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SSSS (Secondary Security Screening Selection) on Boarding Pass (policy debate thread)

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SSSS (Secondary Security Screening Selection) on Boarding Pass (policy debate thread)

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Old Oct 16, 2020, 12:34 pm
  #346  
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Originally Posted by Boggie Dog
If this pattern continues what other action can you take except applying for redress?
A redress number is intended to eliminate watch list misidentifications and verify the identity of a passenger who may be mistaken for another. In this case, it would appear that the OP is being selected for secondary screenings based on his recent travel patterns. It's a well known issue which has been extensively discussed in the Practical TS/S forum:
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Old Oct 16, 2020, 1:19 pm
  #347  
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Originally Posted by TWA884
A redress number is intended to eliminate watch list misidentifications and verify the identity of a passenger who may be mistaken for another. In this case, it would appear that the OP is being selected for secondary screenings based on his recent travel patterns. It's a well known issue which has been extensively discussed in the Practical TS/S forum:
That is most likely the case but what harm in applying just to check that box? Would eliminate those questions.
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Old Oct 16, 2020, 1:54 pm
  #348  
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Originally Posted by Boggie Dog
That is most likely the case but what harm in applying just to check that box? Would eliminate those questions.
No harm. It's why I recommend it. There are multiple issues here, but we really don't know for certain that he isn't just an unfortunate name match.
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Old Oct 17, 2020, 10:43 am
  #349  
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Originally Posted by Boggie Dog
That is most likely the case but what harm in applying just to check that box? Would eliminate those questions.
The likelihood of Amil's situation being related to just a name+birthdate+sex identity confusion is highly improbable, to put it more than generously; and I would say such confused identification is even more improbable than the likelihood -- very rare as it is -- of a TRIP application leading to being blacklisted worse in one or more ways than simply waiting for the ESL hits to drop without traveler involvement to try to get it to drop. If the SSSS hits are still taking place for a frequent traveler on US flights even after 4-6 months from the limited validity passport issuance in the UK, then that is when I would suggest considering the TRIP route.
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Old Oct 17, 2020, 1:42 pm
  #350  
 
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The experiences described in the last couple pages of this thread are disappointing, as I was under the impression (at least anecdotally) that the obsession with USCs traveling to Turkey was finally starting to wane. It's been a couple of years now since I've been hit with a domestic SSSS spell following a one way ticket or broken travel in or out of IST, and it seemed logical that "enhancements" in Turkish border/domestic security combined with geopolitical events in the region would make returning USCs less suspect.

Maybe with the huge drop in international air travel there's more resources now to spend on targeting and screening individuals who wouldn't have crossed the threshold for ESL inclusion pre-covid? I continue to see job postings for watchlist analysts in the DC area pop up on LinkedIn. It seems bizarre - I'd assume that there's so little international travel going on these days that the TSC and its contractors would be facing mass layoffs, not hiring...
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Old Oct 17, 2020, 2:06 pm
  #351  
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Bear in mind that the circumstances are not merely Turkey, but:
1. Two entries to Turkey on one journey from the US.
2. Entering the US on a temporary passport. In no way suggesting that the passenger did anything wrong, but anytime one reports a passport lost or stolen while traveling overseas, it raises the risk that the document fell into the hands of people one would not want to have such a valuable item.
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Old Oct 17, 2020, 5:39 pm
  #352  
 
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Originally Posted by Often1
Bear in mind that the circumstances are not merely Turkey, but:
1. Two entries to Turkey on one journey from the US.
2. Entering the US on a temporary passport. In no way suggesting that the passenger did anything wrong, but anytime one reports a passport lost or stolen while traveling overseas, it raises the risk that the document fell into the hands of people one would not want to have such a valuable item.

got the Emergency passport due to running out pages but without them knowing besides me telling him I can see why that would be it. I don't know why they got rid of the option to add pages. it was already the extra pages in there.

my flight home (different pnr) PVR to LAX tmw got a boarding pass. Hopefully its back to normal , im sure its just cause its an international leg but still im super happy. Hopefully when I land tmw they dont decide to pull me to the side again lol.
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Last edited by TWA884; Oct 17, 2020 at 7:02 pm Reason: Merge consecutive posts by the same member
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Old Oct 18, 2020, 7:59 am
  #353  
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Originally Posted by Often1
Bear in mind that the circumstances are not merely Turkey, but:
1. Two entries to Turkey on one journey from the US.
2. Entering the US on a temporary passport. In no way suggesting that the passenger did anything wrong, but anytime one reports a passport lost or stolen while traveling overseas, it raises the risk that the document fell into the hands of people one would not want to have such a valuable item.
Amil's situation doesn't involve any report of a lost or stolen passport; and so strike number 2 above for that when it comes to ESL. Could there be an issue arising from a person being noted for having two ordinary US passports with (some) overlapping validity when only approved to have one valid passport at a time? That's not so easy to strike as the lost/stolen passport thing.

With regard to number 1 above, multiple entries may increase the odds of being ESLed; and check out the following paragraph for an indication of why that can be so and for whom it is more likely to be so.

With regard to whether being perceived as as an ethnic and/or religious minority of some sorts can increase the odds of being ESLed: don't be surprised when told that the people involved in this include those who were very much opposed to efforts to try to further restrict the ability of involved federal entities (and also those entities' contractors) to engage in racist profiling against even Americans. Racist profiling and other prejudices leading to a higher chance of some individuals being ESLed is not just an abstract possibility, it's a systemic part of how this hits and whom it hits disproportionately.
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Old Oct 18, 2020, 8:39 am
  #354  
 
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Originally Posted by GUWonder
Amil's situation doesn't involve any report of a lost or stolen passport; and so strike number 2 above for that when it comes to ESL. Could there be an issue arising from a person being noted for having two ordinary US passports with (some) overlapping validity when only approved to have one valid passport at a time? That's not so easy to strike as the lost/stolen passport thing.

