jcf27

Some of us are luckier than others then..... never a problem after dozens of trips to IST. Same for my business associates and friends with unpronounceable names from the region.

--J

GUWonder

Some are less lucky than others. And this has been a 2014 issue for people from the US in a way which it was not even last year. I too find the situation ridiculous for various reasons, yet it is what it is: something that has led to a higher incidence of being hit by <SSSS> on the orders of the USG.

By the way, it's not just the US that has become paranoid about travel to/from Turkey with Turkey noted as the choice transit route for those up for fighting or helping the fight against the Iranian-backed governments in Syria and Iraq. Now, the Saudi government too have gotten in on the action in a major way and are increasingly skeptical of younger males traveling (or trying to travel) to/from Turkey for that purpose (even as I suspect that way more of such unmarried Saudi males are in Turkey for "recreational" purposes, including that of engaging services from prostitutes, than on their way to risk their own lives supporting anti-government militancy in the region).

Travel by some to Turkey has been followed by a big increase in frequency of <SSSS> flagging by the USG, even for those US citizens or US-resident Saudis whose GE status remains valid and works more or less just fine.

Randyk47

My last trip from Turkey was in 2012 so if Turkish travel has become a trigger it's happened or caused for more recent travel. The only time, actually times, I've gotten hit with the dreaded SSSS has been leaving Las Vegas. It's almost gotten to be a joke between my wife and I as I've gotten SSSS something like three out of our last four trips. It's certainly not like we're high rollers or big winners and all the travel has been on AA where we're both have advanced FF status. Go figure......

athem

I have had Nexus/GE for about 2 years and never received SSSS. Each year I flew about 125k miles. Recently I went to Turkey and the return was from Paris and I got SSSS on return flight (boarding pass did not print online) but my wife and two children accompanying me did not get SSSS. Since then I have flown 3 legs (2 domestic and one international) and everytime I am getting SSSS. I have filed for redress and hoping that my name gets taken off the list. The security check is different at each airport. Looks like one should not fly to Turkey as there are several people in the same boat.

GUWonder

Recent Turkey trips currently increase the probability of ending up on some kind of extended US blacklist, a sort of fleeting blacklisting that results in <SSSS> for some time but then usually drops off after some time.

This is because the US is rather clueless about who has gone to or via Turkey for normal purposes and who may have gone there to assist or join some violent outfits in Syria or Iraq which happen to be fighting Iranian-backed government authorities and other Iranian-backed elements in the area.

I'm almost certainly flying via Turkey later this month, probably while transiting from India or from Israel. It will be interesting to see who -- if anybody -- in my travel party ends up in the same circumstance even though the transit in IST has nothing to do with the Syria and Iraq mess.

athem

Thanks. Today I made a last minute change and all return flight segments now have TSAPre (no SSSS). I had the agent add redress number before ticketing. I am not sure if redress did anything. I will update on my other upcoming domestic flights.

dmbtr3

I think it's the inbound/outbound difference. I hit the same thing as reported upthread. Flew into IST. Return was from LHR. Both on a single AA itinerary. In between we flew PC and TK. I had SSSS starting on the return and for about a month (5 roundtrips) after. TSAPre has worked every since. I recently went to IST on business. Roundtrip on one itinerary. TSAPre has continued to work since my return.

athem

TSAPre working now.

GUWonder

Part-time cheerleader for DHS -- and full-time cheerleader for the 2003 US invasion of Iraq -- Stephen F Hayes (of Fox News and The Weekly Standard notoriety) has ended up hit by a U.S. aviation blacklist (<SSSS>-producing) as a result of what he believes to be his Turkey trip too. There is so much irony in his ending up hit by this that it brings a smile to my face.

http://dailycaller.com/2014/09/23/st...st-watch-list/

http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/...st-195996.html

It will drop off, but the guy is wasting his time doing the TRIP/redress nonsense.

