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USA Today
19-06-2025
- USA Today
TSA may pull you aside if you have these 4 letters on your boarding pass
TSA may pull you aside if you have these 4 letters on your boarding pass Show Caption Hide Caption What you need to know about airport security rules and checkpoints Here are TSA rules that you need to know and what to expect at each airport checkpoint. The code "SSSS" on a boarding pass stands for "Secondary Security Screening Selection," requiring additional screening at TSA checkpoints. Reasons for the "SSSS" code can include last-minute ticket purchases, one-way cash payments, travel to specific countries, suspicious behavior, or random selection. Passengers with "SSSS" on their boarding pass should allow an extra 15-45 minutes for security screening. As the temperatures rise and the skies clear up, you might be looking forward to a summer vacation. But before flying to your destination, you'll have to go through screening at a TSA checkpoint. Loading and unloading your luggage during the process is a hassle. But TSA can also pull you aside for additional screening if they find something on your boarding pass. Here's what to know. What will happen if there's an 'SSSS' on your boarding pass If your boarding pass has "SSSS" on it, TSA will pull you aside for additional screening. "SSSS" stands for "Secondary Security Screening Selection," which means you'll have to take an extra few steps beyond regular security protocols, according to Islands. This is not just for regular pass holders. Even those with a Trusted Traveler Program, such as Global Entry and TSA Precheck, or a CLEAR access purchase, may also be pulled for additional screening if they find those four letters on their boarding pass. Why is there an 'SSSS' on my boarding pass? The code can appear on anyone's boarding pass. A few common reasons for this group of letters include: Purchasing a last-minute ticket; Booking a direct one-way flight and paying in cash; Flying to or from a country flagged by the U.S. State Department; Raising suspicions at the airport; Selected at random. If you do find this quartet of letters on your boarding pass, allow 15–45 minutes of extra time to get through security at the airport. Annual traffic at airports in 2024 The TSA reported a total of 904,068,577 commercial passengers in 2024. That number was up from 858,548,196 passengers in 2023, according to TSA checkpoints. That's an increase of 5.3%. As of the end of May, 403,784,688 commercial passengers have passed through TSA checkpoints in 2025. Jim Ross contributed
Miami Herald
02-06-2025
- Miami Herald
As demand for US passports grows, here are the states with the most aspiring world travelers
More Americans than ever before are gaining access to international travel with a U.S. passport. According to the Department of State, in 1990, only 5% of U.S. citizens had a passport. As of mid-2024, 48% of Americans have a passport. Pew Research from 2023 says half of Americans have visited between one and four countries in their lifetime, and about a quarter of Americans have visited five or more countries. Although airlines have adjusted their 2025 forecasts to account for lower demand for flying due to uncertainty in the economy, with the May 2025 deadline for a Real ID needed in order to travel domestically, the need for a passport, an alternative form of accepted identification, may continue to increase demand. In the next two years, the Department of State plans to open six new passport offices across the country to meet the need for urgent passport requests. For those with nonurgent requests, a new online renewal application process allows current passport holders to renew their passports in less than two weeks in some instances. In the future, you may not need a physical passport at all to travel-the department is considering digital passports in the next decade, much like the digital driver's licenses Arizona, California, and Georgia have already issued. Such international travel documents would be a world of difference compared to the beginnings of passports. In ancient Persia, before the common era, travel documents were simply papers signed by a king or dignitary to ensure someone's safe journey into foreign lands. The modern-day passport used in the U.S. didn't exist until after World War I, when the country began to try to curb the number of immigrants coming to its borders. Today, whether traveling for business or pleasure, very few places are accessible without this important traveling document. Spokeo used data from the Department of State to see where the rate of passports grew the most. The number of U.S. passports in circulation has skyrocketed over the last 30 years, from around 15,000 U.S.-issued passports per 100,000 people in the early 1990s to more than 45,000 today. By 2007, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection began to implement new programs, including the Trusted Traveler Program, to help make it easier for U.S. citizens to reenter the country after international travel. Programs such as Global Entry allow U.S. travelers enrolled in the program to "fast-track" through Immigration and Customs lines upon arrival in the United States. The Mobile Passport program allows travelers to get through Customs faster via a digital document while they're on their return flight or cruise before reentering the U.S. These programs facilitate faster, easier international travel for U.S. passport holders. District of Columbia residents are more ready for international travel than U.S. residents in any other part of the country. Washington D.C. far outpaces the rest of the country, with more than 35,000 residents out of every 100,000 in D.C. having valid passports. A few factors may be behind its ranking, including the area's higher-than-average median income and its place as an international hub of major government, nonprofit, and research organizations with global reach. D.C. passport holders also have greater access to foreign embassies, making it easier for them to apply for visas in person. Following behind D.C. are coastal states such as New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, California, and Hawai'i. Many of these states are among those with the most foreign-born citizens, who may be more likely to continue traveling internationally. Residents may also be more likely to travel abroad given their access to international airports, such as John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Boston Logan International Airport in Massachusetts, and Los Angeles International and San Francisco International airports in California. These airports are more likely to offer cheaper or direct flights to international travel hubs such as London's Heathrow Airport and Singapore's Changi Airport. Story editing by Carren Jao. Copy editing by Kristen Wegrzyn. This story was produced by Spokeo and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker. © Stacker Media, LLC.
