RobertS975

Flew yesterday MEX-ATL-BOS on a one way ticket paid for with residual value from another cancelled international trip. No checked luggage. I am 50 years old, was dressed casually but well. The MEX counter agent wrote something on my BP, and when I asked, he said it indicated something about that the taxes were already paid. Received the random gate check both in MEX and again in ATL.

An article in the current Time magazine indicates that a one way ticket will almost always get a random screening. Has anyone else found this to be true? Did the counter agent write something on the BPs which indicated to the GAs that I was on a OW ticket.

What possible motive would a GA have to select a PM for random screening? Although it is not beyond the possibility that a terrorist could achieve high elite status with an airline, it sure would be unlikely. And lest we forget, I was screened like everyone else in order to get to the gate in the first place! So why pick a Passenger with a BP that plainly says I am a PM?

It would seem to me that a high proportion of OW tickets are purchased by DL's best customers. But does that mean you will get the white glove treatment, the shoes off, the unbuckled belt and the rest of the meaningless crap?

fastflyer

I was on a one-way paid J ticket ATL-LGW a couple of weeks ago. The gate machine beeped at my boarding pass and the word SECURITY in all caps flashed on the screen.

I think this is working as designed. That is, I think they do indeed want to gate-screen all int'l one-way tickets

jwhite4

Is there a logical reason for this (I know logic and security have no relationship anyway!).

I guess if your a terrorist group, maybe in the long run you need to save money, so you only buy a one way ticket (why buy R/T when you know you aren't using the 2nd half?). However, a lot of times I would think a r/t ticket might not be much/any more more than a one way ticket (since r/t can get discounted fares, where o/w often gets a higher rate).

Plus, you would think (if in the midn of a terrorist), wouldn't it be worth any additional money to buy a r/t ticket jsut to avoid any potential interrogation?

Jeff

airships

Bearing in mind that every minute spent by a security person on something that is not highly related to security is a minute not spent on something that might keep us safer...let me ask this question: Is it a sensible use of limited security resources to focus special attention on one-way tickets anymore? Given how highly publicized the practice of scrutinizing one-way passengers has become, wouldn't any criminal or terrorist buy a round-trip ticket to avoid the risk of a heightened security check? If this is a reasonable assumption, does it make sense to expend security resources on heightened searches of passengers whose ONLY "suspicious" factor is a one-way ticket (if all the passenger's other factors are consistent with innocent travel)?

RobertS975

Has anyone noticed any trends with OW domestic tickets? And if it targeted at OW international tickets, one would still think that a US passport PM passenger somehow doesn't quite fit the profile! The point is this: while they are wasting their time with my screening, they may be overlooking another passenger who may be more "deserving" of a second look.

GUWonder

I bought a last minute walk up fare on American for DCA-JFK, one way only. I did not get selected. I am EXPlat on AA and have been an AAdvantage member since 1992.

I have bought DCA-LGA and LGA-DCA one ways and roundtrips, advanced and walk-up, on Delta Shuttle as a GoldM, and I never got flagged down. When I was not of any status on Delta early last year, I got selected every time in DC and never in LGA, despite where and when I bought the ticket, or the manner or routing. I have been a member of Deltas programs since 1992 when I entered college. Of course a handful of the Delta agents in DCA seem to have a problem with me all the time and even have given me problems. The agents in LGA are cool and I am on very good terms with most of them as they have seen me a lot. [I only fly Delta for the shuttle flights, and on an award ticket if I have to.]

NoStressHere

There is NO logic in our security system. Get used to it. Accept the lunacy.

My wife is a GM, blond,white blue eye, trim, 45ish and gets stopped for RANDOM checks at least 50% of the time... even when we work hard to get onboard when they are busy.

No sense that I can figure out.

Meanwhile, any potential bad guys could get onboard. So stupid. So wasteful. So dumb.

rcs85551

Had a one-way ticket upgraded to V and checked in using VCI. No "random" security check

A Delta CUSTOMER!

I will agree that a lot of the screening is lunacy, but will also admit that "security" is not my job or profession, and there may be a lot I don't know. For example, Robert's quote above make sense. Now consider someone (i.e., Mr. Terrorist Man) has stolen Robert's identity.

theDeltaFlyer

I flew on 4 or 5 o/w tix in May and 1 in June and did not get picked on DL.

On my only 2 o/w tix on YX I did get picked for the whole 9 yards, however. (Bomb sniff of my checked bag, review of my socks and underwear, gate 'random' search, etc.) I asked on the second of those two tix if the one-way flagged me and the ticket counter person said no ... but wouldn't tell me what did 'for security reasons'.

One ticket was bought a week before my flight, the other 2 days before - one of my cc, one on my administrative asst's - both times I hit the ticket counter about 40 minutes prior to departure. I was dressed poorly both times ... more in an unshaven-FL-redneck-after-a-day-at-disney-world style than a fidgety terrorist wires coming out of my shoes.

free101girl

My husband and I did a one-way YVR-SAN in early June and neither of us were screened. Of course, we were returning from a cruise, and with the number of cruises that end in YVR, I'm sure one-ways are probably common from that airport.

the scribbler

I have flown on 5 or 6 one way tickets this year (all domestic) and have never been stopped.

Skylink USA

In my experience, OW tickets have not subjected me to search. Scrutinizing OW tickets will not catch the terrorist who has lived in the US a long time. There are full of FTers among us who have done throwaway ticketing (because it's cheaper). In France, people are not so wasteful!

MarkinDallas

In May I did a roundabout route on Delta.

Dallas-SLC-Boise-SLC-LAS-Dallas

I was searched every time. I was clear that something was marked on my boarding pass. I'm guessing that a round trip ticket shows up as a series of one-way tickets.

Mark, Dallas

theDeltaFlyer

Nah, you just pi$$ed off the person who checked you in.