Had a somewhat unusual experience at the secondary screening before boarding QR to the US at DOH. SSSS on bp. I was never pulled out of the line; my carryon was rapidly swabbed and I received a casual patdown, but I always moved along with everyone else. No questioning.

I just flew Warsaw to Chicago on LOT Polish Airlines and had the SSSS on my boarding card. In the screened off area, they just swabbed my bag, laptop, hands, and shoes. Less than 5 minutes.

I got SSSS on the flight from Toronto to Boston this April. It was a round trip and booked a month earlier, with a few days stay in Boston. So everything looked normal. No idea why I was selected for ssss. I never got SSSS before when I was holding Chinese passport to US. But this trip was the first trip since I changed to Canadian passport traveling to US. So I was wondering if it was the trigger. And I'm also worried does it mean I will receive SSSS in the future for every flight to US?

1 time is a very poor sample size for an analysis. Even if you were a member of a TT program, which if you are eligible and not already you should consider Nexus, members are subject to random searching via the SSSS protocol.
If you had a previous customs violation or other behavior that could get you flagged that would be something to be worried about but just getting it once isn't a big deal.

PS, welcome to FT.

Thanks Yoshi212. I'm having another flight to NY at the end of this month. So I'll be back to share the update. Good luck to me.

I've had GE for 7 years. No interview required at renewal.
Four flights ago (this was AMS-SFO), I got SSSS.
Never happened before, hasn't happened since. It's random.
And in AMS at least, it was no big deal. Took 3-5 minutes.
Amusing anecdote, the lady waiting for secondary behind me told me when she OLCI'd she thought the esses meant she was going to get an upgrade!

5+ years ago, I used to get SSSS hits on about 20% of my flights from Europe to the US, and the frequency of the hits got worse for me after GE membership than before GE membership.

In more recent years, I get SSSS hits on less than 10% of airline flights from Europe to the US; but my mix of carriers (also meaning frequency of carrier use) is different than before; and I am less likely to use airports where CBP has had people in place for IAP than I used to be; and I'm older and more likely to encounter airport contract screeners who have seen me repeatedly than used to be the case.

Within the last 9 months, I've had zero SSSS hits IIRC. DL has been the US carrier with which I've had the fewest SSSS hits and definitely the lowest frequency of SSSS hits when flying US carriers from Europe or Asia to the US.

I flew to AKL this past weekend to attend the Celebration of Life for [MENTION=171371]wijomas[/MENTION]. As a result, I booked two one-way tickets. No issues with the outbound ticket and PreCheck was on all three BPs. I've had NEXUS/GE for 11 years and never had an issue as well as no SSSS since shortly after 9/11/01.

Upon checking in at AKL on Monday, I received SSSS for the AKL-SFO BP and PreCheck did not appear on the SFO-MCI flight. SSSS screening simply consisted of having my laptop, iPad and shoes ran through ETD just before getting to the gate. No issues clearing security at AKL and easily able to use the WTMD ^. Upon landing at SFO, I tried to get my BP fixed so PreCheck would appear, though no dice. Later, upon numerous messages to/from AskTSA on Twitter, we found out a second KTN had been inputted in the Redress field and upon its removal, PreCheck appeared for the final flight. Not sure if the one-way ticket or the dup # caused the issues ex-AKL, but a much better experience than had it been SSSS with TSA contract workers at SFO.

I checked in at PTY (Panama) a bit ago on AA, to MIA and on to LAX.

Receved SSSS on my PTY>MIA boarding pass. Security screening was as normal - I'm not even sure anyone looked or made note.

Anyway, just curious - I very seldom get SSSS, (not in many many years), and never flying into the US. Curious what others' experiences have been.

EDIT: Answered my own question - additional screening was at the gate. Guess I"m a bit naive to that.

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I got nabbed with SSSS going from QRO to DFW. I was the only person on board with it. Empty pockets, get manual pat down, and the agent looked at a couple of items in my bag.

I have global entry and haven't gotten SSSS on my US boarding pass in who knows how long.

I am flying AA.

Last year I had a last minute business trip to to the UK. On my return I got SSSS and they told me I was flagged by US DHS. Today I went to check in for my next flight to London. Checked in just fine for the domestic leg but couldn't check in for the JFK to LHR leg. The check-in agent at BOS couldn't do it. I tried to have the Admiral's club agent do it and she was saying there was some message about needing UK immigration clearance. I finally went back to the check-in counter at JFK. The agent there checked me in without any issues in only a few minutes. But handed me a boarding pass with the dreaded SSSS on it. The rest of my family has precheck on their passes. We are on the same PNR.

So now I am trying to figure out who has me flagged and how I get unflagged.

And is there anything I can do before tomorrow morning to get the SSSS off my record?

Am I going to have this issue with the rest of my trip? I am flying from London to Dublin in 10 days and then back to Boston via London again.

Any advice would be appreciated.

There is little one can do. I have been flagged outbound and inbound. The best advise is to give ALL of your carry on to a family member. That way none of it is subject to being pilfered through by security. Go through with nothing but your ID and boarding pass. No phone, no laptop, not a single luxury. Further make sure they go through first. That is my MO when traveling when I have gotten a SSSS boarding pass. Security may be annoyed but there is little they can do. I simply say I have no carryon. Especially as I tell my spouse to "exit" the secuity area.

Thanks for the tip. I am considering it, but wonder about number of carryon bags we have and whether I can successfully have the family get them through security without being questioned or stopped.

The thing that I am concerned about is the bit the club agent read to me about UK clearance.