I generally agree with what you are saying in concept, but not all airports have lines for elites/first class. Fort Lauderdale used to have a line for DL Elites in Terminal 2 and US Elites in Terminal 3, but for some reason, either the airport authority or the TSA closed those lines. DCA does not have lines for Elites either, and neither does SEA, and those are just a few examples. I agree, that if all airports had lines for elites/first class, Clear would not be necessary at all, but unfortunately, I would say that no more than 50% of airports have elite/first class lines at security. Regardless of that, Clear still does not present a compelling value for me.