I thought the one benefit is that you don't get haraSSSSed at the airport. I read that somewhere (wish I remembered where). That was the one thing that was positive about the program.

Yes I remember reading that too. Still, is it really worth $200 and giving up all kinds of personal information to a private contractor?

I believe that is true, but taking your shoes off, taking your notebook out of your bag, not being able to carry liquids and gels - those things are starndard screening. My interpretation is that being on the list just means you won't have to go through secondaries of the SSSS sort. That's about it, and maybe a shorter line.

Since the time of TSA inception I've gone through checkpoints probably over 400 times and have had a SSSS twice I believe, so no big savings there.

sice it requires us to pre-register.. I think we would be doing them a favor
by registering.. we should get paid for this... we shouldnt be paying :td:

It's not going to work out anyway. The ONLY way i'd do anything remotely close to this is if:

1. I went through a separate line WITHOUT the carryon check and metal detector
2. They had a red carpet leading up to the V.I.P. lane rolled out as I was walking up to it to make me feel oh so important.

$200 buck to bypass 20 people and then wait behind 20 more doesn't sound like extortion, it sound like rape. Seriously for that amount of money they should give me a secret security clearance and give me carte blanche at the airports.

And what does a background check consist of? Are they going to pull a Lexis-Nexis report on you? Those things are as bad as credit reports with all of the inaccuracies.

And what would disqualify you from the program? Living in the same neighbor hood as a suspected terrorist? Having an unpaid parking ticket? Being late on your Visa bill? Visiting the middle east?

I haven't had to wait more than five minutes or so to go through a security line in quite some time. At many airports recently they'd have to turn the hands of time back to save me five minutes.

Of course, if this thing gets going, then it will be no surprise to me if the TSA sets things up so that anyone who is not a registered traveler all of a sudden starts facing newly long lines. Then we'll effectively be forced to sign up for the "voluntary" tracking program. And fees will magically rise at the same time.

Chertoff said that as of right now, the only thing that the program guarantees is that you'll get a dedicated line at participating airports. No guarantee that it will be shorter or faster. He did say that in the future they might relax the rules for registered travelers. In particular he said that they may not be subject to questioning at the checkpoint, which I thought was interesting because there's no systematic questioning at the checkpoint now. So it seems like he intends to implement questioning soon.

The problem with personal interpretations is that they may or may not correspond with a given screener's interpretation of the rubric. Remember that screeners have discretion to send you secondary for merely acting suspiciously, whatever that means ... _to them_. "Do you want to fly today?" Enuf said.

Does anyone honestly believe this $200 RTC is a free pass for anything (other than sanctioning this security nonsense)? Burn this dictum into your memory: There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.

That $200 will not buy your freedom, it's long been appropriated from us.

Yes, that is true. If I am SSSS'ed while at a CLEAR airport, I do not have to go through a secondary search. I just sent a message to Clear support asking if this also now applies to the secondary gate screenings as well.

[QUOTE=essxjay]The problem with personal interpretations is that they may or may not correspond with a given screeners interpretation of the rubric. Remember, screeners have discretion to send you secondary for acting suspiciously, whatever that means ... _to them_.
/QUOTE]

As I stated in this thread earlier, my information is from a couple of years ago when AA was participating in the then-pilot program at National. I got an invite to participate in the pilot (for free, as I remember) and actually checked into it and decided it wasn't worth the effort at all.

I wasn't directing my comments at you, catocony. I've edited my post a bit to try and reflect that. Sorry if there was a misunderstanding.

I'm a member of CLEAR since I was doing a lot of traveling in and out of Orlando earlier this year -- The United side (I think B) didn't have any premier lines so in order to avoid losing my mind I signed up for this program. My company pays the cost and it allowed me to zip through the line in about 1 minute vs 30+ on a Friday afternoon.

I received a SSSS code on my ticket but the CLEAR lady just stamped my boarding pass and let me through the Xray machine with no additional screening.

Interesting I noticed the CLEAR site is now taking national sign ups -- but they are taking on a $27 TSA "Vetting fee". I logged into my account and I can still renew for the $79.95 fee -- or even lock it in for another 3 years.

Even assuming I'm willing to accept the privacy intrusion, I still don't understand the value for someone who never (or at least hardly ever) comes up on the SSSS list. Its just an expedited line which is otherwise available in most airports. Otherwise the screening is the same and time is the same.

As for the privacy issue, Brill is certainly a premier marketer but there's no way he'll be able to do anything in the private sector with the data he gets from this program because of government regulations. The real issue is whether an individual is comfortable with the federal government having this info. Since I am an Army Reserve Officer with a security clearance, my uncle knows everything from my DNA to my medical history to my traffic offenses 20 years ago.

As it is, there doesn't seem to much value except for those who fly from certain airports regularly.

I'd be careful about locking in for 3 more years unless they offer refunds... I still have hope that people will wake from their insanity enough that the "trusted traveler" programs cease to exist.

They offer a pro-rated refund at any time if you want to cancel