> The IG found that the search was based on a tip by an airline employee who passed on the names of passengers who had purchased flights 48 hours before departure.

I have bought last-minute airline tickets three times in my life -- all to buy a car that was a good deal. All three times I had cash to buy said car. Glad I never got snared.

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chatmasta 7 months ago | parent | next [-]

I purchase most of my tickets last minute simply because I tend to procrastinate. And they’re usually one way tickets because I procrastinate deciding my return date, too. I’ve never been flagged for SSS though. Maybe that’s because the behavior isn’t anomalous for me.

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Suppafly 7 months ago | parent [-]

I never flew before 9/11, the few times I've flown, I've always been "randomly selected".

	▲	bdangubic 7 months ago \| parent [-]
		make sure you are shaved (unless of course you have religious or other reasons not to be) - without fail I always get rando select when I am not shaved and literally never when I am shaved. travel on average 7x per year

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baxtr 7 months ago | parent | prev | next [-]

48 hours is not uncommon for business trips.

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pas 7 months ago | parent [-]

this was simply a targeted operation at people who use cash instead of credit cards, right? (I mean business trips, corporate people usually use credit cards.)

	▲	Scoundreller 7 months ago \| parent [-]
		A lotta corporate people are forced into using some (annoying and often useless) corporate travel agent. I’d guess messing with those bookings would… quickly fix the problem.

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SapporoChris 7 months ago | parent | prev [-]

I'm not certain on this, however it has been implied to me by custom officials that declaring excess funds (typically over 10k USD) when traveling internationally can protect against seizure.

	▲	FireBeyond 7 months ago \| parent [-]
		That doesn't seem right. I suspect they mean that it is protection against it "going missing", as in there's a record of the money being brought in. I don't think it protects against anything just to declare to customs.