GeezerCouple

Giving a bag to a companion who is NOT "being searched//questioned extra" is such an obvious potential point of failure, it's almost a comedy.

I had a couple of SSSS flags a few years ago. And as I waited in line with about 20 others for the special table/etc., I suddenly realized that DH and I each had each other's carry on. They are both "dark", same size. I figured if I tried to switch bags then, that would really be suspicious. So there I was, whil'e DH's carry on was scrutinized, with him waiting just a few yards away, with my bag.

That reminds me of quite early in the "gate sxreening".
Unexpextedly, as we were standing in line to board, I heard myself paged. I was being called to a table nearby, it turned out. I didn't have a clue why or what was happening. DH was still in line.
As I approached the table and uniformed person, I realized how heavy my bag was (no wheels for me, then). So in total innocence, I smiled, and said, "Oh, this is so heavy, let me give it to my husband..."
I darted off, handed him my bag, and returned. The nice uniformed person continued asking me all sorts of questions, and rifled through my purse. Then he waved me through.
My bag? It of course safely escaped scrutiny. It wasn't until much later that I realized the absurdity and potential significance of what happened there that day.

Much more recently, I had an SSSS suddenly appear when we tried to print our boarding passes in Scotland, returning home. I couldn't print mine, of course. We were together as we approached whichever desk/station I needed for screening at the airport. DH was wheeling both carryons. The agent looked at him and asked, "Is one of these bags hers?" pointing at me. DH said yes, agent asked which one, DH indicated "this one", and the agent reached for it. The other bag remained with DH.

I mean... really!??

GC

Loren Pechtel

Yup, not only have we switched bags before, but coming off the belt at the checkpoint there was a period we couldn't tell our bags apart--we legitimately did not know whose bag it was without seeing what was inside. (And they wouldn't even be able to tell by looking inside--my bag has the heavy stuff, hers has the light stuff.)

We've also had the experience of security flagging her bag (she had something that couldn't be identified on the x-ray) and they asked who gets the pat-down. Pat-downs are 100% security theater.

Yeah--when dealing with couples it is not unusual for one of them to be holding something belonging to the other. A purse almost certainly belongs to a woman, but that's about all you can figure and even that won't help you with a lesbian couple.

Craig

My two boarding passes were printed before I boarded in the United States for Istanbul. The second sector had SSSS, the first sector did not. I can't explain it.

FliesWay2Much

Mrs. Flies and I were returning to the U.S. on LH from Amman via FRA back in Feb 2019. She got the dreaded SSSS. I think it was on the FRA-IAD BP. If there was an SSSS on her Amman-FRA BP, the Jordanians ignored it. FRA has the spiffy new U.S. style security checkpoint in the area of the terminal where North American flights depart. They whisked her off, along with a few dozen other victims, to the downstairs SSSS dungeon. Since we knew it was coming, we were able to reallocate our carry-ons out of sight. She wound up taking only her purse through the SSSS gauntlet. I took her carryon and her laptop through the normal security line. Nobody cared that I had two laptops. I went downstairs to meet her. She said the German frisking she got was about equivalent to a TSA groping. Security theater at its finest...

Mats

I wonder if the airlines will ever push back about this. After all, they have the cost of hiring security contractors at all overseas stations. I wonder if Airlines for America has this on their agenda.

It is as baffling as most elements of security.

• Someone with PreCheck/Global Entry/Nexus is fully vetted and "safe" when within the USA or departing the USA. But returning the USA, that's when skyjacking instincts kick in?
• Interviews are required for passengers departing from Lima but not from Cancun?
• TEN percent of all passengers on flights to the USA are so dangerous that they need to be questioned, frisked, and swabbed?
• (According to Google, there are 1750 transatlantic flights to the USA every day. At 200 passengers per flight, that 350,000 passengers, and thus 35,000 SSSS "selectee passengers" per day. And that's just the North Atlantic.)
• Liquids, gels, and aerosols are entirely acceptable on a flight from Melbourne to Brisbane. But the 100 mL suddenly becomes a suspected explosive if one continues from Brisbane to Los Angeles?
• Asking me for the name of my high school headmaster helps prevent morbidity and mortality in what way? (It was Dr. Donaldson.)

