Do you ever get “SSSS” on your airplane boarding pass?

So sorry for you, Mohammed.

Secondary Security Screening Selectee.

Years ago I was on it. It took Ted Kennedy’s office to get me off it. I have (had?) the same name as a terrorist funder. I got a letter with a file number saying I wasn’t him. It’s not the No Fly list but it is annoying. The TSA guys were usually apologetic but they had to do it.

OP sorry you are so inconvenienced. It must be pure hell. We should go back to the good old days when security screening was just a formality. There's likely no real harm that could happen.

My ex’s name triggered SSSS every flight, every airline. Even with a “known traveler” number on each reservation. TSA said it was their algorithm. It took intervention by our then-Congressman to correct it after four years and dozens of flights.

R3, it is the most useless thing in the world. You literally see it on your ticket. If you had anything that you didn’t want them to take from you, you would just ditch it before you got there. And you would know two digit because because they literally put the code for “super extra heightened screening” on your ticket

* You would know to do it – not two digit

Damn. I got the SSSS on my last flight back into the US. I hope I am now not flagged to keep getting this…

Just once when I paid at the airport for the ticket (the same day as the flight). It was a family emergency and it was one-way.

I'm sure it looked suspicious.

I used to get the third degree every time I crossed into the US but once I was crossing a border by car and they pulled me into an office for a little meeting. I kinda lost it and said to the customs people why are you always fucking with me. I recounted the many instances and pointed out not once had they had any cause . Apparently they changed something in the record because they haven’t messed with me since.

OP, just HISSSS at them, and you're problems will be solved.

Poor people's problems.......

Only when an eldergay at the airline hisses at me via the computer.

It’s given to undesirables

It's totally random and it happened to me once. They put some powder on my hand and then sent me on my way. If you keep getting chosen OP, there's something else going on.

[quote]You are forced to wait to board the plane so some security agent can pretend to thoroughly inspect your bags looking for something … something ….. but what?

Are you saying this is happening at the gate? Because I've literally never seen additional security screening at the gate, except for a period of time after 9/11. I'm talking about domestic US flights. International flights might have additional screening.

I've gotten selected for additional screening a few times at the main TSA checkpoint. I have Pre-check, and those few times seemed to be random.

R14, I used to be unable to book tickets online with American Airlines without changing the spelling of my last name. Then I’d have to call customer service and have them change my ticket to reflect the accurate spelling of my last name. An AA customer service agent told me that online booking resulted in a check against some government database that flagged me.

It made no sense and I bitched almighty at AA customer service (but the corporate folks - not the front line folks) and suddenly I could book online. Though I still got - and get - the dreaded 4S boarding pass.

I’d love to see my TSA “permanent record”.

R15 - it only happens to me on international flights returning to the US. But it does feel very 9/11ish.

[quote]My ex’s name triggered SSSS every flight, every airline. Even with a “known traveler” number on each reservation.

I would have dumped that person. Nobody's got time for that.

"SSSS" - so TSA hisses at certain passengers like some upset snake? 😆🙃

PreCheck helps a lot with thissss.

Someone who is constantly being flagged for SSSS would probably not be approved for PreCheck.

Okay OP, come clean, what did you do?

I Global entry which comes with pre-check (not that I travel internationally any more) but post 9/11 I did get secondary screening, not sure if it was the SSSS but I was taken aside at the gate and had another search. it just happened the one time, i'm figuring it was random.

Did TSA confiscate your travel dildoes and butt plugs OP?

OP = Tulsi Gabbard

I haven't flown since 2004.

I got it only once or twice I think and each time it was not a big delay at all. They just asked me a string of stupid questions (purpose of trip, occupation, why the length of the trip, etc), and many about what they might find if they searched my bag, which of course they did. The staff in this respect were pleasant, actually.

Not once, and I fly weekly for work - you need to create all brand new accounts. How embarrassing.

[quote]You are forced to wait to board the plane so some security agent can pretend to thoroughly inspect your bags looking for something … something ….. but what?

Gay porno DVDs. You really should stop traveling with them and learn how to stream.

