A "concierge service" that lets paying members bypass airport security lines is unfair to other travelers, California lawmaker says.
A new bill, the first of its kind in the U.S., would ban security screening company Clear from operating at California airports as lawmakers take aim at companies that let consumers pay to pass through security ahead of other travelers.
Sen. Josh Newman, a California Democrat and the sponsor of the legislation, said Clear effectively lets wealthier people skip in front of passengers who have been waiting to be screened by Transportation Security Administration agents.
"It's a basic equity issue when you see people subscribed to a concierge service being escorted in front of people who have waited a long time to get to the front of TSA line," Newman told CBS MoneyWatch. "Everyone is beaten down by the travel experience, and if Clear escorts a customer in front of you and tells TSA, 'Sorry, I have someone better,' it's really frustrating."
If passed, the bill would bar Clear, a private security clearance company founded in 2010, from airports in California. Clear charges members $189 per year to verify passengers' identities at airports and escort them through security, allowing them to bypass TSA checkpoints. The service is in use at roughly 50 airports across the U.S., as well as at dozens of sports stadiums and other venues.
Kinda wish they would just take aim at the entire security theater complex that airport screening has become, but that's going to be a task destined for the federal level and god knows we can't get those fucking morons in congress to agree on anything, even if it's for their own benefit.
Walking through a metal detector will sort that out, no need to remove shoes, etc.
When you compare EU/rest of the world security screening to US ones the farce becomes obvious. Next they’re going to require a half striptease “for security”.
When I was in college, my lacrosse team was traveling to Florida for a game. My teammate went hunting the week before and forgot he had shotgun shells in his Carry on. They didn't find the shells until the RETURN flight. He missed the flight back because he had to go through a ton of extra security/ interrogation. The fact that he made it on the first flight with live ammunition in his backpack always made me not very confident in the TSA security theater.
This is on brand. Government thinks the problem is the “for pay” scheme to make the process more tolerable while forcing us into a system (TSA) that has NEVER been shown to prevent anything other than happiness. The problem isn’t with Clear, it is with TSA asshats. How about make a system that works so that no one needs Clear?
You are right, but having a system like Clear also incentivizes the whole system to be worse to increase sales. While it's not a whole solution, it's a good move, imo.
I disagree. Clear gives wealthy an “out” and incentivizes the TSA system to NOT change. Clear is increasing sales but there is no relationship between their sales and TSA. TSA is not incentivized to make Clear more money. It’s a bad move.
Yeah, but the best way to get something like this to improve is to make rich people suffer through it too. Letting them bypass a system like this allows them, and the politicians who cater to them, to ignore the issue.
Its like when segregation ended and white kids were being sent to the black schools and tons of money poured into the schools as the white parents realized the conditions there kids would have to suffer through. Like tsa the ultra wealthy just went to private schools/jets but the broad middle to upper middle class still has a lot of sway politically and can change broken systems like this, if it effects them.
Yeah, but the best way to get something like this to improve is to make rich people suffer through it too.
Nothing like holding the lowest bar possible for TSA. Disband it. It's never been shown to make anything safer. I have always argued that making thousands of people congregate in lines is a far greater security risk (firearm/explosive device) than anywhere else in the airport. And those lines are NOT screened for weapons at the airport entrance.
Can I ask what the better working system would look like? I've seen plenty of the stories about TSA lapses, obviously security at the airports isn't fun, but I'm not sure what an alternative system that works would look like.
Disband TSA. It's never been shown to improve safety and I've always argued congregating all the passengers in one place before screening is the greatest security risk in the entire airport. Anybody could walk into the security lines with a gun or explosive device, causing maximal damage.
Every country in the world has something similar to the TSA. It's an awful experience everywhere. But pay-to-win is not something I approve of in general, and certainly not in the security line.
TSA has been proven to be a sham time and time again. They’re ineffective at best. Just get rid of it already.
I also fail to see how this is really any different than paying for TSA pre check. The only main difference is skipping the security line but what difference is that really? Both are paid for services that allow the “rich” (yeah right) to get through security quicker. The real rich aren’t traveling in public transportation. Why don’t we ban private planes?
Oh and no offense to the, mostly, good people working there with the public on the front lines. They’re typically pleasant and great with the kids in my family’s experience.