bjojo

I went on a fun European vacation with my spouse in September 2014: Istanbul, Budapest, Prague. I have been SSSS on flights since (domestic so far, next international flight scheduled for later this month). My redress status online says "complete," but I haven't received the letter DOHS purports to have sent me in the mail yet. I fly again tomorrow and once again cannot check in online, now due to "government regulation." Previous flights would just say online check-in wasn't available, so I'm not optimistic about the contents of the letter, whenever I do receive it. Pretty annoying to say the least, and it is souring my memory of a very fun four days sightseeing in Istanbul. I can't think of anything else that might have set this off for me; I in no way fit any personal demographics that could possibly be flagged (however unfairly). In the last year I have been to Japan, Turks & Caicos, Turkey, Hungary, Czech Republic. In prior two years I have been to Japan, UK, France, The Netherlands, Germany. My spouse hasn't flown yet since, but will find out in next 24 hours if he also has it.

LoganTSO

Your answer:

iahphx

Help! My family seems to have become "Turkish terrorists" too!

At Xmas time, my wife and daughters essentially did a round-the-world trip thanks to the favorable policies of the US Dividend Miles program. Our first stop was IST. From there we travelled to JNB, but we had to change planes in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania -- a Muslim city (btw, almost everyone on our Turkish flight to DAR was a European tourist heading to Zanzibar and such). After a stop in Namibia and China, we arrived in Houston. No trouble at customs, but I, my wife and my oldest daughter had the SSSS waiting for us on our connecting flight. This week, my older daughter and I flew domestically and we both got SSSS. My wife is flying tomorrow and she can't check in online, so I'm sure she's SSSS, too. My youngest daughter is not getting hassled, and she continues to get precheck -- all of us have Global Entry and, accordingly, trusted traveler numbers. We have travelled extensively around the USA and the world for decades -- all without incident.

So one stop in Istanbul (business class, no less) is enough to be labelled a terrorist? This is absolutely nuts -- and a horrible indication of the strength of our aviation security system. None of us, by the way, are "ethnic" in any way, and we don't have Muslim names or contacts in any way with any Muslim organizations. So just stopping in IST seems to have been enough!

So what the heck do I do to stop this? I need my precheck back; I can't have a half hour security check (complete patdown and rummage through my luggage) every time I fly. It's insane.

EDIT: I found this thread, too. My family's sudden placement on the SSSS list is almost certainly the result of our stopover in IST, and I wouldn't be a bit surprised if our departure flight to DAR triggered the algorithm. I see that the procedure is to fill out a DHS TRIP form. Obviously, we will do this. Fingers crossed the madness stops. I will report back what happens.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trust...ways-ssss.html

GUWonder

The extended blacklist hits are mostly temporary <SSSS> and it's almost a certainty that you and your family will drop off the list soon enough without you having to do anything. I wouldn't worry about it as you won't be blacklisted for too long and asking to get removed is a general waste of time when it comes to the temporary placement on such list as a result of the travel to Turkey or select parts of SW Asia. Within a few trips or after a few weeks or months, most hit in these type of situations end up not seeing the <SSSS> repeat consistently.

If the <SSSS> is hitting from flights on the same ticketed PNR, then there is generally not a greater need to worry about these <SSSS> flags.

DHS TRIP is generally a waste of time in these situations; and sometimes it even makes things worse as it could ossify matters.

iahphx

So DON'T do the DHS TRIP thing? How long should I give it? I probably go through TSA checks 6x a month. It's going to be a long month.

GUWonder

You can do DHS TRIP if you wish, but I've not seen it speed up things for people who got subjected to <SSSS> due to a ESL-listing driver or due to a hit PNR-listing driver.

DHS TRIP was meant for assisting people who got hit by a blacklisting of someone else with close biographic elements to themselves; it was meant to help avoid confusion with those on a government blacklist -- and that is about all the redress number still does. Your family is unlikely to have fallen into such biographic data confusion all in one fell swoop, and so the RN given by DHS TRIP won't really do much good for most people in your kind of situation. And a manual review by way of DHS TRIP may even result in extended flagging in some cases (rare as those are).

It might be a long month or two or three, but <SSSS> for more than two months for someone flying 6 separate itineraries a month is uncommon. I've seen it frequently drop off within 6-8 weeks or well before.