[Jeff Hail]

Pretty normal. Nothing triggered at the walk in when you were in line. ID, they know you before you arrived at the airport including your 6559 posts on the Pelican forums. You werent pre-flagged. You werent suspicious enough. No profuse sweating. You werent scratching yourself or had an eyelid that fluttered strangely. Its when the baggage gets checked and no body is on the plane to accompany it during its journey is when the big code red gets triggered. The fact that you were on a return trip most likely to the city you live near or originated from.

Shoe removal became part of the TSA screening process in 2006 after Richard Reid, better known as the shoe bomber, well you know the rest. Its harder to roll back a rule than eliminate it. Yet children are not required to take off shoes, go figure? Metal in shoes triggers the backscatter observation visual checks and puts everyone on edge and they have to stop the whole process. Anything other than dental hardware, pacemakers, implants, hip, knee, elbow joints upsets the apple cart. Manual pat down screening by TSO is pretty thorough and uncomfortable. If you fail the PDS you will be taken to a private room. Good chance you will miss a flight if they want to dig into you.

You were a liquid contraband balmer and the SPF 50 threat was nuetralized. Actually you probably exceeded rule 3-1-1 which is the most common offense.

Use Pre Check for continental destinations. If you travel internationally four or more times a year, consider enrolling in Global Entry.

Gate checks appear to be random. TSA does randomly pull people from thin air for further checks. Its part of the criteria. The fuglier you are the less the chance. Swabs? I have seen them do every other person or every fifth person. No method from what I have seen.

Sounds like you had a quiet friendly uneventful flight. They way it should be for everyone.