If you can save $10,000 a year you can save more than 60% of people in the world actually earn.
When I point this stuff out though I get a ton of downvotes. Imagine buying a car, a plane ticket, or personal electronics when your total pre-tax pay is 10k or less... that is most people's situation who are alive today (but less than 30% of Americans!) As a bonus, imported goods are typically cheaper in the US then almost any other country. Hair Gel that is $5 here is easily $20 USD in Santiago, Chile.
There should be way more taxes on the highest earners and more mechanisms that siphon wealth away from those with extreme excess. Just be aware that Americans overall have the most to lose if this goes to a global scale. A lot of things we take for granted and expect are luxury for billions.
And when those people have to live in the US you can make the direct comparison. Go look up PPP. That's why you get downvoted so hard. For example 30k US is 90k in India. Solidly Middle Class but not wealthy. And before you shout about how much 90,000 USD would buy in India, that's not the comparison. The comparison is in lifestyle. So they're living in the US the way a middle class person in India would live. The number just contextualizes it.
Also, using a country that's the dictionary example of monetary and fiscal mismanagement might not be the best way to go.
TSA Precheck is significantly cheaper than Clear ($75 for 5 years, vs $189/year for Clear) for what seems like essentially the same thing, and Precheck has extra benefits like the ability to keep your shoes, belt and jacket on, and keep laptops and liquids in your carry on bag. I've got Precheck and it's always been just as fast as the Clear line, if not faster..
Clear and precheck are two separate things, clear only let's you skip to the front of the line. If you want to enjoy the benefits precheck brings to the table with clear then you have to purchase both. It's worth mentioning that most people do not pay for clear as it's usually given out of a benefit for some credit cards and even some jobs that fly a lot.
"Let's" = "let us", "lets" = "allows". The apostrophe shows where the words are joined and should not be used to warn readers that an "s" is coming next.
clear only let’s you skip you skip to the front of the line.
The TSA Precheck line is usually very small when I travel, so it seems like it's essentially the same thing. I fly out of SFO and SJC, and haven't had to wait longer than 2-3 minutes in the precheck line even when the airport is busy.
The bar for identity verification is higher, because precheck you skip quite a bit of the security procedures, while clear just gets you to the front of the line
What's the fucking point of the TSA if you can just pay extra to bypass it?
It doesn't really seem like a stretch that a terrorist organization could come up with a little extra money per ticket to make sure their plan pays off.
It does bypass TSA. The Clear agent goes up to the front of the TSA line, tells the TSA agent "This one is okay, I checked, you don't need to," and through you go.
I don’t trust a private company to do that screening. They will skimp on checks to save money the moment they have a bad quarter unless there are specific rules forced on them by TSA.
I came to say exactly this. Fuck those stupid lanes. Carpool was just fine. The fact that these were approved by Democrats is really disheartening. They also just approved speed cameras which should be up soon enough. These are blatant cash grabs along with the gas tax increase Jerry Brown shoehorned in before he left. We already have the highest income tax in the country. WTF does the state do with all our money? Everything is crazy expensive here, and shit like this doesn't help the working class that the Democrats are supposed to represent.
When the cameras went up in RI they could not stop bragging that they made 2 million in the first few days as if we should be excited that they’re taking money from the lowest income areas and sending it to a billionaire in Colorado:
I believe there was a study for the highways outside of Washington DC that had toll lanes. The fees were variable and higher during rush hour. This effectively was a small fee for the wealthy to pay in order to get to work on time and left everyone else to sit in traffic. As far as I know, the lanes still exist, but there is no variable charge.
When they installed these in my area in CA, the first month or so, they opened them to everyone while they were getting the toll system set up. It was wonderful. They fixed all the choke points and traffic was a breeze. Then when they started enforcing the toll, the traffic was back... Cunts
This is my exact question, too. I have Pre-Check and I love it because it is like travelling prior to Sept-11.
Pre-Check is cheaper than Clear because it’s like $100 but it lasts for 2-3 years, so again, it’s a separation between those who can pay and those who can’t. Also, what’s next? Every airline removes First, Business, Basic Economy “classes”?
Banning Clear doesn’t resolve the “class” issue. What would be better is to just improve the entire TSA process so that it’s not so miserable for everyone, or let’s get more of those high-speed rails built so we have more travel options and airlines have enough competition to force improvement.
