL
Posts: 189
Have had this a few times when travelling to the US. I am a visa holder (British but residing in US for work), post the 'swab' have never had any issues on arrival.
It's sometimes very disorganised at LHR, not enough machines etc, but never had anything to worry about.
It's sometimes very disorganised at LHR, not enough machines etc, but never had anything to worry about.
Sep 17, 2019, 2:03 am
#134
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: US/UK - and elsewhere
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 2,555
Looking forward to my SSSS today - traveling alone, HBO - ready to spew the contents of my bags everywhere - and with a 1:05 connect time... . :-) (T5A to T5B: flight connections or first wing?)
Last edited by CKBA; Sep 17, 2019 at 2:19 am
Sep 17, 2019, 2:26 am
#135
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Bristol
Programs: BA GGL, UA Plat, DL Plat, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 2,380
I think trying to second-guess the SSSS algorithm is a waste of time tbh.
My travel pattern over the last month has seen me enter the US 3 times in relatively quick succession, once originating from Indonesia and once from Mexico, on a variety of carriers in a variety of travel classes with tickets paid for in a variety of ways...and in fact have not had a single SSSS or GE black X now for over a year...
My travel pattern over the last month has seen me enter the US 3 times in relatively quick succession, once originating from Indonesia and once from Mexico, on a variety of carriers in a variety of travel classes with tickets paid for in a variety of ways...and in fact have not had a single SSSS or GE black X now for over a year...