Welcome to Specious Logic 101. Maybe my Magic Rock has prevented such bombings? Maybe the Boogeyman is vacationing in the Himalayas? Maybe the threat of terrorism is severely overblown? The point is, there's no way to prove that the harassment has prevented anything.

Not agree: completely correct. I disagree with nearly everything that this disgusting agency does. But please, don't ever presume that we "don't understand" what this unnecessary agency is up to.

And with very good reason.

Our spineless government should have told these golddiggers to go suck an egg.

"Doing more" is not necessarily a good thing! A person on fire can "do more" by running around in a circle screaming and yelling than just standing there. However, "doing more" in this case actually makes the situation worse, not better. If anything else were to happen, I hope that the TSA's "leaders" go to prison (or even if something else doesn't happen) for providing expensive, bogus harassment instead of even a semblance of real security.

Perhaps it is just luck of the draw, but I have not seen gate screening (for domestic flights) since the months immediately after Sept. 11 and I am based out of GRR. Until today, that is.

I was a bit surprised to see that this was still happening. Of course, as the first person to step up to the gate, I was "randomly" selected for additional security. I asked the TSA agents if they knew my name. "No, sir, this is random," the senior one replied. After placing my bags on the table, I asked how they could have done a random sampling if they did not know who I was. "We just pick people randomly." I explained that, for the method to be random, they would have to do something like assign a number to each passenger booked on the flight, then use a random number generator to select a number of passengers based on a significant sampling size. I got a blank stare. I asked them how they define "random" and the other agent said, "we just pick people at random out of the line." That, I explained, is not random, and actually puts a bias into the system that could stymie their efforts.

This discussion continued for some time along these lines, but not in vain! By time I was finished with them (and vice versa), the jungle jet was boarded and there was not one else left for them to randomly select (read: harrass).

I saw the folding table with 2 TSA screeners last month at MCO. We were in the US gates at the old terminal. They were going gate to gate and when it came time for us to board, luckily they didnt hit our family of 5, but I saw a guy right behind us that was really pissed!

He had lined up with the pre board crowd, but the TSA nailed him and I didnt see him board till waaaay later.

Makes no sense.

I have seen it at CO gates at MCO several times when I have flown in the last three months. As usual, it was just passenger harassment from TSA with no security benefits at all.

Way to take one for the team!

Are you guys sure he wasn't someone who was supposed to be additionally screened and wasn't? That's generally the only time we have people airside, when the airline calls us and tells us we screwed up on the SSSS pax, or sometimes when they have a connecting flight and didn't have to leave the terminal and are SSSS.

that is a good possibility.
gate sceening has always been a waste of time

Agreed. And I know at MCO we can't really spare the manpower for that BS.

Screening connecting pax (or rebooked pax in irrops) as SSSSelectees is incredibly stupid anyway.

I don't understand this scenario...wouldn't the pax had been SSSSed on their original flight?

No kidding.

MarcPHL - Not if they had both boarding passes printed, and were SSSS on both sets. They go through additional at JFK, come to Orlando, get off at their gate, and are heading to MIA on the same airline. They wouldn't have their SSSS cleared for MCO, and since they weren't cleared the airline wouldn't let them on. So, we'd have to send someone out there to clear them.

It's stupid, I'm aware of this.

Yup.

Happened to me in RNO last year.

My AA flight was cancelled and they rebooked me on a connector through LAX on Alaska. The gate agent did me a favor and rebooked me even though she told everyone to go back through security to the ticket counter. When I walked over to get my boarding pass from Alaska, it had the "SSSS" on it. I made a remark about it to the agent and she told me "Just stay in the secure area if you want. I'll be working the flight and I won't call anyone to screen you when we board." SANITY!!! ^

I was SSSSd for no ID in SEA back in November. Then I took a bump from CO over to DL and they managed to not include my FF#, so I was SSSSd again, even though I was already inside security That wasn't fun. I actually walked back up to security instead of waiting until boarding to deal with it. The guy freaked out when I didn't have my carry-on with me (it was in a locker in the CRC) but eventually I convinced him to just wand me and get it over with. Entertaining to say the least, though the 3x back and forth on the SEA terminals that night definitely got me a good workout prior to the redeye home.

The agents apparently can actually remove the notation from a BP, as I've had them do it for me before, but this one wasn't having any of it

Ohhh yea. I watched them do it at a couple of gates. They set up the little table they had and pulled an unfortunate victim. When it came time for us to board, just before we started boarding (I was in line for #1) I saw them heading our way and thought OH $*!T they are gonna get me for sure. I guess they saw my 3 small kids and did not get me, but the poor guy right behind me got it... and he was fuming mad when he finally got onboard.