Secondary Security Screenings - Random or Targeted??

[wtcreaux]

Recently flew from Providenciales (PLS) to the US. I underwent "enhanced" security screenings 4x. I knew this was NOT random but couldn't figure why. When I went through Miami, same actions.........the TSA agent commented that my boarding pass indicated the need for secondary screenings.

Look on the bottom right of your boarding pass. If there is "SSSS", you've won!!

As explained by the TSA agent, the airlines picks the passenger and the TSA performs the screenings....at EVERY security chance.

So, for you travelers wondering about the folks receiving those secondary screenings......check your boarding pass.....you too might be a winner in the TSA's secondary security screening lottery.

 

[DMDavid]

That TSA agent is misinformed, the airline does not pick the selectee (SSSS) TSA sets the guidelines and computer automation does the rest based on the criteria mandated by the Feds.


---
- Worst day out on the water is better than the best day at work.

 

[iztok]

Huh? Thought SSSS were gone for quite a while now.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

 

[Jax]

The answer is, "Yes".

Targeted and Random. One-way flights are almost always a sure thing.

 

[iztok]

The answer is, "Yes".

Targeted and Random. One-way flights are almost always a sure thing.

I am at 60 flights this year and this is mild travel year for me. Had many one way flights in past year and no secondary screenings there. I always get pat down art BNA because I refuse to go through porn scanners. I got one when the l buzzer selected me at CLT but that is it and it was on a round trip.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

 

[chinacat46]

I had the SSSS on a ticket and knew I was gonna get searched so I gave all my stuff to my friends. When I got pulled over to be searched I didn't have anything but a book and my ticket. They were upset they didn't have anything to search. When I got on the plane my friends gave me my stuff back as I walked down the aisle. Kinda stupid to advertise you are gonna search somebody.

 

[ianr33]

. Kinda stupid to advertise you are gonna search somebody.

Nobody ever accused the TSA of being very bright.

 

[Quero]

It's both random and targeted. They have some quota per flight, and if there are passengers who match a set of criteria, those passengers get the SSSS all the time. Other passengers get it randomly. When I lived in Malaysia and traveled frequently to the US and South America from Asia, I was "selected" during every single flight. On one flight from Sao Paulo to Chicago, I was searched four times by four different teams--the final time at the elbow in the middle of the jetway while boarding, and on the same flight I was made to open every piece of checked baggage I had and watch while it was all unpacked and repacked. Now I'm not physically or ethnically part of any group that gets profiled, but the mere fact of residing in an Islamic country was enough to get me pulled out on every flight of every trip for four years. In the six years since I moved to Thailand, it hasn't happened a single time. It's also worth noting that at the time I lived in Malaysia, I was under contract with the US State Department as a civilian grantee working in the Ministry of Education there in conjuction with the Public Affairs Office of the US Embassy under the Fulbright program, so I had low-level clearance already.