I've gotten the infamous SSSSSS before, but every time I was able to identify what it was -- usually traveling on a last-minute one-way reservation with an airline on which I am not a regular -- that triggered it. But this morning, I was SSSSSelected on a BOS-LGA US shuttle flight. I am silver preferred on US, booked the flight as part of a round-trip with my corporate travel agent as I always do, and had upgraded to F as I always do (or as I always try to do). I cannot think of anything out of the ordinary about my travel this morning. Maybe some SSSSSs truly are random. Any thoughts?

Yes. A small number of SSSSes truly are random...perhaps about 10% or so. Of course, the algorithms are SSSSecret so no one knows for sure. I haven't gotten a random SSSS yet...for me, it's always because of "suspicious" one-way tickets and flights on airlines where I have no status (read: LCCs).

I've never been SSSS'ed when I wasn't expecting it. I get hit with it about a third of the time I fly WN, and nearly all of my WN segments are last-minute one-way purchases.

Have you ever been at an airport where the regular security line was a mile long, but the SSSS line was very short? I've been tempted to volunteer myself to be SSSS'ed in that case, but I don't think I'd ever do it: that would probably arouse some suspicion.

I've noticed that, at many airports, the SSSSSs are escorted to the front of the line. On Saturday at SFO, I was just about to put my stuff on the belt when a TSAer excorted two SSSSSs in front of me and made me, and everyone else, wait while they stripped down and got their stuff on the belt. (The TSAer wasn't smart enough to let me and the other non-SSSSSs continue through the line while the SSSSSSs were ready to go through; instead the entire line came to a screeching halt while the SSSSSs prepared for their screening.)

When I was last SSSSelected as a Gold Elite flying F out of ABQ, I was sent to the front of the line, then only to wait in a blocked off "penalty box" type of setup surrounded by 4 tables they pulled around us. I waited for a while, then thought I should time it, then waited for 10 minutes more. My companions blew by me in line. Interestingly enough, we discussed giving my carry-ons to them to avoid the extra Mass-Spec Explosive detection & hand search to hopefully speed things up, right in front of security but they didn't seem to care/mind. Great security, eh?

All in all, I spent 30 minutes doing a check that was highly redundant and provided no real securit, where it should have taken only 10 minutes or so.

Also of note, HP's check in agents refused to deselect me by printing my boarding pass again. Has anybody had a problem with this before? I thought flashing a mid-tier or plat elite card or showing an F boarding pass was enough to get them to consider de-selecting you.

I was going to write a comment in about that to their HQ, but forgot.

Yeah, it's weird how when I'm travelling with someone else I can get my friend to take my carryons if I'm SSSSed and thus anything in those carryons won't get searched. security.
Plus, at some large airports, if your BP shows SSSS the initial agent who checks your BP/ID will tell you to go to lane 1 instead of lanes 2-10, but I've noticed they never look to see where you go, and usually nobody else checks the BP afterwards, so technically an SSSS person could just go in the normal line without much chance of getting caught.

Well, most airports I have my BP viewed after going through the metal detector. Could they be looking for SSSS trying avoid the search? I'd hate to get caught doing that, however tempting. Sounds like a ticket to a later flight.

File a complaint every single time you are haraSSSSed.

This disgusting, un-American system needs to be abolished.

I've only been SSSSed a few times, and only once was I de-selected. I flew AMS-SEA-LAX on NW and AS. The AS segment got screwed up and had to be reticketed at the lounge--as a last-minute, one-way ticket. The woman in the lounge wrote an explanation on my BP, and called the gate. I was waved through. It was very nice of her to notice the SSSS, and to fix it.

Those guns, knives and bombs in your bag are only dangerous on the plane if you carry them through the checkpoint yourself. If your non-SSSS friend carries them through, they're rendered useless.

I don't know the official policy on this (must be security sensitive info ) but the only time I've ever seen anyone deselected from haraSSSSment is when they've been involuntarily rerouted from one airline onto another, provided they were not a selectee on their original flight. A while back at CHO, a United Express flight to IAD was cancelled (as happens all the time) and UA rebooked some of the passengers onto my US Airways flight to CLT. I noticed that the ticket agent had stamped a big red "EXEMPT" over the SSSS---a good idea since CHO has only one metal detector and three or four screeners on duty at a time, and 20 SSSS's would have taken forever to process.

There's no valid reason for SSSSing anyone in cases like this; the passenger profiling system needs to take into account that last-minute one-ways, or any other type of ticket, are not "suspicious."