I’m on this secret special list too, OP. I don’t travel enough lately to be bothered by it, but I do think if on my next flight I get the dreaded SSSS, I’ll look into it. Maybe they’ll have caught the rapscallion they take me for by then.

R17, have you traveled through a "high-risk" country at some point? That seems to be a common reason why people get flagged indefinitely.

If you see that on your boarding pass, just block it out with a pen or marker...if they don't see SSSS, it shouldn't be an issue.

r32 Good strategy - and if your passport is expired, just take a pen and change the date!

[quote]If you see that on your boarding pass, just block it out with a pen or marker...if they don't see SSSS, it shouldn't be an issue.

When was the last time you flew? Who uses paper boarding passes any more?

This happens more frequently with one-way tickets and single fliers, international trips from high risk countries, or if your name is.....on the list. Sorry, sounds like you're on the list. Try applying for Pre Check or Global Entry, sometimes when they run the check they see you're not that other terrorist with the same name and clear it

[R34] I fly twice a week and I use a paper boarding pass every time. Often I'm on long trips, without a steady supply of power. I always bring a power bank, but you never know when you're getting the seat with a broken outlet. It's kind of a bummer to be running a tight connection and have your phone die, but it's worse when they're closing the door and the gate agent has to print a ticket. Also, if you have to give information to an employee like flight number, etc, for example, when you check your bag, it's way easier to hand them the ticket and than pull up the app on your phone. Also, I like to have it printed so I can give it to another passenger or the FA if there is a seat mix up without handing over my phone. Also, I like to hop on flight aware once we're in the air and I don't want to have to open my airline app on my phone when I'm using a web browser so I just look at my printed out boarding pass.

That was a long explanation for why you like to print out a boarding pass.

^^^ Oh my God!!! 😱😱😱😱

I used to get flagged all the time, pulled aside for secondary screening. I don't travel to Russia or anything like that. Someone said it's because I'm a single flier. I think that's what it is.

I have a KTN now.

[R37] I'm on speed to lose weight and passionate, sorry

R40, no problem. I like to print out boarding passes, too. I don't like having my phone out all the time.

r36 " fly twice a week "

No, sweetie, you don't. I enjoy making up stories as well - it's fun!

r40 "to lose weight and passionate"

I hope I lose passionate, also

[quote][[R37]] I'm on speed to lose weight

Wegovy is a better option.

After 9/11, I was put on a list they called the "Trip" list. I don't know what it stood for, but it was not quite the no-fly list. It was a mystery why I was on that list; I had been a frequent flyer for years. The experience left me believing that the security theatre is not about making flying safer, it's about making people think flying is safer.

While on this list, every time I checked in for a flight, I had to go to the ticket counter and have a manager look at my ticket and my driver's license. That's all they did. Then I'd have to be frisked going through security. Many times, I'd be traveling with co-workers and we'd have to go to the airport early so I could go through the nonsense.

There was a way to request "redress," being removed from the list. I applied in June 2003, and in a couple months I got a letter stating that I may or may not have been removed from the list but they were prohibited from telling me. The nonsense continued until February 2009, when, under the new administration, I received a letter with a code that I've had to use until a couple of years ago when I make my reservations.

I'm guessing that what got me "tripped up," so-to-speak, is the. moniker I've used on the internet for most of my life.

[quote] I'm on speed to lose weight

Are you posting from 1979?

“ PreCheck helps a lot with thissss.”

No, it does not. I have pre-check and global entry. If you get the dreaded SSSS, then you’re boarding pass will not show your pre-check status. That means that if you are flying into the United States from another country and connecting to another flight, you will have to go through regular security instead of TSA pre-check because your boarding pass for your connecting flight will not include your pre-check status. It is a pain in the ass.

But if you have clear, then you can still use that service to get in the pre-check line. That is what I do at airports that have clear.

r45 I remember in the years following 9/11 they would sometimes randomly pull people out of the boarding line for an "additional security check." I was often pulled out, because, I assume, I usually traveled solo, and that must have been a red flag.

r26 - I haven't flown since 1999 domestically and 1996 internationally.

Where was your last international trip, r49?

March 1996 r50.

i can't afford a ramen cup

Where, r51?

Nope. I'm white.

