All you have to say is that you went through all the motions at the checkpoint and that nothing special was done regarding your SSSS. You cannot be blamed if the screeners missed it. You may want to destroy/discard your BP for the refundable flight if you're really paranoid about getting 'caught'.

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"Give me Liberty or give me Death." - Patrick Henry

No, the worst that will happen is you will be thrown in jail and accused of being a terrorist. For someone so critical of the TSA/DHS, you seem pretty naive about how they operate.

Wanna bet? They have no proof and you know it. Unless you fold under questioning, you will beat the rap.

The TSA couldn't catch a cold, much less a SSSS avoider, much much less a terrorist.

Monkeys banging on typewriters could write more intelligent security directives.

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"Give me Liberty or give me Death." - Patrick Henry

[This message has been edited by Spiff (edited Feb 07, 2004).]

That must be the case. I buy lots and lots of last minute one way tickets and have only been SSSS one time since 9/11. And that was 2 weeks ago in SF on a RT ticket.

My number was in the PNR already. They simply altered a leg, which then reflected my existing FF number before the ticket was issued. No difference.

i have been ssss a few times. I have tried to discern if there is a pattern to when I get it. Once I was very tight on my check in f(at that time 45 min. prior to departure was the stated policy, i was right at one hour trying to check bags curbside. I don't know whether that prompted of if I was randomly selected regardless) the other times have been when I have tried to check in and opt for a standby before going through security rather than at the gate. Not sure whether it was the standby or not. One standby, was a flight out of sfo that I was late for. I arrived at the ticket counter check in, prior to the flight but too late to effectively make it to the gate. they gave me a 'standby' boarding pass rather than a boarding pass for my actualy flight. it was ssss. my wife also got the same thing which suggested to me that it had to do with the standby nature not anything else.

denis, that is interesting. Perhaps the CRAPPS system sees the standby flight as a one-way ticket made on short notice, just like all the terrorists routinely make.

If others have experienced this, the smart thing may be to retain your original BP (make a copy if you do online checkin) and use it to pass through the checkpoint instead of using whatever standby BP they issue you.

The other smart thing to do would be to wait until you're inside security before attempting to make changes to your itinerary, possibly at the club, assuming you have the time to do so.

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"Give me Liberty or give me Death." - Patrick Henry

Oh good, we're back to the topic thread -rather than digressing on whether TSA knows what they're doing or not, which belong in Travel Security or Omni.

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Sharon

I got an SSSS on my DM card today while flying standby. But I'm not sure that it means extra harrassment....

The reason why I doubt it is that the TSA doesn't ever look at your BP, this is done by a UA or private security employee. So how would the screeners even know to give you an extra once over?

As there are no longer extra screenings at the gate, there doesn't seem to be any reason to fret about the SSSS on your BP.

Furthermore, when I traded my DM card for the actual BP the SSSS was no longer there.

Did you receive your scarlet-lettered SSSS DM card inside or outside of security?


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"Give me Liberty or give me Death." - Patrick Henry

I received it outside security at check-in.

Spif,
What I was thinking, and again this may have wound down as of now, is that say you did the refundable ticket bp. Say you presented your real bp with SSS, but it did not have initials, stamp, or whatever on it. Airline agent gets paranoid, calls the police, and the police bring you back to the security checkpoint and ask if any of the screeners recognize you. Then what if they search your bag (can they sarch your person w/out a warrant?) and find you have these two boarding passes. The authorities might be suspicious that you are trying to evade security checks by getting this second boarding pass without the SSS. Maybe they would let you go, or again maybe in this paranoid way they do things now, they would take you in for questioning. There have been a lot of people detained by Ashcroft's justice department for less things than trying to get two boarding passes to avoid extra security screening. Just imagine the paranoia if they found you with two boarding passes for two unrelated flights. Is this scenario ever likely to happen? No, in all likelyhood they will assume you got screened properly at the checkpoint. The airline or the authorities will probably never even figure out that you got two boarding passes for different flights to avoid the extra SSS prompted screening. But if in the remote chance they did find out, it would be very suspicious that you went through all sorts of trouble to avoid the extra screening. Think like a cop, they have to wonder, what the h**k is this person trying to hide from us not accepting the SSS screening, and why would he go to such trouble to avoid it. Surely because there is criminal activity of some sort. It is like if you ran the other way when you saw a cop, they would get suspicious no matter if you were doing anything wrong or not because the action seems suspicious. Again I am not saying this will happen, but if it did, I could see them taking someone in for hours of questioning.

I'll take my chances on that happening. I doubt the screeners could pick the screenees they screened 10 minutes ago out of a line up, much less 2 hours prior. Hell, those screeners are probably on break by then. As I stated, if one is paranoid, one can destroy the SSSS-free BP. Evidence gone.

As for the DM card with SSSS issued outside the checkpoint, some airports do not do anything with SSSS since they do not have a selectee lane. What airport were you flying out of?

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"Give me Liberty or give me Death." - Patrick Henry

Hmmmm. What's really the point of SSSS? If I were up to no good and got an SSSS I probably would cancel the ticket due to "an emergency" and not go through security at all. My point is, why make it so obvious that someone is going to get "the treatment"......

Chris

Exactly! It's a stupid, expensive exercise in passenger harassment that provides no security value.



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"Give me Liberty or give me Death." - Patrick Henry