3 ms·

Important People Are Noticing How Terrible Clear Is for Airports

23 points by mfiguiere 3y ago

Eridrus 3y ago
To summarize; CLEAR bad because: a) The author has bought way too far into the idea that everyone is equal and finds it icky b) It's identity verification has had some problems (fixable) c) It provides an incentive for TSA lines to stay long, similar to TurboTax I find (c) a somewhat reasonable concern on its face, but TSA Pre already gives the same incentives, but via a government service. Other entities also have the same incentives: Airlines like the ridiculous liquid situation since it causes some people to pay for checked bags. It's not really clear this one is any worse. IMO people who do not like Clear should be leading a charge to fix TSA and obviate the need for things like Clear and Pre rather than railing against them since they clearly provide something that people want (to skip the line).
- alpineidyll3 3y ago
  Yes. Before criticizing an efficient solution merely because it has a cost we must explain why the non market solution is a farce of inefficient security theatre. Private flights have no security whatsoever. They are also much more climate unfriendly. If commercial becomes more of a headache people will press up towards jetshares...
fnordpiglet 3y ago
The article fails the logical test. It asserts clear does nothing to speed up the normal line. That’s clearly untrue. The people going through clear are not in the normal line, and when they join the normal line they get a cursory glance at the boarding pass which takes considerably less of the agents time. Their identify is verified by a separate line, thus removing them from the queue. Everyone benefits from clear existing. The fact it’s a service with a fee attached doesn’t obviate its benefit in reducing line lengths.
- iAMkenough 3y ago
  Your argument assumes staffing levels for the normal line stay the same when TSA experiences a drop in traffic through the normal line. More likely is they'll see the private staffing for CLEAR lines as an opportunity to further cut costs and the normal line will increase in length as travelers are funneled through fewer open check lanes.
  - fnordpiglet 3y ago
    Honestly at SEA, there’s only ever been one agent staffing identity check at each checkpoint. Dropping staffing would mean zero which fortunately isn’t reasonable.

23 points by mfiguiere 3y ago

To summarize; CLEAR bad because: a) The author has bought way too far into the idea that everyone is equal and finds it icky b) It's identity verification has had some problems (fixable) c) It provides an incentive for TSA lines to stay long, similar to TurboTax I find (c) a somewhat reasonable concern on its face, but TSA Pre already gives the same incentives, but via a government service. Other entities also have the same incentives: Airlines like the ridiculous liquid situation since it causes some people to pay for checked bags. It's not really clear this one is any worse. IMO people who do not like Clear should be leading a charge to fix TSA and obviate the need for things like Clear and Pre rather than railing against them since they clearly provide something that people want (to skip the line).

alpineidyll3 3y ago
Yes. Before criticizing an efficient solution merely because it has a cost we must explain why the non market solution is a farce of inefficient security theatre. Private flights have no security whatsoever. They are also much more climate unfriendly. If commercial becomes more of a headache people will press up towards jetshares...

fnordpiglet 3y ago

The article fails the logical test. It asserts clear does nothing to speed up the normal line. That’s clearly untrue. The people going through clear are not in the normal line, and when they join the normal line they get a cursory glance at the boarding pass which takes considerably less of the agents time. Their identify is verified by a separate line, thus removing them from the queue. Everyone benefits from clear existing. The fact it’s a service with a fee attached doesn’t obviate its benefit in reducing line lengths.

iAMkenough 3y ago
Your argument assumes staffing levels for the normal line stay the same when TSA experiences a drop in traffic through the normal line. More likely is they'll see the private staffing for CLEAR lines as an opportunity to further cut costs and the normal line will increase in length as travelers are funneled through fewer open check lanes.
- fnordpiglet 3y ago
  Honestly at SEA, there’s only ever been one agent staffing identity check at each checkpoint. Dropping staffing would mean zero which fortunately isn’t reasonable.