The problem with services like Clear is that for even more money, you get to skip to the front of the TSA Pre line, too. It also means that a private company (with what kind of oversight, do we even know?) gets to do the security screening instead of TSA.
If you don't think it's all security theater, I don't know what to say.
Most people enrolled in those programs are frequent business travelers who charge it to the company.
When I was traveling all the time I did global entry. Since it was for work, I paid for it with my companies credit card. I also did the interview during company hours, drove to the interview in a company vehicle, and paid for parking and lunch on the company dime.
Nobody blinked at the expense. Of course it was the same month I traveled for 3 weeks, hit 5 countries and 10 states. It took me a full day to do my expense report.
TSA Precheck involves a background check and interview performed by the government. This allows them to make the actual screening process lighter, because they've deemed you to be low risk.
With Clear, you still have to go through the full security check. And it also costs significantly more.
Precheck: $14/y
Clear: 190$/y
The cost of TSA Precheck is $70 for 5 years, so $14 per year (plus an additional $8 for the initial enrollment). If you travel internationally a lot you can upgrade to Global Entry for $100 for 5 years. Or if you travel to Canada frequently, you can get Nexus (a superset of Global Entry) at $50 for 5 years.
It's hard to make the money privilege argument with Precheck at that price.
From what I can tell there are two main differences:
TSA pre check isn't guaranteed; you can have pre check and still be randomly selected for a full screening. Clear you always get a "light" screening.
Pre check you still go through the TSA security, just with a less intensive screening and shorter line. Clear has it's own little security area that bypasses TSA completely
There maybe others, but these seem to be the most important.
Neoliberalism y'all, TSA's equipment and all the services that go along with it are actually revenue streams invented by mega donors. The "free" market in action.
I'm all for doing a risk based analysis of people and having a higher or lower level of scrutiny based on that analysis. "Ability to pay" shouldn't be part of that analysis. Of course, given the history of problems with building such system, I also don't expect that the TSA (or any group) is going to do well building a risk based system which isn't:
Hilariously, I constantly get pulled for secondary. On my last trip they had us in a separate line and I finally made the connection. We were all guys that ran hot. It's the old heat=sweat=nervous idea. So a calm terrorist wouldn't get caught by their automatic secondary selection system. Like someone about to commit suicide that's made peace with their decision.
I stopped getting pulled out for secondary scan after I asked if it said asshole next to my name. I'm fine if it does but I'd like to know. And no extra scans.
This seems like a good step. If the security bottleneck is mandated for all of us by the government, then people who don’t like it should work to improve it. Though I guess the owner class proper doesn’t really have to deal with any of it, with special processes to get to private jets.
But, this is also air travel we’re talking about. Every single step of the process to get from A to B is as enshittified and monetized as possible. Zero surprise that it’s the same with security.
I fly a lot. About a year ago I was going back from a business trip and my flight was cancelled. So get an Uber to the nearest hotel, have a few restaurant meals, and fly out the next day. All in all about 300 dollars extra and the money means nothing to me since it isn't mine and the project is in the millions of dollars. As we are taking off I was just sitting there thinking about the poor bastards yesterday flying for fun with their kids. How devastating a flight cancelling can be for them. Little things like telling people there flight was cancelled earlier would save those people so much money.
The alternative is we break up the monopoly, ban stock buybacks, pass minimum standards of comfort, and suggest to the airlines that if they are short on cash they cut executive salaries.
There is no excuse for it. I have flown outside the US twice the past 9 months alone and will fly at least 3 more times abroad before Dec of this year. Consistently the US domestic is the most awful way to fly. Flown on airlines that are very much 3rd world where I had more space and better quality airline food all for less money.
Also the Germans got it right. Loaded up last passenger? Close the doors and start taxing. None of this bullshit about everyone must have sat down for 45 minutes before the plane moves.
Nobody (at the time of my writing) is reading the article or understand what Clear is or what this new law is doing.
No, its not banning Clear (in all forms, only its present one)
Clear is a private company NOT a government program. TSA Pre is a government program. Both allow a traveler to pay for extra background checks and biometric collection to allow them through the identity step of airport security faster. Neither of these skip the hand baggage and body scans.
