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"The Door" -- Mystery Security Line at IAD?

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"The Door" -- Mystery Security Line at IAD?

 
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Old May 17, 2005, 10:25 am
  #1  
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"The Door" -- Mystery Security Line at IAD?

Anyone know anything about the grey door at the far left (i.e. the United ticket counter end) of the security lines at IAD (next to the elevators)? Several times while waiting (and waiting and waiting) for security at IAD, I've seen someone walk up to the door and flip a light switch. After a minute or so, someone in a TSA uniform opens the door, lets the person in, and flips the light switch off. The person never seems to come out again, leading to the conclusion they're passing through security somehow and getting onto a flight. Who's entitled to use "the door"?
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Old May 17, 2005, 10:58 am
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Originally Posted by SealBeach
Anyone know anything about the grey door at the far left (i.e. the United ticket counter end) of the security lines at IAD (next to the elevators)? Several times while waiting (and waiting and waiting) for security at IAD, I've seen someone walk up to the door and flip a light switch. After a minute or so, someone in a TSA uniform opens the door, lets the person in, and flips the light switch off. The person never seems to come out again, leading to the conclusion they're passing through security somehow and getting onto a flight. Who's entitled to use "the door"?
I know exactly what you are talking about. When I flew out of IAD on Thurs the 5th, there was a person who went in the door, and because the security lines were so long, other people tried to go "through" the door. The only thing that came to mind was that it the "door" for those who work in the control tower. I will pay more attention on Friday when I am at IAD to see if anyone uses it.
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Old May 17, 2005, 12:28 pm
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I'm not sure if it's the same door, but I may have been through that door. The door I'm thinking of is to the left of the line going to the xray machines. If that's the one, I went through it because I was a wheelchair pax. It's just a small room and another door on the other side leads to an area near the xrays. They screend me there, and then left me waiting after the xray for my wife and kids to gt through the regular line.
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Old May 17, 2005, 4:51 pm
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Originally Posted by SULAX50
I know exactly what you are talking about. When I flew out of IAD on Thurs the 5th, there was a person who went in the door, and because the security lines were so long, other people tried to go "through" the door. The only thing that came to mind was that it the "door" for those who work in the control tower. I will pay more attention on Friday when I am at IAD to see if anyone uses it.
I'm not sure "the door" is for employees in the control tower or elsewhere, because when I watched people going through it, the TSA supervisors (the ones in street clothes who stand at the podium to the left of the lines) had to tell a couple people to "just wait" and they'd be let through eventually, as though the people going through "the door" had never done it before.
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Old May 17, 2005, 4:52 pm
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Originally Posted by DeafFlyer
I'm not sure if it's the same door, but I may have been through that door. The door I'm thinking of is to the left of the line going to the xray machines. If that's the one, I went through it because I was a wheelchair pax. It's just a small room and another door on the other side leads to an area near the xrays. They screend me there, and then left me waiting after the xray for my wife and kids to gt through the regular line.
Yes, that's "the door," but the people I observed going through did not seem to have disabilities.
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Old May 17, 2005, 4:57 pm
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I have also seen a group of pax escorted to "the door". The pax thanked the escort and waited to be let through "the door".

Doesn't look like access to "the door" is a UGS benefit.
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Old May 17, 2005, 5:12 pm
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My Dad is sent to that door (he has a pacemaker and unable to go through the regular screening). Perhaps it's for all those who require an individual screening? They usually escort him to the door when we get to the agent checking IDs (although I think those with wheelchairs are taken directly there by the skycaps). It's seems to be thorough and time-consuming as I'm usually cleared and waiting before he's done.
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Old May 17, 2005, 5:51 pm
  #8  
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It could also be the Air Marshal door.
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Old May 17, 2005, 6:12 pm
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Originally Posted by SealBeach
Yes, that's "the door," but the people I observed going through did not seem to have disabilities.
I did not mean to imply that it is only for those with disabilities. Just that I've been through it. There's not much to tell about what's there. It's just a way around the long lines I guess.
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Old May 17, 2005, 9:11 pm
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SSSS?
I fly through IAD a lot, and I've never noticed where the SSSS selectees go.
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Old May 17, 2005, 9:19 pm
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Originally Posted by redburgundy
SSSS?
I fly through IAD a lot, and I've never noticed where the SSSS selectees go.
I doubt it's through "the door" otherwise everyone would be volunteering for SSSS
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Old May 17, 2005, 9:35 pm
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There is a similar door at JFK, to the right of the TSA screening section, just opposite of the payphones. I think it was for the air marshall.
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Old May 17, 2005, 9:46 pm
  #13  
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I saw the door this evening, and it seems to as other posters have indicated be some screening area for individualized screening. Maybe pax with pacemakers, etc., use it--the guy I saw coming through on the other side certainly looked a candidate for a pacemaker. More than once, I heard a TSA screener call out, "Male assist at the [something] door area!"
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Old May 17, 2005, 10:57 pm
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Originally Posted by redburgundy
SSSS?
I fly through IAD a lot, and I've never noticed where the SSSS selectees go.
Not for SSSS. It is for passengers who require special screening due to wheelchair, other medical reasons, etc... There is a little room that allows for more privacy while they figure out if the reason I keep setting off the metal detector is that metal plate in my head.
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Old May 17, 2005, 11:57 pm
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My whole world lies waiting, behind door number three...
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