A lot of this speaks to an arcane security industry. We have just lot one MILLION Americans to COVID-19, zero to skyjacking or air terrorism. In 2020, more than 45,000 Americans died from suicide, more than 75,0000 die per year from opiate overdoses. This is all due to a lot of perverse psychology and marketing. "An abundance of caution." Imagine if we could use that time and money to screen or intervene 350,000 people per day with opiate dependence, suicidal ideaiton, etc.

Indeed, American airliners and their facilities have been targets of gruesome and unforgettable attacks, some overseas airports have been regrettably lax, but is this really the answer? Especially now?

PresRDC

There is absolutely zero reason why anyone who has Global Entry should be subject to SSSS. It's a total waste of time and resources.

GUWonder

My last SSSS hit was on OSL-EWR. I may have even had a PreCheck boarding pass for that flight, as I was/am GE-enabled. Apparently SAS had their TSA-required quota searches to do at the gate and the contractor there at the time didn’t have all their ducks lined up in a row with the SAS and DHS feeds.

My SSSS hits were pretty frequent in my earlier GE days, most typically a result of TSA’s quota search requirement and one security contractor having a messed up system.

owflyer

Looking for further documentation or information on the "Selectee Indicator." What is the range and how is it calculated?

JimboG

Got SSSS on two recent trips from Europe to US, from EDI and BCN. Both times ICTS was doing the security. Made several trips in 2015-16 from BCN and got SSSS every time ICTS was handling security. Many other transatlantic trips over the years, many from BCN, and no SSSS ever when some other company was handling security. Have had GE for over a decade, Delta 2 Million Miler, and Diamond from when the Diamond tier first started. Originally from North India. So basically 100% SSSS when ICTS is involved and 0% SSSS when it is not. How is that for random? I am convinced that the repeat SSSS is happening because ICTS is (racially) profiling.

stifle

That detail is not publicly available.

Visconti

Anyone with GE should not be flagged for SSSS, but it does happen when security contractors need to hit a quota. CX has done this to me a couple times, and I suspect it's because they just needed to hit the quota, get it out of the way, and I was checking early. So, voila, my BP printed with the dreaded SSSS.

AA used to do this to me until I had gotten so sick of it, I just started flying foreign airlines. The straw that broke the camels back for me was when on a round trip ticket to Paris on American Airlines, paid for with an American Express, returning home to America, with an American passport, born in America, and they SSSS'ed me at CDG. I dm'ed AA and they were giving me this crap about how GE wasn't a guarantee of being spared SSSS.

What is the point of flying an US based airline if I get hassled? Mind as well fly a foreign one and get hassled there.

poisson

It seems to be automated. One time I was flying AA via CDG and didn't have a checked bag. I tried to check in online 24hr before and it threw an error. The person I was traveling with was able to check in just fine. I have gotten SSSS several times with AA at CDG. My guess is because I don't check bags, I'm on some kind of "list".

Craig

The idea of SSSS (which I think is nonsense) is to find terrorists. Which of those attributes indicates that you are not a terrorist ?


That wasn't crap. That was the truth.

Visconti

Ok. On a full 777 to the USA, do you think the probably of my being a terrorist is higher than 95% - 98% of the other passengers?


Of course it was. I've never been SSSS'ed domestically nor have I ever been flagged entering the US with GE. What's the purpose of GE? The background checks?

GUWonder

It has little or nothing to do with being a terrorist — they have a quota to fulfill to make the USG happy and make AA act as if they are tough on security. And I say this as someone who also noticed ICTS at CDG was giving me ridiculous hassles on AA flights out of CDG no matter how many times I had been doing CDG-JFK some quarters.