Many of you may remember when I posted on my Instagram account this summer when I was traveling back to the US from Oslo, that I had “SSSS” printed on my board pass. This stands for “Secondary Security Screen Selection” and basically means that you have to have all of your belongings hand searched before you are able to board the plane. While I’m all for security and always cooperate fully, my frustration stemmed from the fact that this was now happening every time I was returning to the US from abroad and it was not, in fact, a random occurrence.
So, after the security agent deemed my week’s worth of dirty laundry and laptop computer to be safe, I boarded the plane and was determined to look into this further—to try and get this figured out so it wouldn’t happen again.
This brings me to the world of the DHS Traveler Redress Inquiry Program. I’m certain many of you have a TSA Precheck number (and if you don’t, shame on you!), but you likely don’t have, what’s called a redress number. To obtain the former, you apply online through an application, pay a fee and usually have to attend an in-person interview where they take your fingerprints and ask you a few basic questions. The DHS TRIP is described on its website as, “…a single point of contact for individuals who have inquiries or seek resolution regarding difficulties they experienced during their travel screening at transportation hubs—like airports—or crossing U.S. borders. This includes:
• watch list issues
• screening problems at ports of entry
• situations where travelers believe they have been unfairly or incorrectly delayed, denied boarding or identified for additional screening at our nation’s transportation hubs”
So, as the kids say these days, “Itme”!
On August 1, 2022 I submitted my application and received an email notification that read:
Dear Michael,
Your application has been submitted and is being reviewed by the DHS TRIP Program Office and/or practitioner offices.
At this time, your request for redress has a status of “Application Received & In Process.” In processing your redress request, when we encounter records that need correction or updating, we will make those modifications. The length of the review of a DHS TRIP request varies based on the concerns raised in the application, but most cases take several weeks. If we require further information or documentation, an analyst will reach out to request it. Please do not resend documentation unless requested.
You may continue to visit the DHS TRIP Portal (https://trip.dhs.gov) to obtain a status of your request. At the end of the review process, you will receive a final determination letter.
Sincerely,
DHS TRIP
And that was it. And then I waited. Almost two months in fact until I received a second email that DHS TRIP had completed its review of my case and a letter was available online.
It read, in part:
“Dear Michael,
Thank you for submitting your Traveler Inquiry Form and identity documentation to the Department of Homeland Security Traveler Redress Inquiry Program (DHS TRIP). DHS’ mission is to lead the unified national effort to secure the country, including U.S. border and transportation security. We take requests for redress seriously, and we understand the inconveniences that additional inspections may cause. DHS strives to process travelers in the most efficient and professional manner possible without compromising our mission to safeguard the United States, its people and its visitors.
When DHS TRIP receives a redress inquiry, we conduct a thorough review of the matter. We consult and share information with other agencies, when appropriate, to relieve you from the burden of seeking redress on an agency-by-agency basis and to address the issue that you identified in your application. DHS TRIP can neither confirm nor deny any information about you which may be within federal watchlists or reveal any law enforcement sensitive information. We have found that about 2% of the DHS TRIP complainants actually have some connection to the Terrorist Watchlist. Complaints most often arise either because the traveler’s name and personal information is similar to the name and personal information of another person in systems which contain information from Federal, state, local and foreign sources or because the traveler has been delayed in travel for reasons unrelated to such data, such as by random screening.”
And now for the ruling…
“The U.S. Government has completed our review of your case. Your experience was most likely caused by a misidentification against a government record or by random selection. We regret any inconvenience that you may have experienced and, where appropriate, have made updates to our records that may assist in avoiding future incident of misidentification.”
Wahoo!! We won! Well, not exactly but it sure felt like a win to me. Now I have a redress number that I can use when I book airline tickets (along with my TSA Precheck number) to hopefully avoid any unnecessary SSSS tags in the future.
Thank you for following along. I hope this may help some of you in the future. Please leave a comment below if you’ve ever had an SSSS on your boarding pass.