"Upgraded" at MCO today and it was a nightmare due to process issues and everyone being directed to do it. I will say that employees were really polite and that I do not fault them in any way, I'm just at the front of a change that all of the kinks haven't been rolled out of yet.

Nov 30th started the NextGen enrollment which required new photos to be taken. The step adds to time to acquire. I asked around 8:30 AM MCO Terminal A/B pre-security can I have my photo taken there even though I was flying JetBlue terminal C (shuttle from Port Canaveral went to A). No sir, you can go do that there. Alright, cool. Walk to the train to C, take it, walk through parking garage to terminal C departures.

Get to Terminal C departures... the CLEAR updates are taking time because for 99% of CLEAR users, they haven't used clear in the prior week. I get to the kiosk and... nothing. Doesn't work. Keep getting "photo doesn't match document". They keep trying. They suggest a manual TDC verify using my passport, I say hey, if we can fix this, I have more than four hours to my departure. They suggest a wipe of my profile. I'm told to wait while they call, I figure app/web chat will be quicker. Sure enough, I won that battle... 10 minutes in. They tried to enroll me again, but basically the same thing, on the enrollment side.

I suggest that since my driver's license has me wearing glasses, that the mismatch is probably due to the glasses interfering with facial recognition. The IDEMIA machines at Port Canaveral recognized me instantly without glasses (and was told to remove them). The ABC gates at Changi popped open instantly for exit customs when I took off my glasses. GE kiosk explicitly says remove glasses. But alas - the kiosks at MCO Terminal C haven't been updated to read the chip in passports, so they can't use it for enrollment updates with NextGen. I basically got told I could be manual TDCed and do the nextgen update later, or if I had time and wanted to, I could go to MCO Terminal A/B again and finish enrollment there. With an abundance of time to flight time, and it not being a particularly hot day in Orlando, I said fine.

Back to A/B gates I went... where the CLEAR + TSA Pre line was about 15 minutes, due to the enrollment photo updates. A helpful employee found my profile by name/DOB/email, re-acquired my right hand fingerprints, and then acquired my passport. Firstly with the bio data page for the MRZ, then it directed him to insert the back page only for reading the RFID chip. Another walk back to the interterminal train and CLEAR gates at C... deliverance.

I probably didn't need to force the update so soon, but with time abundant before my flight, I decided to. Again - the staff worked diligently on the issue, proposed alternatives that would keep me moving (manual TDC this time so I could enroll later if I needed to clear security sooner), and explained my options, so I'm not upset.

Key insights gained:

1. CLEAR's Facial recognition is now not only comparing to what they have on file for the member as an individual photo, but against the individual government travel document. This was probably done as a risk reduction measure to convince the feds and TSA to reduce ID checks. CLEAR can basically point to that the member face was analyzed against a file photo, and that the file photo was compared to a state or federally issued ID.
2. As with most facial recognition systems, glasses interfere. If you enrolled with a document that has glasses, you may not be able to enroll in NextGen with or without glasses (they tried taking the new pic with both to no avail). CLEAR staff ("ambassadors") at the airport can't help, but customer service can wipe your profile out.
3. CLEAR's newer kiosks updated (whether it was software alone or a combo of hardware/software - given appearance, I am hazarding a guess that it's software only. They mentioned the kiosks not being "patched" in MCO Term C) will, like many ABC gate solutions, read the actual chip in a biometric passport. This is supported by the ambassador's comments in Terminal C about the CLEAR kiosks there not being updated to read it, and the CLEAR kiosk during enrollment directing the ambassador at A/B to scan my bio data page first (which has the information required for basic access control on the biometric chip) and then the back page (which in a US passport has the biometric RFID chip). This would, rather than a scan of the passport surface with glare, result in a direct copy of your passport biodata image being accessible to CLEAR, rather than a scan with glare, impurities like glare or wear/dust/etc...
4. The comment made by at least one ambassador basically set a tentative timeline for initial rollout of the updated NextGen experience Feb 2024. What exactly that meant is unclear, and there were "weasel words" like "should be rolling out", but whatever fruit this may bear in terms of not just fewer ID checks but an even more streamlined CLEAR experience may be as soon as Feb 2024.