Also, OP, if you’re disabled enough to be unable to go through a metal detector or scanner unaided, my impression was that meant an automatic pat-down instead.
SSSS is indeed the secret code.
Except now that you’ve let this secret out of the bag, they’ll have to change it. :smack:
BTW, is the No-Fly List just based on names? Do people with very common names (e.g. John Brown) get flagged every time?
Wow! The land of the free indeed.
Outbound: you’d have gone through security in Chicago, and customs/immigration in Mexico. Inbound: you’d have gone through security in Mexico and customs/immigration in Chicago. Even if there were some security marking on your ticket, I can’t imagine it would be something you could see or identify.
You say that you’re disabled. You might consider, next time you fly, asking for a wheelchair (best to arrange in advance.) That will short-cut a lot of the lines, anyhow, but it will also probably prevent you from missing a flight. However, they do say to always allow at least 90 minutes, and preferably 2 hours, for an international flight. And they say that for a reason.
Anecdote:
I was in a relationship with a guy who had three kids. Our first international trip together, we took the kids to China with stops in Beijing and Shanghai. In Beijing, the shopping is awesome and cheap and the legitimacy of a Praduh or Couch purse probably can be called into question. Well, the oldest girl, who was 13 at the time, stocked up on these purses-6 of them to be precise. Since we weren’t legally a family, I fillled out my declaration form separately while he filled out his for him and his kids. I sailed through passport and customs with no problem and was waiting for him with our ride home. Minutes turned into a little over an hour before they emerged.
Turns out that as the customs officer was reviewing out loud the purchases they made-my ex wrote down 2 purses so as not to look suspicious-the oldest daughter exclaimed “UH, DAD, IT WAS MORE LIKE 6 PURSES”. Honesty was not appreciated as they pulled them aside and went through every single bag, unpacking them to see what else was in there.
After that incident, he was somehow flagged during every international trip to have all of his bags searched.
That’s normal. A lot of the stuff makeup cases are made of, as well as some of the more glittery makeup itself, trigger the protocols.
Next time try not carrying a makeup case.
As a first time ‘out of the country’ traveler it wasn’t something I/we wanted to mess with, besides, it shouldn’t have been that big of a deal. Funnily, after about an hour on the tarmac, one guy got up and announced that he was going to rent a car and drive back to Milwaukee and asked if anyone wanted to go with him. They kept assuring us that we would push back soon so we all kind laughed at him. Two hours later I mentioned to someone that we were still on the runway and he was already home.
Anyways, from the wiki link provided, it specifically mentioned you’ll be ‘on the list’ if you are a no show for a single leg of your flight.
I have a very unusual name that is hard to pin down as to where it might come from. After 9/11 I started getting the super search every time I flew anywhere. I blamed it on my name.
As a result I never have carry on anymore. I wear sandals, keep my credit card, ID and ticket in a front pocket and Kindle in my hand. Everyone should do this, it makes boarding really fast and easy.
Not to ask something so obvious, but were all the liquids, gels and creams under 3 oz in size, placed in a separate zip-lock bag, removed from your carry-on bags, and put in the x-ray machine separately?
QFT - and when going thru customs, you hve to get your bags and move them - which neccesitates another run thru security.
My guess is her makeup bag ‘looked suspicous’ under the x-ray and will each time - one way to work with this is to use the gallon size bags like they recomend.
Don’t forget prescription drugs, either. Mexico has cheaper prescription drugs, and a lot of drugs you can get over the counter, so Americans with health problems frequently travel to Mexico to get a supply of their pills. This can be legal under some circumstances (e.g. if you have a prescription for the drug from an American doctor and are bringing back only a small amount), but illegal in others (bringing back a six month’s supply for a friend).
And for that, “older and disabled” is the most obvious group for screening.
Even before 9-11 the airlines loved e-tickets. If you miss one leg, the entire ticket is cancelled. A friend had to go to Winnipeg from Toronto about 15 years ago and noted that there was a seat sale, flights to Regina were substantially cheaper. To get to Regina, you change planes in Winnipeg. He asked why he couldn’t book a trip to Regina and simply skip that leg, and was told when he missed the outbound leg, his ticket would be cancelled.
This is the same guy who, when airlines gave a substantial discount for tickets that stay over a weekend - he would buy a Monday flight from A to B and a return in 2 weeks on Friday, and another from B to A leaving Friday and returning Monday. Some travel agent mentioned if they caught on, they would cancel the rest of both tickets.
The cancellation issue is always a risk if you buy two separate tickets for two separate legs of a flight on two separate airlines. They may not appreciate the excuse the other airline was late.
I’ve done the “get off at O’Hare and take the bus back to Milwaukee after going through customs rather than take the connecting flight to Milwaukee” thing a number of times, probably 6 or 7 at this point. The flights from ORD to MKE are nearly always delayed or cancelled, so you save yourself a ton of time and headaches by just grabbing the Coach USA bus and taking it back to MKE.
However, I must be on the naughty list, because without fail, I’m always the one pulled out and selected for the additional screening. It’s to the point where I’m ecstatic if I don’t get the “SSSS” marking on my boarding pass. Out of the past 20 or 25 flights I’ve taken, I think I’ve avoided getting the additional screening twice.
Recently, a man in a wheelchair set off a bomb in a Chinese airport, so I guess that shows that sometimes people who appear to be handicapped can be up to something.
(Nothing against you, OP.)
Thank you! I get tired of reminding people that TSA isn’t the anti-terrorism brigade. They’re airport security. They look for stolen merchandise, dangerous objects like knives, contraband like drugs, and a litany of other banned substances like soil and fruit. I think they even keep an eye out for escaping fugitives.
The OP was going to Mexico. They looked through her bottles and prescriptions. Put 2 and 2 together, lady. They weren’t looking for pipe bombs.
If it did, I’m sure we’d hear a lot more complaints in the news about it. Surely there’s more to it than that. But in the event that the John Browns of the world keep getting stopped, they can contact DHS-TRIP to sort it out. They’ll get a redress number to put in when buying tickets and they won’t get stopped again.
There’s a lot of misinformation in that wiki page. SSSS just gets you selected for secondary, as it suggests. It could be for a number of things. That doesn’t mean you’re on the Selectee list, and in fact, “SSSS” as a code existed well before 9/11.
This is not always true when flying between the US and Canada. Flying to Canada, I did Security in the US and Customs/Immigration in Canada. Flying to the US (from YOW), I went through Canadian airport security and then immediately passed through US Customs/Immigration right there with a US official. I believe this is called “Preclearance”. Contrary to the stereotype, US customs/immigration was the easiest and quickest part of the entire trip! I got the basic questions (Citizenship? (US) Purpose of trip to Canada? (Vacation) Anything to declare? (a few doodads, nothing over quota or problematic), they swiped my passport through the machine, and that was it. No search, nothing.
And immigration and security officials aren’t stupid, either. If you arrive in the US straight from the Netherlands and look like a hippie, I wouldn’t be surprised if they call the drug dogs.
This is true, but it is mostly a quirk of Canada. Due to the way Canadian population centres are arranged, most major Canadian airports have quite a few flights to the US, and preclearing in Canada means the plane can land at a US airport that doesn’t have full customs facilities (e.g. a YOW to LGA route).
Preclearance is allowed for other places, but only for Canada does it so universally “make sense”.