[quote]Sorry, sounds like you're on the list. Try applying for Pre Check or Global Entry, sometimes when they run the check they see you're not that other terrorist with the same name and clear it

My couple of SSSS boarding hitches were post-9/11 and I was travelling alone.

Global Entry and PreCheck definitely made things a little easier for me at boarding and arrival in the US. For my non-American husband (with U.S. permanent resident status) they were useless. While he never had a problem boarding a plane, arrival in the US was always a huge pain in the ass because of 'the list' and my husband's name having some vague similarity to people from other countries on the no-fly list. Every time a Immigration/Customs official would file an exemption request or a notation or produce a letter with reference numbers indicating he was not a national threat but every time he had to start from zero. The annotations, the letters, the business cards of previous Immigration/Customs Agents, the printed dates of previous international travels, etc. all were useless as their system of comparing vaguely similar names to exact names and details was primitive. GlobalEntry and PreCheck did nothing because his name was broadly similar to names of 'bad players' from another part of the world. And there seemed never to be any record that he had flown the same route many times before and been stopped every time with the same thing and the same promises that it wouldn't happen next time.

Not SSSS but recently, a TSA agent said he’d need to pat me down and asked if I’d like it done in a private room. I said no and then he completely molested me, touching my penis a few times. I wonder what would’ve happened in the private room:

I've flown several times over he years, and I this is the first I'm hearing of this.

Huh.

For R57.

Variations on this article are legion in travel media.

I guess I should thank my lucky stars that this hasn't happened to me ever. And I have flown internationally (once).

I have Global Entry. The last two times I came into the United States from international trips, both this year, they didn’t even check my passport after I did the face scan thing in the immigration hall.

Same here, since I went thru the Global Entry process and have that card / level of ID, I've never once been tagged SSSS or had my bags mega-inspected since 2015.

R42 has never traveled on an aircraft. Ever.

Super Suspish See Security

I've never had "SSSS", but several times I've been pulled to have my fingers swabbed (for explosives, I guess). The TSA agent told me that it's random. It's happened at least twice. The biggest security issues I've ever seen were traveling in/to the Middle East. Several decades ago I took British Airways from London to Tel Aviv. Every single person on the flight had to go through their luggage with an agent (at Heathrow). This included checked bags so it took many hours. They never told us why. Recently I was flying from Istanbul to either Sofia (Bulgaria) or the US and everyone had to go through their carry-on luggage with an agent at the gate. That was on Turkish Airways.

[quote]I've never had "SSSS", but several times I've been pulled to have my fingers swabbed (for explosives, I guess). The TSA agent told me that it's random. It's happened at least twice.

I had to do that many times in the years of post-9/11 caution. I would say about 1-in-4 times.

R64 Pre-9/11 that happened every time we flew TWA through JFK, it seemed, especially on the morning nonstop from LAX because the plane was ultimately going to Cairo and Riyadh. One of the agents told me they were looking for traces of Semtex, an explosive, transferred from the luggage handles.

[quote]Several decades ago I took British Airways from London to Tel Aviv. Every single person on the flight had to go through their luggage with an agent (at Heathrow). This included checked bags so it took many hours. They never told us why

Almost all flights to Israel go though this level of security.

[quote]Recently I was flying from Istanbul to either Sofia (Bulgaria) or the US and everyone had to go through their carry-on luggage with an agent at the gate. That was on Turkish Airways.

Turkey has been flagged as high-risk due to ISIS terrorists coming from Syria and using Istanbul as a transfer point to spread throughout the world.

R67 I've flown back and forth between either NYC or London and Tel Aviv at least a dozen times (lived there from '80-'83) and never had to go through luggage except that one time. It was unusual. R64

R11 - Keep dreaming, that is no help whatsoever. CBP and TSA both have no fucking idea of what they are doing.

-Guy who spent 15 years sitting on a (industry-specific) national security committee as industry rep.

^confirmed, R70. I flew first class with Global Entry.

Nothing will help if you get the 4S.

While I have pre-check, I was pulled over for a secondary screening after sending a tote bag containing a box of powder through the x-ray. It contained my dad's ashes and was in the original packaging from the funeral home clearly marked 'human remains". I was not offended that they swabbed my fingers for explosive residue.