Dieuwer

If you go on vacation to Morocco, will you get hit with SSSS too?

TomMM

I'll be there in Jan and will let you know.

77W_12A

I had the dreaded SSSS for four months straight. I booked a trip which I had to start in Karachi. I didn't even step foot into Pakistan (as I had the airline notify ground staff to have the BP ready when I deplaned), except transit .

When I entered the US using GE, there was a big fat X across my picture. I had to go into a room, wait for 30 minutes, and then get interviewed for another 20 minutes. Questions were like...why did you go there? Who do you know there? What's their address? How long did you stay there for?

When I left the US, I had the SSSS again. It got to a point where the ground staff at LAX knew who I was because I was one of the select few top tier members that would get it. They knew a day in advance.

GUWonder

Nowhere near as likely as of so far this year. I find that rather interesting -- especially given the route of the Franco-Belgian-Dutch-German Daesh psychos also includes getting to Syria via Morocco and then Turkey if not entering/exiting Schengen via a flight to/from Turkey or Greece (when it comes to Syria and/or Iraq trips).

haolaowai_org

Hi all,

I recently flew with Westjet (Toronto-NY) with Westjet and I got put on SSSS

How did this happen? Should I avoid Westjet in future?

Thanks!


EDIT:
Economy class
Precheck Nexus program
Canadian citizen
I flew this segment 4 times per year, no problems before
First time flying Westjet for transborder (prior was Porter/AA/AC)

Ocn Vw 1K

As this is an issue related to travel security and the potential need for extra security screening, I'll move this to the dedicated forum on this topic, with a more descriptive thread title to help get discussion. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

GUWonder

Carriers flying from Canada to the US are required by the US to have a certain percentage of their passengers flagged for <SSSS> screening.

Even having NEXUS/GE status is not an exemption from the "random"/occasional flagging as a <SSSS> boarding pass recipient.

Unless you have a bunch more of back-to-back <SSSS> flags hitting at check-in, this flagging will likely either stop on its own eventually or become less frequent over time.

Often1

Nobody is exempt from secondary screening and the fact that OP was selected has nothing to do with WS. WS is simply the vehicle for printing "SSSS" on his BP.

This could have been anything from a random selection to a decision to "watch" OP more closely for well-founded or unfounded reasons. More than likely the first of the reasons, so not much to do other than sit back and see if this situation repeats itself.

GUWonder

Airlines pick some people for <SSSS> screening, which may or may not have been the cause of the <SSSS> flagging.

Some passengers subject to screening are exempt from SSSS screening, even as most passengers subject to screening are not exempt from
<SSSS> screening when issued a <SSSS> screening boarding pass.

haolaowai_org

I was told that the selection is done by the carrier so it's the carrier algorithms.

I take that to mean that another airline might not have flagged the same person on the same route. Unless I'm wrong?

Flight was delayed 4 hours and I arrived early to airport so it wasn't an issue this time. But I occasionally get to airport 15-30 minutes before takeoff so I don't want this issue to repeat.

haolaowai_org

First time it's happened to me... I'll try to web checkin later tonight on my return flight and see what happens.

Randyk47

I've gotten the dreaded SSSS twice that I remember. The last was about 4-5 years ago. Traveling first class LAS>DFW>SAT, some level of airline elite flyer, wasn't late checking in, hadn't been out of the country in years other than cruising the Caribbean, still had an active security clearance, etc., so nothing I could think of that would trigger the SSSS by name. Asked the agent at LAS about it and she actually apologized that I was getting it but said it was totally random and based on a DHS requirement that "x" number passengers get randomly selected. She did tell me once the computer had picked me there was no way (i.e., reissuing the BP) to get me unpicked. Doesn't mean that there aren't individuals who are on some list that triggers SSSS but unless I was getting it consistently I wouldn't worry about it.

GUWonder

Some <SSSS> flagging is a product of the airline; some is a product of governmental blacklisting and/or selection that may be targeted and/or "random" in some ways; and some is a product of a mix of the mentioned.

haolaowai_org

First time I got it, didn't get it on my return trip. That being said, I'll probably fly any airline other than Westjet for forseeable future (unless Westjet is cheapest by 20%+)

Randyk47

To keep my frequent flyer status I really focus on American but I understand your feeling in that if I was getting SSSS every time I flew American I'd try another line. I have no reason to not believe the AA LAS ticket agent that on their side it was purely random. Still if I was consistently getting SSSS on just one airline then I'd switch to another. If the SSSS followed me then I'd try to find out how I got on some government poop list which I'd imagine is a challenge in and of itself.