California could ban Clear, which lets travelers pay to skip TSA lines ( www.cbsnews.com )

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.

Eww ,

So will TSA Pre-Check be next?

TheTimeKnife ,
@TheTimeKnife@lemmy.world avatar

Good, absolute insanity it was ever allowed in the first place. Hope more states follow the same path.

TankovayaDiviziya ,

Jesus, paying to cut the line could not sound anymore American capitalistic. Good on California for banning this!

vatlark ,

If Clear is an equity problem, then the toll lanes that are going in all over California certainly are.

Toll roads would be equal. The toll lanes feel really bad.

Subtracty ,

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.

Raiderkev ,

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

Moneo ,

The traffic would have gotten worse again eventually. Just one more lane bro, induced demand, etc etc.

Raiderkev ,

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.

BlueJayOakerson ,

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:

Raiderkev ,

Yeah, I've had 0 tickets in the last 10 years. But if I get a bullshit ticket in the mail for going with the flow of traffic, fuck right off. I remember seeing them in Arizona about 10 years ago and thought to myself wow, what an Orwellian shit hole AZ is. Glad we don't have these in CA...

Socsa ,

Holy fuck yes please. Clear serves literally no purpose besides laying the groundwork for the future of tiered airport security.

Potatos_are_not_friends ,

You don't like security theater and micro transactions to bypass annoyances?

Furbag ,

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.

eugene171 ,

It's not only theater, since Americans can't be trusted to remember they have loaded guns on their person

So many loaded guns.

hessenjunge ,

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”.

Raiderkev ,

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.

dan ,
@dan@upvote.au avatar

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..

Why do people use Clear? What am I missing?

You999 , (edited )

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.

dan ,
@dan@upvote.au avatar

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.

You999 ,

Its really only useful at certain airports that aren't managed that well. Like at seatac when it's peak time but only have one of the four checkpoints open because they are still short TSA agents. I should also add clear also let's you line cut in places outside of TSA inspection points like at border crossing customs and some stadiums events.

AssyMcGee ,

I have never seen clear at any border crossing.

LaLuzDelSol ,

It really depends on the airport. I flew out of San Diego a month or 2 ago and the precheck line was longer than the regular line. It was like 30-45 minutes. Other times you basically stroll right through.

betterdeadthanreddit ,

"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.

TexMexBazooka ,

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

Socsa ,

Precheck actually increases throughput by relaxing the scanner requirements. Clear is literally just paying to skip the line.

phoneymouse , (edited )

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

Socsa ,

They are 100% selling the biometrics.

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.

phoneymouse , (edited )

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.

partial_accumen ,

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.

bradorsomething ,

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.

partial_accumen ,

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.

LaLuzDelSol ,

Hmm I feel like it would be difficult for a private company to get approved to take over the TSAs job. It would create a conflict of interest- Clear would want to get people through as quick as possible for as cheap as possible.

partial_accumen ,

Hmm I feel like it would be difficult for a private company to get approved to take over the TSAs job.

You misunderstand. It would still be TSA staff, however they would be dedicated to Clear members. Who would pay for it would likely be Clear.

Delta does this already with their SkyPriority service. It is a separate security line specifically for Delta First class (or Skypriority member) passengers. No amount of Clear, TSA Pre will get you into that dedicated line.

phoenixz ,

We need to stop terrorists, unless you're willing to pay a premium, of course!

Who thinks this shit up? That the idea gets in your head is one thing, that it leaves your mouth is another...

partial_accumen ,

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).

Malfeasant ,

Is it really retina, or is it iris scan? The latter is easier (therefore cheaper and more common), but more prone to false positives.

partial_accumen ,

Good question. I don't know.

Socsa ,

It doesn't even do that. The TSA agent still checks your ID. And that's not even the bottleneck at security anyway.

partial_accumen ,

When I've seen Clear customer traverse, they are check by face/eyes with their machines, a Clear employee walks them to the front of the line, announces to the TSA officer that X number of cleared passengers are entering and the Clear employee shows their ID. I have never seen a Clear customer show an ID to a TSA agent.

jve ,

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.

afraid_of_zombies ,

Good. It is already a multitiered system and there is no reason to let it be any worse. Rich fucks should wait in line with us unwashed masses.

remotedev ,

But also, wash your asses

dogslayeggs ,

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.

afraid_of_zombies ,

Oh no I have to wait in line for a few more minutes. Woe is me woe is me.

dogslayeggs ,

You: "Rich fucks should wait in line with us"

Also you: "Oh no I have to wait in line for a few more minutes. Woe is me woe is me."

So if it isn't such a big deal to wait in line for a few more minutes, then why do you have a problem with rich people paying extra to avoid it? You are happy, they are happy, right?

afraid_of_zombies ,

Because it makes the line longer for me.

dogslayeggs ,

But you just said a few more minutes is no big deal. Woe is me woe is me. If you don't care about a few more minutes, then why do you care if your line is a little longer?

afraid_of_zombies ,

What part is your rich ass not getting? There are four lines if everyone just waits in the lines the lines move quick. If you make a special rich person line it means the other three move slowly as one line isn't at capacity.

I do not know how clear I can make it. Your rich person line sucks, you suck if you use it, and everyone has to suffer because you looked at a finite resource and said "fuck you, I got mine".

dogslayeggs ,

OK, so you refuse to acknowledge what you said about it not mattering much to you if the line takes a little longer.

afraid_of_zombies ,

Yeah sure Richie.

dogslayeggs ,

Dude, it's $200 per year. A) That's not rich person money. B) Most of the people willing to pay that little bit of money for the little bit of benefit are frequent travelers. C) Most of the people in the line didn't pay it at all. They got it through their credit card benefits or paid for by their company or a benefit by hitting status with an airline.

So I'll go back to what you said. When I pointed out that for frequent travelers it matters a lot to save a few minutes in line waiting for infrequent travelers to figure their shit out, you said it wasn't a big deal to wait a few extra minutes. But when YOU have to spend a few more minutes in line because of them, then it is suddenly a big deal. That's the issue I have. I can see your point about not having a pay-to-play feature giving the haves a benefit not available to the have-nots, but when you downplay the inconvenience for people who aren't haves but do have access to that line and then play up your inconvenience then it hurts your message.

Maggoty ,

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.

dogslayeggs ,

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.

afraid_of_zombies ,

Also a frequent traveler and I don't do any of that stuff. I sit in economy and I do the normal TSA line. Use my points for a free trip.

bradorsomething ,

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.

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