Delta says to arrive three hours before a domestic flight
#16
Join Date: Dec 2010
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#17
Join Date: Feb 2017
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CLEAR is a garbage program (it adds zero value to the process - the bottleneck / throughput limiter for security is not identification, it is the actual security screening process - it is just an inefficient "line-skip" program that could be done just as easily without needlessly collecting people's biometrics).
That said, at some airports, it actually helps because most people don't have it so the line skip effect matters.
In Atlanta, it doesn't even help because half of Atlanta is Diamond (obviously a massive exaggeration but you get what I'm saying) and Diamonds get it for free. So the CLEAR line is rarely better than the regular line (either the regular SkyPriority line or regular Pre-Check line if Orwellian programs are your thing).
That said, at some airports, it actually helps because most people don't have it so the line skip effect matters.
In Atlanta, it doesn't even help because half of Atlanta is Diamond (obviously a massive exaggeration but you get what I'm saying) and Diamonds get it for free. So the CLEAR line is rarely better than the regular line (either the regular SkyPriority line or regular Pre-Check line if Orwellian programs are your thing).
#19
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#21
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#22
Join Date: Dec 2010
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What Id like to see is a PreCheck lane for frequent fliers and one for infrequent. Its the infrequent people who dont know what to leave in their bags, or take off or whatever that slow things down.
#23
#24
Join Date: Oct 2017
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At an airport where the line is waiting on ID check, it may make sense, but if much of the waiting is beyond that it doesn't help. I see it in Detroit and it doesn't seem to provide that much benefit, plus there are always employees having to help people. At least from a distance it seems like good intentions gone awry. In Nashville they don't have it, but it would help as usually a big chunk of the waiting is to check ID.
However one bad line day and all that is out and it may be the difference in making your flight or not.
I agree... but could this be solved just by not giving pre check to randoms? A colleague that doesn't fly often and certainly did not apply for it has got pre check on all legs of the last (only) two trips they made this year. I would gather anyone who bothers to apply and pay for it would be frequent enough to not hold up the line.
#25
Join Date: Feb 2017
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Yeah to me it is a lot of fuss just to skip one step.
At an airport where the line is waiting on ID check, it may make sense, but if much of the waiting is beyond that it doesn't help. I see it in Detroit and it doesn't seem to provide that much benefit, plus there are always employees having to help people. At least from a distance it seems like good intentions gone awry. In Nashville they don't have it, but it would help as usually a big chunk of the waiting is to check ID.
At an airport where the line is waiting on ID check, it may make sense, but if much of the waiting is beyond that it doesn't help. I see it in Detroit and it doesn't seem to provide that much benefit, plus there are always employees having to help people. At least from a distance it seems like good intentions gone awry. In Nashville they don't have it, but it would help as usually a big chunk of the waiting is to check ID.
There has never been a valid business or economic reason or rationale for CLEAR to require biometrics. It is purely an intentionally designed program using a specific TSA clause that was itself designed to normalize what most would consider abnormal requirements.
#26
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Washington, DC
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Posts: 1,764
Yeah to me it is a lot of fuss just to skip one step.
At an airport where the line is waiting on ID check, it may make sense, but if much of the waiting is beyond that it doesn't help. I see it in Detroit and it doesn't seem to provide that much benefit, plus there are always employees having to help people. At least from a distance it seems like good intentions gone awry. In Nashville they don't have it, but it would help as usually a big chunk of the waiting is to check ID.
However one bad line day and all that is out and it may be the difference in making your flight or not.
I agree... but could this be solved just by not giving pre check to randoms? A colleague that doesn't fly often and certainly did not apply for it has got pre check on all legs of the last (only) two trips they made this year. I would gather anyone who bothers to apply and pay for it would be frequent enough to not hold up the line.
At an airport where the line is waiting on ID check, it may make sense, but if much of the waiting is beyond that it doesn't help. I see it in Detroit and it doesn't seem to provide that much benefit, plus there are always employees having to help people. At least from a distance it seems like good intentions gone awry. In Nashville they don't have it, but it would help as usually a big chunk of the waiting is to check ID.
However one bad line day and all that is out and it may be the difference in making your flight or not.
I agree... but could this be solved just by not giving pre check to randoms? A colleague that doesn't fly often and certainly did not apply for it has got pre check on all legs of the last (only) two trips they made this year. I would gather anyone who bothers to apply and pay for it would be frequent enough to not hold up the line.
#27
Join Date: Jul 2009
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Delta does this at PDX too. Must arrive 3 hours before. When you get to the check-in counter 3 hours before the early flights, its not even open yet. People standing in line waiting for the Delta employees to show up for work.
#28
Join Date: Feb 2019
Posts: 3,097
Better idea: they get rid of all the dumb rules people don't understand and just make everyone use the same lane (which creates more incentives for them to keep the staffing levels adequate). If elites (and I don't just mean frequent flyers, I mean like, congressmen) can just bypass the problem then nobody cares about the problem and it never gets fixed.
#29
Join Date: Feb 2017
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That's hilarious.. PDX is the one airport I feel comfortable getting to at around T-30 and still making my flight.