Secondary Search while Jumpseating

[00Dog]

Everytime I jumpseat on AA out of JFK I get that "SSSS" on my boarding pass and proceed to get strip searched at TSA, in uniform. This is the only place this happens. Any ideas?

 

[ReverseSensing]

Perhaps the answer is obvious, but will your airline's badge get you through security without presenting a boarding pass?

 

[:-)]

Try asking for a priority verification, it will get you through security, but it isn't a boarding pass so maybe it will come up without the quad S's.

BTW, AA has a code that can be input to override the SSSS if you ask them to. You must have an airline ID and they must input the code before they print the boarding pass.

Reverse Sensing, the answer is that your airline badge will not always get you through at locations where your airline has no gate. Gate access is actually controlled by the carriers, not by TSA. The carriers instruct their personel, or the private security personel who work the entrance to security on who to allow access. I usually have no problem getting into security at Continental gates, because CAL runs jumpseats at the gate and apparently instructs the guards to allow any pilot to pass thru to the gate. Most other carriers require that you check in at the counter.

Jumpseating is a great privilege and you've just got to learn to play the game. Sometimes you're the bug and sometimes you're the windshield. Good Luck

 

[ReverseSensing]

The carriers instruct their personel, or the private security personel who work the entrance to security on who to allow access.

That's where a big fat dose of pilot swagger and attitude (and being in uniform w/ a legit badge) will usually do the trick. It's basically just a bluff, but it usually works for me. Maybe it's just because I'm big, ugly, and unfriendly looking.

 

[psysicx]

Flight deck officer.

 

[DorkProp]

I always pre-list for AA by calling their non-rev hotline at 888-933-5922, opt. 3. Not sure if this helps but I never get the SSSS with them. Or maybe it's just a JFK thing

 

[Concierj]

You shouldn't be posting, on a public web-board no less, how one can have the secondary screening removed. :angryfire That should be common knowledge to those "in the know". Have a little discretion.

 

[CA1900]

Oh, come on, Concierj. Anyone "in the know" knows full-well that the TSA checkpoint is nothing but a dog and pony show, created to convince the public that the government is "doing something" to secure our flights. The "secondary screening" at the checkpoint does absolutely nothing to enhance security. And to give extra screening to air carrier pilots? That's the height of hypocrisy, still treating the guys who drive the airplanes as part of the problem, instead of welcoming us as part of the solution.

What they're really doing is adding a layer of pointless hassle to our regular customers, while doing nothing to enhance safety beyond what the contractors were doing before, and in the process driving away our short-haul business entirely. TSA is a sham of an organization, rushed into being by an overzealous administration that can't seem to find enough ways to piss away our tax dollars for no tangible benefit.

So I hope you'll understand why I don't share your concern about this particular issue of avoiding secondary screening, since it's not doing a thing to keep the flights any safer.

 

[ReverseSensing]

Agreed!

 

[Concierj]

CA1900,
I agree with you. The TSA is a dog and pony show. My problem is when people can hind behind the anonymity of the internet, ask security questions, and get the answer. Dog and pony show or not. Why not just ask, Chris, how do you start the 1900? Is it ever locked? How would I get through screening in Albany? Regardless of how trivial security is, just use a little more discretion. Tell doctor Silverman hello and sorry to hear about SWA.