Nothing in the law is about TSA Pre
No, its not removing the pathway for "pay to play" allowing those willing to spend more money to get through security faster. Its complicating it for the Clear company, but also perhaps ending a result which Clear subscribers get through even faster than today!
Important quote from the article:
"Newman said his bill, SB-1372, doesn't seek to prohibit Clear from operating its own dedicated security lines separate from other passengers."
Clear could set up their own end-to-end security (which would cost them more) but would be even faster to get through because they would bypass regular TSA security and scanning lines, which isn't what is happening today.
That would defeat the business model - they don’t want to pay to do security, they want to be paid to walk you to security. If they did security and took the liability associated, this would be a great service.
I agree that their current business model wouldn't work, but their current model only has limited value anyway. I would say it changes the best possible business model for Clear to choose to operate more like Delta SkyPriority where there is a whole separate line from beginning of security to the end, not just the first step of the line, which is what Clear does today.
Pre check isn't any better. I went through an airport last year that had 16 stations for pre check and 3 for everyone else. The line for those 3 stations wrapped around the airport.
Having watched clear in action, I’m not even sure it’s worth it. I have pre check and I watch the clear line from my line. Clear works based on these kiosks that scan your face. You need to be waved in to a kiosk and everyone seems to need help from one of the onsite technicians anyway, so it’s not like those kiosks are in full use all the time or all that efficient. Also, a clear employee has to escort you to the TSA desk to be waved through. Clear users still need to go through the TSA screening, so they join the pre-check line where you don’t have to take off your shoes.
Waiting for a kiosk, waiting for clear staff assistance; these things become a bottle neck and frankly the line doesn’t move much faster, if at all, than pre-check. Pre check costs less than $20/year. Clear costs nearly $200/year. You might save 5 minutes or you might actually take longer to get through. I just don’t see the value.
Oh yeah, and there is also the fact that you’ve given your biometric information to a private company. I’m sure they won’t be tempted to exploit or sell that information to make more revenue when they’ve exhausted their airport line based growth. /s
The real business model is to get people used to paid tiered airport security. This is not the money maker. The money maker comes later when they will sell multiple tiers of on-demand line skipping in airports which are getting kickbacks to make the standard security tier as miserable as possible.
Even the airlines are trying to grab that information now. I flew last week and United had these cameras in front of the gate like they needed to scan everyone’s face. I was like, no I’m not doing that and the gate agent was like “it’s the only way on the plane.” I had looked it up online and found that was BS, so I told him “not according to your privacy policy.” So, he goes “well, do you have a boarding pass?” Of course I have a fucking boarding pass, thats the way it’s done. I got on the plane without having my biometrics taken. So, everyone else on the plane just had theirs taken because United wanted that data, but they didn’t need it. People just go along with it because they’re scared to say no.
I feel like this post was astroturfing that went horribly wrong for Clear. I’d like to thank all my fellow travelers who see this is a horrible additional fee that they want to make mandatory not to wait behind their pointless service.
Anyone who thinks this is a good service deserves to wait in the regular line for every ride at Disney.
We need to stop terrorists, unless you’re willing to pay a premium, of course!
The only step Clear skips is essentially identifying your identity. As in, you are who you say you are. They do this by requiring your eye retina scan biometrics (no thank you). This replaces a TSA officer looking at your ID and looking at your face and letting you through to the next step.
After the identity check (TSA looking at your ID or Clear looking at your retinas) all the steps and priority are identical. Your hand carried bags are xray scanned, you go through a body scanner of some kind.
My mate and I were traveling for awhile where she had Clear and I just had TSA Pre. Out of 8 times traversing security, only one time was she through faster than I was. She dropped her Clear service (which was just a free trial anyway).
Nah, eff that. I fly a lot both for business and for vacations, so I have high status and get upgraded every flight. Those upgrades get me a special security line, even though I'm not rich. If I had to wait in the normal line every flight behind people who have no idea how to take off their shoes, let alone that they have to take them off, I just wouldn't fly for work. Most of the people in those lines (Clear, TSA Pre, First Class) are people who travel a lot for work and know how to go through security faster. They also have to deal with that shit more often. Some of them are just rich assholes, but most of them are business travelers who would have significantly worse lives because you hate rich people.