CNN
02-05-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Chris Krebs kicked off CBP's Global Entry program
Chris Krebs', President Donald Trump's former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, membership in Global Entry has been revoked. Krebs, who has repeatedly attested to the security of the 2020 election, told CNN he finds it hard to believe this isn't another act of retribution from the administration. On Wednesday afternoon, Krebs received an email saying that his Trusted Traveler Program status had changed. He logged into the program and learned his Global Entry program membership had been revoked, he told CNN. Global Entry is the US Customs and Border Protection program that gives low-risk travelers expedited clearance when they arrive in the US. Trump earlier this month stripped Krebs of any existing security clearance he may still hold since leaving office and ordered the Justice Department to probe the former official. CNN has reached out to the White House and Department of Homeland Security for comment. Krebs, a Republican appointee in his first term, received bipartisan praise for telling the truth about the 2020 election, which aroused the ire of Trump, whose lies about the election led to the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. On April 9, Trump signed an executive order instructing his government to punish Krebs in various ways, including ordering the attorney general to investigate him, though there is no evidence he has committed any crime. Time magazine recently asked the president if his order wasn't exactly what he accused President Joe Biden's administration of doing to him. 'I think Chris Krebs was a disgrace to our country,' Trump said. 'I think he was — I think he was terrible. By the way, I don't know him. I'm not — I don't think I ever met him. … I know very little about Chris Krebs, but I think he was very deficient.'
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump admin ups its attacks on Chris Krebs by booting him from CBP's Global Entry program
The presidential administration's war on truth has continued full speed ahead this week, with Donald Trump calling for investigations into pollsters and media outlets over unflattering polls and pressuring Amazon not to notify customers how much his tariffs are increasing the price of products. And these days, few people are being targeted in Trump's crusade against reality quite like Chris Krebs, his former head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Trump and his administration have targeted him for having the gall to publicly debunk Trump's lies about the 2020 presidential election. Earlier this week, my MSNBC colleague Steve Benen highlighted Krebs' outspokenness as he fights Trump's authoritarian executive order demanding that the Justice Department probe his time leading CISA. And then CNN reported Wednesday that the Trump administration has taken additional steps to make life harder for Krebs by pulling his membership in U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Global Entry program, which allows people to re-enter the country easily. According to CNN: Chris Krebs', President Donald Trump's former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, membership in Global Entry has been revoked. Krebs, who has repeatedly attested to the security of the 2020 election, told CNN he finds it hard to believe this isn't another act of retribution from the administration. On Wednesday afternoon, Krebs received an email saying that his Trusted Traveler Program status had changed. He logged into the program and learned his Global Entry program membership had been revoked, he told CNN. Global Entry is the US Customs and Border Protection program that gives low-risk travelers expedited clearance when they arrive in the US. Trump earlier this month stripped Krebs of any existing security clearance he may still hold since leaving office and ordered the Justice Department to probe the former official. Republicans have targeted CISA in their yearslong effort to discredit people who dispel disinformation and identify foreign attempts to manipulate Americans. The Trump administration has slashed millions of dollars from CISA's budget and vowed to establish new priorities. If there's been one constant throughout Trump's second term, I'd argue it's his administration's angst toward truth-tellers — or, simply put, people whose adherence to facts undercuts Trump's political goals. I think it's fair to say we saw this when Trump blew up at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for saying Americans will eventually 'feel' the impact from Russia's war against his country. We've seen this in Trump's aforementioned attacks on the free press and a private company that considered shining light on the impact of his destructive tariffs. And now Krebs is the target of the president's wrath for refusing to accept his warped reality as truth. This article was originally published on
CNN
01-05-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Chris Krebs kicked off CBP's Global Entry program
Chris Krebs', President Donald Trump's former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, membership in Global Entry has been revoked. Krebs, who has repeatedly attested to the security of the 2020 election, told CNN he finds it hard to believe this isn't another act of retribution from the administration. On Wednesday afternoon, Krebs received an email saying that his Trusted Traveler Program status had changed. He logged into the program and learned his Global Entry program membership had been revoked, he told CNN. Global Entry is the US Customs and Border Protection program that gives low-risk travelers expedited clearance when they arrive in the US. Trump earlier this month stripped Krebs of any existing security clearance he may still hold since leaving office and ordered the Justice Department to probe the former official. CNN has reached out to the White House and Department of Homeland Security for comment. Krebs, a Republican appointee in his first term, received bipartisan praise for telling the truth about the 2020 election, which aroused the ire of Trump, whose lies about the election led to the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. On April 9, Trump signed an executive order instructing his government to punish Krebs in various ways, including ordering the attorney general to investigate him, though there is no evidence he has committed any crime. Time magazine recently asked the president if his order wasn't exactly what he accused President Joe Biden's administration of doing to him. 'I think Chris Krebs was a disgrace to our country,' Trump said. 'I think he was — I think he was terrible. By the way, I don't know him. I'm not — I don't think I ever met him. … I know very little about Chris Krebs, but I think he was very deficient.'
