Yeah it was one of those pretty intimate body searches. I looked and looked, I was pretty sure the staff member was male and the traveller was female, but I could have misinterpreted one of them!

I agree. As I said earlier, it's only a deterrent

And does keep out the random crazy who may try something just on impulse, there is some benefit of the check point.

I just always found who and what is checked to be so very random, and varied too much airport to airport and seems to still do so, consistency seems to still be an issue in the US.

Also, the thoroughness is so much driven by staff to customer ratio, how long the queues are etc. Our local airport has three flights a day, nine seater flights into Boston. There are three TSA staff and a local police officer on duty to process through a maximum of nine passengers; sometimes just one or two passengers. They spend a lot of time on each person and each item of luggage and carry on. On the way back, from Logan, you're pretty much waved through.

Oh No! I'm flying again tomorrow, and I just printed my boarding pass and now I don't see the coveted 'TSA PRCHK' wording ...

This is all some cruel plan ....

Let's see what happens at the airport tomorrow!

Pleb.

When my wife flies on American on her own she always gets TSA pre-check (and she has the Global Entry) on every flight but when she flies with me she does not get pre-check but I always do. When I fly on my own I only get pre-check when I get an upgrade but not if I am in cattle class. Go figure!

I didn't get it. I asked one of the USAirways folks at the airport and she said it was somewhat random. This is for the same airline, same itinerary. Only difference is, short notice/higher price this time

I'm flying again tomorrow and just got the Boarding Pass and no luck on this one either

Flying to Washington recently I got "pre check" for unknown reasons - I have been flying once a year, very occasionally two, for years now and have never been in a frequent flyer program and was using an airline I haven't been on for years.

On the other hand, they took the 14 year old Little Lion aside and swabbed his hands for traces of explosives.

Being him, he questioned them closely about what they were doing and why which is how I know what they were swabbing for.

That was not his fault, all teenagers, through no intent of their own, look shifty

I wonder how my son will go when we travel in the summer. He may be half Mexican but he looks like, I shall put this carefully, that general eastern Mediterranean type of bloke who they usually use to portray the bad guys on shows like 24, especially when he hasn't shaved for a week and his beard, such as it is, has grown a bit.

The funny thing is, well funny for everyone else but her, that my wife, from the first time she flew over to visit me, every time she's flown Chicago-Dublin, has always been flagged for an extra bag search. Even when we all flew the last time, on the way back, she was pulled aside on the jetway while we waited.

Left from Seattle recently, only had a hand swab check. The rest of security was was just sticking bags and coats through the scanner, didn't even have to take shoes off, scan my laptop separately, etc. On the way back from DC, every check known to man was performed on every passenger.

I have Global Entry and tried it yesterday and it worked! That was really worth it and got me through within 5 mins (at LAX) even before all the flight crew

Anyhoo, when I went for the GE interview I asked about the TSA pre-check - told me I could not apply since I was not a citizen. Which was surprising since they put you through the ringer in questions for the GE - you'd think they would just give you the other too.

Don't think that would make travel less stressful though - so no biggie.

Definitely random. I flew with my son, last minute, just before Christmas to Columbus OH. I'm a frequent flyer with Global Entry and had to do the full rigmarole. This was my son's first flight since moving here over 5 years ago and he had TSA Precheck on his boarding pass!

Does she look as though she's smuggling stilton or something?

As for your son, I think you should get him a keffiyeh, that should help things along.

No, not really. Though she is pretty much pissed off all the time ...

Oh god, the only thing worse than him looking like a Turkish terrorist would be him looking like a Turkish hipster