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Re:California could ban Clear, which lets travelers skip TSA... by wrs on Tuesday April 23, 2024 @08:14PM (#40138918)
Clear was made pointless almost immediately after launch by the introduction of TSA Pre, and ever since then has been desperately trying to find a reason to exist. They can’t actually replace the official security screening, because TSA runs that. Their weak value-add is to let you jump to the front of the line, which obviously has nothing to do with security. They might as well simplify matters by just offering to let people enrolled in TSA Pre pay another $150/year for a pass to jump the line, and thus avoid all the maintenance of those iris scanners or whatever they are.
Re:California could ban Clear, which lets travelers skip TSA... by ConnorCallahan on Tuesday April 23, 2024 @09:55PM (#40139579)
I agree, except I don't think it is a "weak value-add". It only takes one missed flight for it to be worthwhile for me.
Re:California could ban Clear, which lets travelers skip TSA... by wrs on Wednesday April 24, 2024 @07:18PM (#40151115)
I meant there's no value added there by Clear despite their fancy machines and the trappings of a security service. They could be replaced by a simple fee charged by the airlines/airport to access a "premium line" for Precheck.
Re:California could ban Clear, which lets travelers skip TSA... by recursive on Wednesday April 24, 2024 @12:29PM (#40146389)
Sometimes the Precheck line is longer than the standard one. Maybe there's room for both. Maybe people could do live bidding for line position. Maybe they could use the money to make flying not suck. Maybe I'll just stay home.
Re:California could ban Clear, which lets travelers skip TSA... by devilbunny on Wednesday April 24, 2024 @04:34PM (#40149247)
A Precheck line has to be substantially longer than the regular line to be slower. Not only is there not as much that each passenger has to do, but overwhelmingly they are frequent fliers who know the routine for screening.
Re:California could ban Clear, which lets travelers skip TSA... by recursive on Wednesday April 24, 2024 @06:06PM (#40150356)
I'm already measuring long-ness in terms of time. I saw that on the last trip I took. Precheck was ~2 minutes. Standard was ~30 seconds. It wasn't a problem. But it was a curious scenario.