Delta Has The Solution For Long TSA Lines at SEA [CLEAR]
Jun 3, 2016, 10:30 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: An Island Paradise Near Seattle
Posts: 599
Delta Has The Solution For Long TSA Lines at SEA [CLEAR]
They've made an equity investment in CLEAR, and apparently SeaTac is next on the list - see towards the end of the story.
This is absolutely ludicrous - the space required to deploy CLEAR, for the single-digit-hundreds of daily users that benefit will compound the problems - there's simply not enough room to implement CLEAR, and all airport users unwilling or unable to spring $180 year for cut-the-line privileges suffer.
CLEAR card users would be the first to have their heads hit the wicker basket if the guillotine came back into popular use.
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0YP0DZ
This is absolutely ludicrous - the space required to deploy CLEAR, for the single-digit-hundreds of daily users that benefit will compound the problems - there's simply not enough room to implement CLEAR, and all airport users unwilling or unable to spring $180 year for cut-the-line privileges suffer.
CLEAR card users would be the first to have their heads hit the wicker basket if the guillotine came back into popular use.
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0YP0DZ
Jun 3, 2016, 7:49 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: An Island Paradise Near Seattle
Posts: 599
The front of the line privileges certainly benefit the subscriber - the problem I have is that it's not just "everybody gets delayed by the CLEARgeoisie", it's that there's no space to deploy the CLEAR lanes at SEA - it comes out of the already-crowded space that the building envelope provides.
Jun 6, 2016, 8:07 pm
#4
Join Date: Sep 2015
Programs: 1 thousand
Posts: 2,112
CLEAR doesn't take much room at SFO, I don't see how it would be much worse at SEA. It's pretty much 2 electronic kiosks and an attendant. There's plenty of space at the central checkpoint beside the Precheck lines, although I can see there being a lack of space at the A-gate checkpoint, no idea about the ones towards the north.
The people I know who pay for CLEAR find it amazing. There's little value for me given I have PRE, thanks to which I often get an almost empty line at SFO, and the SEA lines are usually short too for the times I fly.
The people I know who pay for CLEAR find it amazing. There's little value for me given I have PRE, thanks to which I often get an almost empty line at SFO, and the SEA lines are usually short too for the times I fly.
Jul 28, 2016, 8:50 am
#5
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 396
Based on an article on lasvegasnow, which is promoting CLEAR as a means to reduce wait times.
However it appears that CLEAR will INCREASE waittimes. The article informs:
"CLEAR is a paid-service...that uses biometric technology to identify passengers. Once the passengers are identified through fingerprint and eye scans that take two to three minutes, they're ushered right past the I.D. check portion of TSA."
2 to 3 minutes per person to skip TDC? So 30 people waiting for CLEAR means the last person waits an hour?
However it appears that CLEAR will INCREASE waittimes. The article informs:
"CLEAR is a paid-service...that uses biometric technology to identify passengers. Once the passengers are identified through fingerprint and eye scans that take two to three minutes, they're ushered right past the I.D. check portion of TSA."
2 to 3 minutes per person to skip TDC? So 30 people waiting for CLEAR means the last person waits an hour?
Last edited by gingersnaps; Jul 28, 2016 at 9:09 am
Jul 28, 2016, 11:32 am
#6
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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Location: Between AUS, EWR, and YTO In a little twisty maze of airline seats, all alike.. but I wanna go home with the armadillo
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Based on an article on lasvegasnow, which is promoting CLEAR as a means to reduce wait times.
However it appears that CLEAR will INCREASE waittimes. The article informs:
"CLEAR is a paid-service...that uses biometric technology to identify passengers. Once the passengers are identified through fingerprint and eye scans that take two to three minutes, they're ushered right past the I.D. check portion of TSA."
2 to 3 minutes per person to skip TDC? So 30 people waiting for CLEAR means the last person waits an hour?
However it appears that CLEAR will INCREASE waittimes. The article informs:
"CLEAR is a paid-service...that uses biometric technology to identify passengers. Once the passengers are identified through fingerprint and eye scans that take two to three minutes, they're ushered right past the I.D. check portion of TSA."
2 to 3 minutes per person to skip TDC? So 30 people waiting for CLEAR means the last person waits an hour?
gnized.
Aug 15, 2016, 11:12 am
#7
Join Date: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,746
When Clear first came in, it was supposed to transform into a trusted traveler program - much like TSA Pre with no need to take off shoes, etc. That never happened.
Given that is not a trusted traveler program - I don't understand the public policy rationale of allowing people to the head of the line simply because they pay money to a private company for no other purpose than going to the head of the line.
The Clear rep in the Reuters article in the initial post analogized to a toll road - and absurd analogy. A toll road usually has construction and maintenance costs which are paid down by the tolls. Clear, on the other hand, simply takes money to get you to the head of the already existing path.
Given that is not a trusted traveler program - I don't understand the public policy rationale of allowing people to the head of the line simply because they pay money to a private company for no other purpose than going to the head of the line.
The Clear rep in the Reuters article in the initial post analogized to a toll road - and absurd analogy. A toll road usually has construction and maintenance costs which are paid down by the tolls. Clear, on the other hand, simply takes money to get you to the head of the already existing path.
Aug 15, 2016, 3:54 pm
#8
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 3,657
Whether or not that's really the way it works in practice, and whether or not it makes any sense, are left as exercises for the reader.
Aug 15, 2016, 3:58 pm
#9
Join Date: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,746
I think that is "the line" with respect to airline elite lines, etc.
However, I don't think that would be the official position re Clear - as Clear gets you past the TSA ID checker, and perhaps even further than that (I'm not sure if you get to jump ahead of people waiting on the other side of the UD checker.)
However, I don't think that would be the official position re Clear - as Clear gets you past the TSA ID checker, and perhaps even further than that (I'm not sure if you get to jump ahead of people waiting on the other side of the UD checker.)
TSA's publicly stated policy is that "the line" is under the control of the airport, not the TSA itself, and that how the airport manages that line before passengers reach the TDC is out of its control. At that point, it's just one more service that passengers may choose to purchase, at differential rates (e.g. onsite parking).
Whether or not that's really the way it works in practice, and whether or not it makes any sense, are left as exercises for the reader.
Whether or not that's really the way it works in practice, and whether or not it makes any sense, are left as exercises for the reader.
Aug 15, 2016, 4:15 pm
#10
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After you're in the system, it takes approximately 20 seconds to scan my boarding pass and fingerprints.
Aug 16, 2016, 11:02 am
#11
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Seattle, Wash. USA
Posts: 1,531
Based on an article on lasvegasnow, which is promoting CLEAR as a means to reduce wait times.
However it appears that CLEAR will INCREASE waittimes. The article informs:
"CLEAR is a paid-service...that uses biometric technology to identify passengers. Once the passengers are identified through fingerprint and eye scans that take two to three minutes, they're ushered right past the I.D. check portion of TSA."
2 to 3 minutes per person to skip TDC? So 30 people waiting for CLEAR means the last person waits an hour?
However it appears that CLEAR will INCREASE waittimes. The article informs:
"CLEAR is a paid-service...that uses biometric technology to identify passengers. Once the passengers are identified through fingerprint and eye scans that take two to three minutes, they're ushered right past the I.D. check portion of TSA."
2 to 3 minutes per person to skip TDC? So 30 people waiting for CLEAR means the last person waits an hour?