SFO: TSA now Pre-checking I/D's & BP's while in line but before reaching the TDC?
 

As you know, there is a little gate that says "wait here" where one waits before being motioned to the TDC podium and you proceed when called by the TDC

but.....

Friday night (7/8) at the UA elite checkpoint

There was a pre-checking of your I/D & BP at the "wait here gate" by a TSO. No super secret black light but a TSO doing a review of you bp and I/D and then making some super secret scribble on your BP (and this is after you show your bp to the AirServ employee who makes sure you are in the correct line)

I asked the TSO "when did this new nonsense start" (my exact words) and he responded with "about 4 hours ago"

Anyone else experience this new "safety feature" :rolleyes:

Tell the screener if he wants to be a "trained" travel document checker, get a podium at the beginning of the line. If his ego warrants it then a pedestal as well. I did this to a screener at Fort Lauderdale (FLL).

So the security process now starts before the TDC? :rolleyes:

They can see my BP when I get to the podium.

You WILL NOT be allowed to proceed. The pax in front of me asked just that.

Are they checking BPs and IDs 4 feet on the other side of the TDC podium too? Because you can't be too careful!

I truly do feel a lot safer, because I'm oh-so positive that a terrorist wouldn't successfully pass the test of showing the same ID twice. Whew!

Who's going to stop you ? A TSA employee (or contractor in this case) has no powers of detention.

I guess he is a TDCC. :mad:

Yes - they were about 2 metres apart, or less. Did you have to spell your name at the second checker? Was your scribble in pink and did it cover almost the entire pass and look like a tree in the upper right, and some other pretty pictures elsewhere?

Out of an Abundance of Caution™, they should have BPs checked after the TDC, before you can grab bins, after the WTMD, and before leaving the checkpoint.. Super Sekure :rolleyes:

They are still playing this game today at SFO apparently and are still asking non-English speakers (as well as English speakers) to spell the name on their boarding pass. :mad:

So the dyslexic do not get to fly?

Well, the Germans got a pass, after quite some discussion. :o

Even if one knows enough basic English to respond to 'Name?', asking those who cannot speak English well to spell their name is expecting a lot. And as you indicate, there are others as well who may have challenges. My TDC was a mumbler with an accent, so it was a challenge for ESL flyers but would most likely be challenge for hard of hearing as well to understand what he was asking.

I also use the NATO phonetic alphabet when spelling my name to English speakers over the telephone, etc as it us usually misspelled by English speakers. That leads to confusion if the person asking for the spelling doens't understand what I am doing when I 'spell' it that way.

SFO does not have any TSA checkpoints!
 

Remember, TSA does not conduct passenger security screening at SFO. This function has been outsourced to a private contractor. If you look closely at the TDC/TSO uniforms, you will see that they are similar to TSA uniforms, but different in some key ways. They say "TEAM SFO" on the back, for example, instead of TSA.

So, this procedure might be something cooked up by the third-party contractor managers, not any kind of directive from DHS.

Yep, they were doing this in the elite line at the International terminal yesterday.

I really flustered the real doc checker when I pointed to my throat and shook my head no when he asked me for my last name. He didn't know what to do. Looked around quite a bit, asked me if any one else was traveling with me, and then finally told me to go ahead.

What a bunch of idiotic jackholes.

Yup, and weren't most folks here saying that it was a GOOD thing that screening at SFO is done by a contractor instead of TSA?

I have been taking ASL. One of the things my tutor insists that I do proficiently is "sign" my name. I am getting pretty good at this including basic communication. It is my plan to get good enough to "sign" my way all the way through the screening process. On the way to the airport today, I practiced "I opt out." I forgot to use it when the time came. :p

I am still working on "It is your SOP that I see my belongings."