This is what you don't want to see on your airline ticket. It means you're about to be grabbed from the security line, given a body search, and have to sit there for five or ten minutes while someone roots through all of your carry-on luggage. You have been "randomly" selected. But it's not random at all. You were probably selected because of one of these reasons:

1. You didn't pay for the ticket with a credit card.
2. You don't have a simple round-trip ticket.
3. You bought the ticket at the last minute.

If any or all of these criteria are met, you can bet on spending some extra time with our friendly TSA (Transportation Security Administration) staff, watching the clock and nervously hoping that your flight doesn't decide to leave without you.

These inspections are supposed to be random. They're supposed to be set up so that the terrorists lurking in our borders won't be able to predict when they might get searched. They are a crock of shit. I've never been searched while flying on a normal ticket, and every time I've flown on a non-standard itinerary (one-way, multiple legs, etc), I've been selected. All three legs of my trip to Minnesota and Alaska resulted in waiting for the inspection.

So Mr. Terrorist can avoid being searched simply by buying a round-trip ticket two weeks in advance on his credit card. It's going to be cheaper for him to do that, anyway. And it's not like the minute chance of getting randomly searched is going to dissuade him from following his mission. If he's prepared to die for his cause, it's not like the remote possibility of a prison sentence is going to seem like that big of a deal.

The bottom line is, if someone wants to bring down an airplane, he's going to be able to do it. It's just too hard to stop someone who is motivated enough. We can only take comfort in the fact that it doesn't happen very often; terrorism hasn't even put a dent in how safe it is to fly, but the increased security at airports hasn't done anything for that safety record. It's there as a placebo; it's designed to make people think that flying is safe from attack, but nothing they do will make attacks impossible. After all, how many terrorists have been foiled at the airport? The worst they've found are guys from texas with handguns in their briefcases. Of course, maybe these are the guys we should really be afraid of.

So the next time you get your boarding pass, look for the little "SSSSS". If you've been randomly selected, you had better hope you've got some time before your flight boards.