Originally Posted by
cbn42
Hi everyone, thanks for the answers. I'm aware of the various options (Precheck, Global Entry, etc.) and I wasn't really looking for advice. Rather, I posted this because it struck me as odd that a TSA employee realized, and openly spoke about, how useless the scanners are. What is the point of scanning people when anyone can pay to skip them? Maybe they are starting to see the stupidity of their logic.
Neither CLEAR nor pre (which includes GE) for this purpose, is a payment to skip anything. It's a payment to conduct a background check to permit you to generally be classified as an extremely low risk.
By way of example, GE includes an in-depth application, records check, fingerprints and an in-person interview with a CBP Officer. That costs $100 and is no assurance that you will be approved for GE.
The Officer's comment to you about paying $50 for CLEAR is wrong because of the amount, but has zippo to do with the value of different types of equiptment.