Shh!!! You are giving away the secret! The man behind the curtain won't like that...

Remind me again. How many of the 9/11 hijackers were travelling on one-way tickets ?

1 is one too many
 

Yeah, eyecue, they were traveling on AIRPLANES, too. We should ban all of them. :rolleyes:

NW lost me because of SSSS
 

I used to fly NW in biz class asia-US-asia with the return portion open ended about 5-6 times a year. Without fail I would get SSSS'd on the return portion (US-asia) because they viewed the open portion of my ticket as a one-way reservation. I was CO Plat at the time and still got nailed for it every time.

This harassment led me to try UA about 2 years ago. I've made 1K for 2 years in a row flying asia-US-asia with an open return just as I had on NW. The only difference is that I have never been SSSS'd. I am never going to fly on NW again thanks to the extra harassment...congratulations NW!

A few TSA'ers have posted recently that there will be new written guidelines soon clarifying once and for all that it is your airline that selects you for SSSS, and your airline that can deselect you. Unfortunately up to now both the TSA and the airlines have played pass the buck, each blaming the other for an individual's SSSS. Hmmm, maybe it has been written into a secret law.

On day one that the new guidelines come down, I plan to buy a fully refundable one-way (that I am certain from past experience will be SSSS'ed) and then demand to be deselected or receive a refund. It'll be interesting to see what happens. I live in two cities so I can make it flexible week where I do have the option to fly or not.

My experience is that you may not get the dreaded SSSS if you're a frequent flier. Exactly what constitutes a frequent flier in this case is anybody's guess.

For example my wife and I both took 2 one way trips last May and June. She got the SSSS both times and I escaped scott free. I had done something like 100 segments in the 12 months prior and she had flown around 5.

Good Luck!
 

I bought a one way ticket in uniform and was SSSS. The agent made a mistake and didnt assign a seat and had to reprint the ticket. I had noticed that it was SSSS and told her not to SSSS me. She did on the new one anyway. IT seems that you and I dont meet the criteria for being deselected. The issue with the secret law is a bunch of finger pointing. TSA makes the criteria for the classification. The airline computers see if the criteria fits. The ticket agents have the ability to over-ride it, the screeners tell the pax to take it up with the airline.

In military uniform? I thought active-duty in uniform were eligible for automatic deselection.

I got SSSS at PHL on WEds when my I changed my flight on a round trip ticket. Remind me never to go out of secutiry at PHL.. There were 3 people ahead of me in the SSSS line and it took 30 minutes. For some unknown reason they decided to rip the top off my pack of ( open) cigarettes . Maybe they were frustrated - I was on the return part of a MR and didnt exactly have a lot of stuff for them to go thru :D

Several weeks ago I flew on two one way itineraries where I thought I was SURE to get SSSSd but did NOT.

RNO->LGA via DEN on Frontier Airlines
LGA->ATL on Delta.

I used web-checkin in both cases, and was rather

No SSSS, not even a FF with either airlines. Only thing I can think of that prevented me from getting SSSS is that I booked about 3 weeks in advance.

An earlier poster is right about Southwest...I got SSSSd on them consistently when I booked RNO->San Jose one way.

I am a screener for TSA
 

:D

Thanks for the clarification. A lot of the TSAers are retired or ex- military from just before their TSA days; wasn't sure if you were one of them.

Purchased on 09/27/2004 for one way:

09/28/2004:

IND - PIT 530a - 812a UA 7840
IAD - PIT 935a - 1045a UA 4493/US4921

No SSSS. I am a 'regular' frequent flyer on UAL where I banked the miles for this trip.

Been to a military supply store lately ? Anyone can buy a uniform :D