Nice.

Who are the thugs again?

Bad post, FWAAA. Let's give this guy a break. He seems to realize what it's all about, but is doing what he is told. As long as they are respectful to the respectful passengers, and not groping them, don't assume they are all bears.

Speaking of non-sequiturs...

pre SSSS we had 9/11. Post SSSS we've had.....nothing.

How do you know what is has and hasn't prevented?

www.m-w.com

Look up the word "specious".

There is zero evidence that SSSS harassment has prevented terrorism any more than magic rocks or chanting.

Thanks for the dictionary reference, but it's not necessary.

In the absence of any airline terrorism since 9/11 (and the introduction of SSSS), on what do you base your assertion that it has not prevented any terrorism?

Exactly, it's a circular argument that ends up nowhere. I just don't see the point of all the colorful adjectives....

Hi Rufus102,

This is an old argument on Travel Safety/Security. There are two facts: passenger screening has gotten more invasive, and there have been no incidents of airline terrorism except Reid since 9/11. Causality between these two observations can not be proven and can not be disproven.

However, here's another fact for you: The GAO and other neutral government bodies have determined that the TSA not only fails to detect guns, bombs, and knives on a regular basis, but also has faulty or no procedures in place to test themselves. You can read it for yourself here and here. This latter fact suggests that whatever reasons the government has for wanting to harass us at checkpoints, those reasons do not include detecting weapons, since they don't do a very good job of that.

The GAO has also proven that the security was bad starting more than 10 years ago when the FAA was in charge
http://www.securitymanagement.com/library/000539.html. The real ironic thing is that those FAA individuals in charge of security migrated over to the TSA. :( It won't get any better until there is a change of command at the top.

I do not believe that SSSS will EVER EVER catch a real terrorist.

Why? Because we always give the traveler advance notice. If your boarding pass tells you that you are about to get the screening, why would you proceed? If you have bad stuff, you give it to another traveler or skip the flight. Duh! How stupid do they think these guys are?

Some of the other measures MIGHT catch someone, but SSSS will never work. And based on how they went through my bag during a recent SSSS, I could easily have a knife or other pointy thing in my bag. Really.

There you have it. Terrorist attack thwarted...

As far as handing stuff off: Just becuause you're not a selectee doesn't mean that we're not going to look at you or in your bags.

Oh, whatever.

All SSSS does is tell the person with it on their BP to put the bomb in their pants.

SSSS has not and will not ever stop a terrorist attack, except for maybe those Terrorist Gumbo Attacks or those Terrorist Breast Milk Attacks.

SSSS is a way of helping terrorists avoid the intensive selectee screening. Here's how: bad guys take their pool of volunteers on test flights to see which itineraries and persons match the SSSS profile and which ones don't. Then they send a clean person on a clean itinerary to do the dirty work and they have lowered or eliminated their chances of getting SSSS.

Need proof? See this MIT paper, "The Carnival Booth Algorithm for defeating Passenger Pre-screening".

So that the screeners will find it while they rape you with their wand?

You people are crazy.....

Another content-free post!

That's two in one day. Care to try for three or four?

###First of all I worked with the airlines and they had ssss before 9-11 which there was a number of reasons on why you where put on that list, so actually it isn't TSA's fault at all. Its actually the airlines computer that picks out if you are a selectee or not so your shouldn't point fingures unless you know the whole story.

Welcome to FlyerTalk.

SSSS has been around pre-TSA. It's use has gone through the roof. How many pax were harassed pre-9/11? 1? 2? per day? Now it's more like 1-2 per row.

The use of SSSS should have been eliminated, not increased. It's a disgrace. The parameters that get one flagged for such SSSS harassment have been expanded, rather than decreased. This was mandated by the TSA, not the airlines.

Pre-9/11, the airlines could also deselect a passenger. Now they cannot.

I do know the story and I do know where the fingers should be pointed (TSA) and where the shoes should be planted (in the rears of the TSA admin. repeatedly.)

The airlines HATE SSSS. The TSA forces them to use it.