Please explain this to me.........

I fly out of FLL. I fly DL but take US to fly home to PIT sometimes. FLL employs different "security" companies in terminal 2 where DL is and in terminal 3 where US is.

What is the purpose of having these pre-security "security" stationed at the entrance of the passenger lines before the WTMD where the TSA are stationed and staffed appropriately?

Why do these pre-security "security" people feel it's necessary to review my boarding pass? I almost b!tch-slapped this person at the entrance of the passenger lines this morning. She demanded to see my boarding pass and when I refused she said I had to show it to her. I told her she wasn't TSA. Those people are just steps away and it's their job to verify my boarding pass and ID. Not her.

I know which line I'm allowed to walk down. I've been flying for 13 years. I think I know my way around an airport better than these people.

When I flew US at Christmas, the gentleman stationed at the entrance of the passenger line there was on his cell phone the entire time I was walking through the queue. Never did he even want to look at anyone's boarding pass. He was just there to put his 8 hours in and nothing more.

I've emailed the FLL airport authority to explain why these "security" people are there but I doubt I'll get a reply. A good friend of mine works for Broward County and he told me point blank that they don't reply to emails like mine.


I have to admit I'm going to keep refusing to show my boarding pass to these pre-security "security" people. They don't work for the airline and they don't work for the TSA.

Fastforward to the year 2020:

TSA Announces New Pre-Pre-Pre-Pre-Screening Program to Evolve Safety

A. All airline pax must advise TSA 72 hours before flight of the house/hotel/office where they will depart for the airport, so a Mobile Screening Checkpoint can be sent to screen the pax as they leave their front door. A $750 "It's for your own security" Fee will apply and be added to the ticket price.

B. All pax must advise the TSA of their car/bus/taxi route to the airport, so a second Mobile Screening Checkpoint can rescreen the pax halfway to the airport to ensure the pac has not "picked up any packages from strangers" while enroute. The $500 "Halfway Fee" will be also added to the ticket price.

C. These screenings are in addition to the normal 57 levels of screening the pax will encounter, starting with the normal "Five miles from the airport parking lot First TSA Checkpoint and Strip Search." The $879 "Gosh How High Can TSA Milk 9/11� Fee for this service remains the same.

D. Pax are advised to leave their house/hotel/office 24 hours before their flight time to allow for normal TSA screening times.

Let me see your boarding pass please

Here you go.

Thank you, go ahead.


I am at a total loss sometimes when people find it way more entertaining to hassle the people and argue with them for five minutes when you can be past them in two seconds by just showing them the boarding pass you are probably holding in your hand.

[QUOTE=cordelli;13530996]Let me see your boarding pass please.[QUOTE]



WHY? Explain the reason why it's necessary for these people to see our boarding passes.

You made a general off the cuff statement. Now defend it properly.

What's stopping ME from asking YOU to see your boarding pass?

This can be frustrating at an airport like EWR. When there is a long line at security, there may be lanes avaliable for your bags to go on the belt but there pre-screnners are holiding up the line checking boarding passes.
A few years back at certain airports you had numerous people checking your boarding
pass. I am not sure what the obsession is with a boarding pass as if you don't have a valid one this means you are not getting an a airplane so you are no risk to anyone.

March 3, 2010 flying out of MSP to BNA. Arrived at document checker checkpoint 6. Family of five in front of me and document checker screaming out the LISSSEN UP PEOPLE bark. Absolutely no reason for that at all. I keep all of my documents in my pocket until the last minute so as to prevent loss of those documents. Document checker rude and unprofessional.

Flight from BNA to MSP document checker was polite, didn't bark orders. TSO checking my carry-on repacked it the way it was originally packed without being asked to repack it.^

Two different airports, two different styles of dealing with the traveling public. I demand professionalism on the part of TSA. Anything less is substandard and merits disciplinary action.

Lots of passengers don't know they need a boarding pass to get through the checkpoint, so the idea is that they're redirected before getting into line.

Okay, that's the reason for the boarding pass check. So what is the reason for showing your ID again since you already showed it to the ticket agent?

I find that unplausible. If you are flying today, post 9/11, you know full well that you need a boarding pass to enter the security zone.

If they don't then what rock have they been living under?


If that's what you'd like to think then the airport needs to have signs that say.......You're too stupid to fly. Go home.

Also forgot to mention that (depending on the airport/airline) they are sometimes responsible for monitoring carry-on size/quantity. Not that they actually do that.

IME they normally don't ask for ID. I suspect those who do are suffering from a strong sense of self-importance.

Might be unlikely, but you have no idea how many new/clueless fliers there are, or people who are just frazzled/confused.

I constantly get behind at least 1 or 2 people in security for every flight I take that this sign would apply to. The majority of the people that I've seen that this sign would apply to doesn't even involve the boarding passes.

Wild, unsubstantiated speculation follows.

1) The "pre-security security checker" might not be affiliated in any way with TSA. If, as suggested above, they're just trying to divert people who don't have boarding passes and IDs aside until they get those documents, in order to improve the overall throughput of the line, then showing them your ID doesn't actually satisfy the TSA's desire to verify your identity.

2) The checker might be an airline employee attempting to direct elite and non-elite passengers into different lines approaching the checkpoint, as they seem to have the right (and the desire) to do.

I really don't get the off the cuff statement you are referring to, and don't really care to argue about it.

You believe they serve no purpose at all and want to waste your time, and that of everybody behind you arguing with them.

Whoever employees them, be it the airport or the airline (you don't think they just show up as volunteers?) feels they have a purpose and has given them that job.

I prefer to show them my pass and be on my way.

You prefer to hold up the line for everybody.

I really don't care why they are there (though I do know why they are there). They were hired to do a job and are just following their job duties. If you take the same attitude with them you do with me here, I can fully understand why you feel hassled all the time.

I believe this is accurate based on recent experience at IAD. They have made numerous changes lately and I would guess that it could be confusing for people who have never been there before or those people who HAVE been there and now everything has been changed. Making sure people are directed to the correct area is probably a good thing. That being said, I have seen on almost every occasion people who were clearly not flying that day (just waving goodbye before the last security area) going downstairs past these people asking for BPs.

I didn't say I felt hassled. I don't feel it's necessary to show my boarding pass to people who have NO BUSINESS looking at my boarding pass.

My boarding pass is a document supplied by the airline for my travel that I purchased. The TSA requires me to prove to them that the boarding pass belongs to me by proving my existence with my government issued ID.

No where in the fine print does it state that I am required to present my boarding pass to someone who has no connection to my boarding pass.

These pre-security people are not airline employees or TSA employees.

And don't worry, I wasn't holding the line up for anyone this morning. I was all alone walking to the proper First Class passenger lane because I know how to read the signs that clearly state .....this lane is for First Class or Elite Preferred passengers. And YES I'm both.


So feel free to hand over your documents to people who have no business reviewing them Comrade.

I won't.


(and HINT......I actually do know why these pre-security "security" people are there too. These people are only located at 1 entrance <or side> of the passenger lanes in the DL terminal at FLL.)