As annoyed as I get with Clear skipping the line, why is it any different with First Class/Sky Priority separate lines that skip to the front? This is just an extra fee to skip even that line. I'm a frequent traveler (both business and pleasure), so I get upgraded every flight. It annoys me when airports don't have Sky Priority lines (I'm looking at you IND!) or the Sky Priority line doesn't actually skip anything (Delta's new LAX terminal design), so I don't fundamentally have a problem with Clear. I'm just too cheap to pay for it. In DEN, Sky Priority is absolutely necessary because of how unbelievably stupid their security setup is.
I have a buddy who accidentally tried to fly with a gun in his bag out of DFW.
He has his concealed carry permit, and this was in Texas, so he had to pay a fairly substantial fine, but that was it (yes, he’s a white guy). Still made his flight in time.
Same friend had TSA pre check and Clear. TSA precheck, to their credit, stripped him of the privilege. Clear is still fine with this, though.
Seems good, but if you are trying to make airport screening more equitable, why just Clear? What about "Sky Priority" and "Precheck"? I'm wondering if the airlines are lobbying for this.
"Sky Priority" is just a Delta thing, on par with any Airline loyalty program perk. You're not getting airlines to give up their perks so easily, and I don't think there's a compelling reason to target those programs.
Pre-Check requires a background check and fingerprinting, and actually serves to make TSA's job easier by routing some percentage of eligible travelers through a checkpoint with more relaxed security processes.
Clear is a bit different in that it is a private for-profit program that primarily grants users a fast-track through a mandatory government process. That's a bit unethical. Though I do enjoy it for skipping the line at sporting events...
Dislike this. I never saw it as a wealthy skip the line. It's not that expensive . And they are on their private jets already. It's great for those of us that travel enough for work that it justifies the cost. When you fly more than once a week it's nice to be able to pay to not have to wait for those that do it twice a year(and are not as efficient due to lack of practice)
Once everyone is using it, no one is getting value from it. Then it’s just another unneeded fee you have to pay not to wait 2 hours. This is disney-like squeeze for more money.
You always have to consider the insidious nature of things like this… once they’re common and you have to use them not to wait, everyone will be in the same place, minus $300 a year. Yes, I raised the price; once a large number of travelers are onboarded and you have to use it or wait forever, that’s what the company will do.
Not defending the company per se. I assume they are just as scummy as the next, but I don't see why everyone would sign up. There's next to no value there if you don't travel alot
California is not able to set policy for a federal agency. What they can do is end the "relief value" that lets people skip the bad policies for money.
At that point, the people with money may start putting pressure on the federal government to improve the TSA.
So they are doing exactly what youre asking them to, in the only way they can.
No, they're manufacturing outrage by saying "look at those people that are skipping the line, don't you hate that." They're just trying to get popularity points. It's a completely manufactured problem, and they're wasting time and resources that should be spent on real problems.
If TSA lines are a genuine problem that these politicians feel need to be fixed, then they can do plenty of things without Federal TSA policy changes.
Is it actually better security, or just a better experience for the people that are willing/able to pay for it? Maybe we could actually improve the TSA instead of allowing a "skip the line" fee that goes to a private for-profit company?
Yeah CLEAR just needs to be it's own line, no problem. Need to do this with special assistance and higher class of service lines too.
As a person who used to frequently travel for work it's still really annoying to be in a line with people who don't know the rules they paid for even if it's in a separate line. I'm still waiting for the line you have to pass a time trial to get access to.
Clear isn’t a security service, it’s a paid line cutting service so you can go through security in front of people who didn’t pay. They’d never pay for doing actual security, they just want your money and then you still go through TSA.
Your “people who don’t know the process” will still be in front of you, trying to figure out the bins. You paid to be behind other people doing exactly the same thing.
A shorter wait is a shorter wait for one, and the time saving is more valuable than the dollar price. And for two, the TSA isn't doing security either if we are splitting hairs. Clear is no different than pre check except everybody and their brother isn't paying for clear yet: they paid to cut the line, just not as much money.
IDGAF what clear is or is not, and if I gotta pay everybody in line $5 to not have to wait to scan my single shoulder bag I would do that. I would rather spend the extra hour at home with my kids thanks.