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The author of this doesn’t fly much, and probably isn’t actually a clear member. Nobody who pays for clear uses it because they don’t want to show ID: any frequ

The author of this doesn’t fly much, and probably isn’t actually a clear member. Nobody who pays for clear uses it because they don’t want to show ID: any frequent traveller has ID (probably a Real ID, too) and uses Clear to jump to the front of the PRE line. Also, and frequent traveller probably encounters non-Clear airports so has yet another reason to ensure they’ve got ID. As for one of the more bizarre comments here: No minorities are signing up for clear to skip TSA, it doesn’t do that… it merely puts you at the front of the TSA line. This just seems like a rebel-without-a-clue ranting about … something?

JumpCrisscross 3y ago
> Nobody who pays for clear uses it because they don’t want to show ID: any frequent traveller has ID…uses Clear to jump to the front of the PRE line The author concludes as much: “There’s been a lot of speculation that the requirement to show ID somehow undermines the usefulness of CLEAR. But maybe not showing ID is an ancillary benefit at best to the customer, even if it’s how the program is sold. We pretend it’s about identity verification when really it’s about priority in getting through security faster. It still does that. The usefulness of the service would change not at all.”
- xur17 3y ago
  > We pretend it’s about identity verification when really it’s about priority in getting through security faster. It's exactly this - a shorter line you can pay for under the guise of technology.
  - greyface- 3y ago
    Notably, the line-skipping benefit to users only exists if a minority of people use it. If it becomes widely used, it degrades to the old state of affairs (i.e. waiting in line behind all the other CLEAR users). Without actual increases to throughput of the TSA checkpoint, it's only temporarily beneficial to early adopters as everyone else catches up. And when we're done, a private company has gathered loads of facial recognition data, CLEAR flyers paid for the privilege of giving it up, and they still have to wait in line.
    - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
      > the line-skipping benefit to users only exists if a minority of people use it Which is what the price gate confers.
- suthakamal 3y ago
  The author suggests that the program is sold on the basis of not requiring ID. This is untrue.
  - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
    > author suggests that the program is sold on the basis of not requiring ID. This is untrue But it is a benefit. I have flown without ID on account of losing it. Without Clear, TSA concocted an opera out of the matter. With it, it was entirely unremarlable.
    - suthakamal 3y ago
      The benefit is being able to leave your ID in your pocket/bag. It is not to be able to travel without ID. You are describing an edge case, not a reason a frequent traveller would opt to purchase Clear. (Fwiw, I understand this edge case, I’ve flown to Canada from the US w/o a passport because I could show the gate agents my Nexus card, but this is not a feature of having Nexus. The same logic holds for Clear.)

JumpCrisscross 3y ago

> Nobody who pays for clear uses it because they don’t want to show ID: any frequent traveller has ID…uses Clear to jump to the front of the PRE line The author concludes as much: “There’s been a lot of speculation that the requirement to show ID somehow undermines the usefulness of CLEAR. But maybe not showing ID is an ancillary benefit at best to the customer, even if it’s how the program is sold. We pretend it’s about identity verification when really it’s about priority in getting through security faster. It still does that. The usefulness of the service would change not at all.”

xur17 3y ago
> We pretend it’s about identity verification when really it’s about priority in getting through security faster. It's exactly this - a shorter line you can pay for under the guise of technology.
- greyface- 3y ago
  Notably, the line-skipping benefit to users only exists if a minority of people use it. If it becomes widely used, it degrades to the old state of affairs (i.e. waiting in line behind all the other CLEAR users). Without actual increases to throughput of the TSA checkpoint, it's only temporarily beneficial to early adopters as everyone else catches up. And when we're done, a private company has gathered loads of facial recognition data, CLEAR flyers paid for the privilege of giving it up, and they still have to wait in line.
  - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
    > the line-skipping benefit to users only exists if a minority of people use it Which is what the price gate confers.
suthakamal 3y ago
The author suggests that the program is sold on the basis of not requiring ID. This is untrue.
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago
  > author suggests that the program is sold on the basis of not requiring ID. This is untrue But it is a benefit. I have flown without ID on account of losing it. Without Clear, TSA concocted an opera out of the matter. With it, it was entirely unremarlable.
  - suthakamal 3y ago
    The benefit is being able to leave your ID in your pocket/bag. It is not to be able to travel without ID. You are describing an edge case, not a reason a frequent traveller would opt to purchase Clear. (Fwiw, I understand this edge case, I’ve flown to Canada from the US w/o a passport because I could show the gate agents my Nexus card, but this is not a feature of having Nexus. The same logic holds for Clear.)