United747

I agree with TomMM - once you start getting it every trip, or almost every trip, is when you need to start “worrying”.

Ex-EU it’s not that big of a deal. It sucks a lot more getting it on domestic US routes

hockey7711

Do you have global entry?

WineCountryUA

IME, GE does not immune you from SSSS. That is what a Redress Number is for.

hockey7711

Yes, I have it but get ssss at fra sometimes too.

lotemblizej

Got the dreaded SSSS for a UA FRA-IAD a month ago after a slightly tight connection from LHR. Unusually for my past experience, this time the whole process took only 5 minutes as there was no wait and they only took explosive swabs, and did not open each bag and go through the contents thoroughly.

lsquare

It doesn't. I have GE and still got SSSS ex-SIN.

Delphiie

Got the SSSS flying MUC-SFO, only indication was that I couldn't check in online. Prepared for the worst, but all I got were some questions about where I was staying and who packed my bag. Everything else was normal, maybe they forgot to search my stuff or swab my hands.

iluv2fly

The last three out of four times ex-SIN I have received SSSS. And I am GS and have GE.

PBAudit

Last week, got SSSS ZRH-EWR, have GE..They only swabbed hands and carry on luggage. The tip off that I was selected for additional screening should have been the inability to check in online.
This was a one way (EU-US) award flight book about 6 days before. Not sure if the fact it was one way and/or relatively late booking had anything to do with getting SSSS.

nexus7556

well I’m done complaint about SSSS ex-CDG. Since moving to T1 It is no longer done during boarding. There is a nice secondary screening area near the gate that opens 2H before the flight. It’s the same staff who checked me multiple times at the gate, they remembered me graciously welcomed me back

GUWonder

Neither GE nor Redress numbers immunize passengers from SSSS hits on UA's Europe-US flights -- actually neither such numbers immunize passengers from SSSS hits on any US-bound flights subject to USG requirements for SSSS.

For those UA passengers who seem to only get hit by SSSS when flying UA service on one or multiple UA routes to the US but not across the board during the same period of time when flying other carriers to the US, then those SSSS hits are most often a direct function of of UA's arrangements with the security contractors UA is using for the SSSS flagging for that UA airport/grouping of airports.

If the SSSS hits are more airline agnostic -- not limited to UA -- but seem nested together from a particular European gateway airport to the US, and it's a CBP airport with IAP or something like IAP, then its probably CBP-driven more than UA/UA contractor-driven selection.

The vast majority of my EU/Schengen-US flights are on one-way tickets -- most typically bought within well less than 36 hours of scheduled departure -- and, for at least the last several years, I have a much, much lower SSSS hit ratio on such flights than I used to on round-trip tickets. I've gone nearly 3 years without personally getting hit by SSSS on any of my US-bound flights. But I hope not to jinx myself by noting this.

lsquare

I wouldn't have said it if I were you...

wxguy

The other day, traveling TPE-SFO-BOS. I tried to check-in on-line, but received a message I'd have to check-in at the airport. Sure enough, checking-in at the airport I had SSSS on my TPE-SFO BP; the SFO-BOS did not, but I was not granted pre-check. Nor did I have mobile BPs. And on the SFO-BOS segment, my KTN would not "stick." At the gate in TPE, the search consisted of a very quick swab of my belt and luggage; once the swab came back clean, I was allowed to board. All of this happened during pre-boarding, so it was pretty easy.

Once in the air, using the in-flight WiFi, I was able to add the KTN, and then the mobile BP appeared with pre-check.

Once we landed in SFO, there was zero wait for the new paperless Global Entry (face scan), and I zoomed through pre-check security. All-in-all, not a big deal getting SSSS on this trip.

halls120

I got the dreaded SSSS on a return flight from Germany. The only annoyance was that when I arrived in the US, I realized that my connecting boarding pass didn't have the usual "TSK pre-check" on it. I checked with staff in the UC, and they could see no other reason why it had fallen off my reservation but for the SSSS on the the first leg of my journey.

wxguy

This seems to be consistent. If you get S*4 on an international leg, the following domestic won't have pre-check, but it can be put back after the international leg is in the air by re-adding the KTN.