Last week a friend of mine tried to print his boarding pass for a return trip home from San Francisco and ran into trouble. No matter how many times he reloaded Delta’s site or tried checking in on his phone, he kept getting a message that he wouldn’t be able to print his boarding pass. At the time we attributed it to a weird fluke, but when he arrived at the airport he found out why: He’d been selected for a Secondary Security Screening. That’s why his boarding pass wasn’t able to be printed, and when he actually got it the pass was emblazoned with an “SSSS” across it.
SSSS stands for Secondary Security Screening Selection or Secondary Security Screening Selectee. When you’re picked for this, you won’t be able to print your boarding pass out at home or from one of the kiosks at the airport. Instead, you’ll have to get your pass from the desk where they’ll likely ask you some questions about your travel plans in addition to checking out your ID.
If you have an SSSS, when you get to the front of the TSA line that machine the agency typically scans your pass with will beep and they’ll let you know you’ve been randomly selected for additional screening. Some frequent SSSS selectees even suggest just walking to the Priority lane at security and letting them know rather than waiting in the general security line only to be pulled out when you reach the front.
When it’s all said and done, the TSA agent will fill out a form and then stamp your paper boarding pass saying you’re all good. When you get to the gate to board your plane that alarm is going to sound again, and the gate agent will make sure you’ve got the right stamp and signature on your pass before letting you get on board.
The whole experience can take between 10-30 minutes, so if you do end up not being able to print your boarding pass at home, you’ll want to make sure you get to the airport extra early for your flight. It also (obviously) benefits you to pack lightly, and let everyone else in your party go through security without you (otherwise they might end up involved in this whole process as well).