With regard to number 1 above, multiple entries may increase the odds of being ESLed; and check out the following paragraph for an indication of why that can be so and for whom it is more likely to be so.

With regard to whether being perceived as as an ethnic and/or religious minority of some sorts can increase the odds of being ESLed: don't be surprised when told that the people involved in this include those who were very much opposed to efforts to try to further restrict the ability of involved federal entities (and also those entities' contractors) to engage in racist profiling against even Americans. Racist profiling and other prejudices leading to a higher chance of some individuals being ESLed is not just an abstract possibility, it's a systemic part of how this hits and whom it hits disproportionately.
frankly, there is disparate treatment vs disparate impact. This is very similar to the idea that certain minorities get stopped by the police more. Depending on the stat, some folks will say it is targeted at those minorities because of systemic racism, while others say it is facially neutral treatment, but it just happens to look bad. Either way, it doesn’t really work. As a society, we have to judge what is the most efficient way to stop xyz (here it is immigration of suspect persons).

Apparently, the government thinks an efficient way includes stopping random citizens for months or years on end based upon small tweaks in travel patterns that most of us on this thread can easily write down and that the real “bad guy” can avoid doing.

Under various us case law, the above disparate impact allows plaintiffs to sue employers and others for perceived violations of the law without “concrete proof”. That is, just evidence of disparate impact of an otherwise intentless action can lead to damages. See https://employment.findlaw.com/emplo...imination.html

unfortunately, it is not the case with these sorts of situations. I can’t say for certain why these things happen, but what I can agree on is that they generally only happen to certain people. That does not bode well in our society and we should do more to prevent it.

Last edited by samosa; Oct 18, 2020 at 8:57 am
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Old Oct 18, 2020, 8:49 am
  #355  
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The ESLee passenger being hit with SSSS treatment typically haven't been for years on end for the ESLee, as the ESL SSSS hits were compressed into applicable periods of time that were far shorter than being there for years and years for the typical ESLee.
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Old Oct 18, 2020, 8:57 am
  #356  
 
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Originally Posted by GUWonder
The ESLee passenger being hit with SSSS treatment typically haven't been for years on end for the ESLee, as the ESL SSSS hits were compressed into applicable periods of time that were far shorter than being there for years and years for the typical ESLee.
happened to me for about 54 legs over 10 months or so.
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Old Oct 18, 2020, 7:00 pm
  #357  
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Originally Posted by GUWonder
Not so weird.

Rather often, and more so in and from the 2010s, when a person has an SSSS boarding pass on the first flight on a domestic or international itinerary with a connection/onward flight on the same ticketed itinerary, only the first flight's boarding pass would have the SSSS while the connecting flights' boarding passes against the X coupons of the ticket would not have SSSS. But there have also been times -- mostly in the times much closer to 9/11 -- when the connecting flights (in the same direction) on even domestic US itineraries also rather commonly had SSSS too if the passenger had SSSS for the first flight on the itinerary.
Seconded--I'm apparently married to Jekyll and Hyde--outbound she's more likely than not to get pre-check (I forget what the program is called where low-risk people sometimes get it without having applied) but coming home she's quite prone to getting SSSS on the international leg--but almost never on the domestic one.
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Old Oct 19, 2020, 2:45 pm
  #358  
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Originally Posted by GUWonder
Amil's situation doesn't involve any report of a lost or stolen passport; and so strike number 2 above for that when it comes to ESL. Could there be an issue arising from a person being noted for having two ordinary US passports with (some) overlapping validity when only approved to have one valid passport at a time? That's not so easy to strike as the lost/stolen passport thing.

With regard to number 1 above, multiple entries may increase the odds of being ESLed; and check out the following paragraph for an indication of why that can be so and for whom it is more likely to be so.

With regard to whether being perceived as as an ethnic and/or religious minority of some sorts can increase the odds of being ESLed: don't be surprised when told that the people involved in this include those who were very much opposed to efforts to try to further restrict the ability of involved federal entities (and also those entities' contractors) to engage in racist profiling against even Americans. Racist profiling and other prejudices leading to a higher chance of some individuals being ESLed is not just an abstract possibility, it's a systemic part of how this hits and whom it hits disproportionately.
Exit from Turkey on one US Passport followed by entry to Trunkey on a second (temporary-limited validity) passport like a week later and like maybe some one-way tickets and different PNRs? I can see that raising eyebrows without a lost passport involved.

With respect to profiling, YMMV.
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Old Oct 19, 2020, 4:32 pm
  #359  
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Originally Posted by Ari
Exit from Turkey on one US Passport followed by entry to Trunkey on a second (temporary-limited validity) passport like a week later and like maybe some one-way tickets and different PNRs? I can see that raising eyebrows without a lost passport involved.

With respect to profiling, YMMV.
The first paragraph above speaks to something that could be a noticed pattern of traveler behavior that triggers being SSSSed and/or a review for being ESLed. But that a behavior-pattern or behavior-pattern-based review comes with SSSS (for one trip or for more than one trip) doesn't by itself exclude the application of racist/tribalist/sexist/ageist prejudices. The very prejudices that yield disparate treatment (and consequently disparate impact) are in play when it comes to the who gets hit by SSSS and how they get hit.

Last edited by GUWonder; Oct 19, 2020 at 4:39 pm
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Old Nov 4, 2020, 8:26 pm
  #360  
 
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just wanted to report that I got my first boarding pass with TSA precheck again feels good
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