FROM Western Europe??? There's no TSA in Europe, how could that be?

Given some countries like in Europe routinely grope US bound passengers but it's still not an SS-squared.
Perhaps you were just disproportionally lucky so far? Maybe because of said "parameter set". I once had 5 SS-squared in sequence and all involved groping. I guess as with all physical things, the first time is the hardest.

Just got a call from Congressman Chaffetz office they are opening an official investigation with the TSA.

I'm taking it as far as I can. Nobody puts baby in the corner.

It's a long shot, but you haven't by any chance been anywhere near Istanbul in recent months, have you?

Can I assume that there was nothing unusual about the ticket you were flying on? Not a last-minute one-way cash purchase?

It's posted elsewhere in the forum, but it's pretty common knowledge that for months now, an itinerary involving IST can lead to a few months of 'SSSS' for no reason that makes sense to anyone but presumably has to do with treating anyone who goes to Turkey (borders Syria) as suspicious whenever they fly for a few months. Unfortunately, this affects so-called 'trusted travelers' as well as everyone else.

Nope never been to Turkey, eaten turkey but never been there :) I flew 10 October SLC to AMS to FCO and on the return FCO-JFK-SLC. Used Delta SkyMiles for the flight so to ensure the best deal on miles, I booked them way back in April 2015. Also used my miles for my Mom and Sister. We don't look unusual either, unless you think Danish/English/Irish people look unusual.

Tell the congressman they touched your "anomaly" and ridiculed
you for having one. Sure, you might hate to pander to the Politically
Correct crowd at first but that's what gets results these days.

Prosecute them for sexual assault

You know, I heard that as well so I braced myself for the worst when my wife and I came back from our honeymoon, destination IST. But everything's be "normal" with our prechecks (knock on wood). We're both GE.

It certainly bordered on sexual harassment. Rubdown v Patdown

Actually did so, because I would never treat anyone like I was treated regardless of who or what they were.

that's sexual assault, they touched you in a sexual manner without your consent, take it to the police

It's my understanding the airline assigns SSSS at the time of booking, so it wouldn't surprise me if someone got an SSSS on the return leg of a trip to Europe.

I've gotten SSSS flying PVG-DTW. I think that 1-way tickets and cash bookings both can trigger my least favorite four-letter "word".

chollie beat me to it -- the secret Turkey SSSS. That was the first thing which came to mind.

Sadly, I have to agree... with the female non-Caucasian TSA employees at JFK being the worst. One of them tried to steal confiscate some food I'd packed in my carry-on at T5. Fortunately one of the male non-Caucasian screeners who was running the ETD saw what was happening and immediately grabbed a complaint form and a supervisor. He was quite passionate that I fill out the complaint form on the spot, which I did. He was quite upset about this and had stated that he'd seen the same x-ray person steal food when she was hungry before. The supervisor was useless -- he left the sticky-fingered hungry hippo on the x-ray machine, but at least my cheese from Murray's was back in my possession. Never heard back from the TSA on the incident. Also haven't seen the same woman at the T5 checkpoint since, so maybe she did get the boot.


Keep on them -- don't let this story die.

I'm all for real security, but the TSA is standing in the way of true security. I'm more scared having TSA in place than the old pre-DHS/TSA days.

I've not had to be subjected to any of the TSA or SSSS bullssssh to enter military bases, federal courthouses, military installations, federal law enforcement offices, etc. At no point has any of the security officers (who are sworn law enforcement officers at the aforementioned locations) ever barked/yelled/raised their voice at me, required me to get rid of my water, take off my shoes, etc. They've almost always been dressed in a proper suit w/tie or proper military uniform, polite yet firm, and often friendly. But I have no doubt their demeanor would change rapidly if they sensed a threat. THESE are the people we need running airport security.

If you want to fly to the US, you have to abide by US screening requirements.

Yes, it is, when your boarding pass says SSSS and you are subjected to SSSS screening.