lucycan

Clear has jumped the shark. I fly several times a week to different airports. Not once in the last 3 months has it been even remotely quicker to use Clear over Pre-check. Its really a joke at this point. The clear people are overwhelmed and have slowed to a sloths pace. They are the new DMV agents. Plus last time I used it then scanned my boarding pass THREE times just in line then eyes, boarding pass, and pray you dont have to still show your ID on a (less than) random check. A truly worthless service.

mfirst

maybe all of these "complaints" are part of their business model and attempts at self-regulation?
they cant install more lanes thru TSA - nor get around their rules....
hiring more employees is too expensive (cant imagine what people get paid to work at some of these hubs - but guess, with market forces, it isnt cheap)
and growing by increasing more customers - except for offering additional services (has anyone used CLEAR for a concert or sporting event?) might not be as profitable as one would think

I wouldn't be surprised if there, like many others business, there is a "sweat" spot to overall size and further growth brings too many expenses and headaches.

abaheti

At some point, I don't get how the business model survives. It filled a gap when TSA wasn't up to snuff, but I would expect TSA to keep improving and just fill the niche itself. Facial recognition, other technology, etc. But I just looked at CLEAR's stock info and they look like they are doing well, so what do I know.

scubadu

I really don't think its that complicated (it seems people keep looking for a "complicated" reason). CLEAR's fate was sealed when they did the deal with Amex, full stop. That is when things began to change. You simply cannot offer a service for "free" (i.e. it's included in the cost of a card someone already has) and expect to be able to maintain exclusivity/quality (similar to what we see with lounge crowding; lounges started getting crowded when entrance was offered via credit card). There are now simply too many people eligible for what started out as an "exclusive" service.

If CLEAR was dropped from the Amex Platinum card as a benefit, the lines would go back down pretty quickly. Many simply would not pay for it out of pocket. The problem though is that like all companies, CLEAR wants/needs to grow and the deal with Amex turbocharged that effort (honestly, not sure how much else they can grow now, the deal with Amex is probably as good as its going to get). And therein lies the dichotomy. They need the volume of Amex customers to scale, but that very volume contributes to a poor experience to the end user.

This is really just a simply case of the golden rule of travel benefits; if everyone is special, nobody is special.

Regards

mfirst

... and dont forget the deals with the airlines - like how I get my CLEAR free from UA

SPN Lifer

Or with a Hilton Aspire AmEx card, and its $189 annual credit if on auto-renew.

scubadu

True, but that was in play for many, many years before the Amex deal. And really only Delta Diamonds and UA 1K got it "free." Those numbers are not even remotely close to the scale that opening it up to several flavors of American Express cards brought online.

Regards

dcmidnight

And as always, I think the message board complaining makes it seem like a much bigger "problem" than it is. The same handful of people complaining repeatedly about CLEAR don't (seem to) represent the user population as a whole. What % of CLEAR users are also members of this thread - a fraction of a fraction of 1%? If my observations of their enrollment stations are any indications, the are probably doing just fine.

Last Thursday DCA was a breeze, no secondary ID check (upgraded a few trips ago), moved right through in less than a minute.

Sidenote - it was also great to use at Madison Square Garden. Probably saved us 20+ minutes waiting in security lines in the rain. First time I've ever used it at a non airport.

JAXPax

My experience at DCA last week was a breeze. For some reason they did need to scan my drivers license again, which took about 30 seconds, for reasons the employee didn't know (it came up with my photo from last time they did it), but it was quick and still saved time over PreCheck.

True this represents a small portion of the population here... but what I think it does show is that some people have repeat issues.

On the whole, I've had a lifetime free membership for about a decade so far and it has been net positive and a time saver.

pushmyredbutton

It's weird, sometimes people are happy with the service they get, even though the experience is subpar. Overhearing the conversations waiting in line for Clear about "how they get it for free'", while the Precheck line is completely empty. Or worse, imo, are the people waiting in line for an overcrowded and dirty lounge, while the terminal itself is wide open and arguably more comfortable (looking at you SFO and BOS). Not saying you're wrong, but there appears to be a skewed perception when the traveling public get something for "free" that totally defies reality

diburning

I think that people who "get it for free" are more tolerant of CLEAR's shortcomings than people who paid for it, even at a discount.

scubadu

Gee, ya think?

Regards

Xyzzy

For the first time in a while, CLEAR saved me sme time. Yesterday at SFO-G there was nobody in front of me while the TSA Pre line had 20+.

CrazyEddie

Not exactly on point, but this AM in ATL the decision of TSA vs DID vs Clear with TSA pre was complicated by being told that DID was “closed” even though pax were in the line. 30 seconds after choosing Clear + Pre they reopened DID. I left and joined the DID line and made it in 5 min total. Less than Clear + Pre.

sxpsxpsxp

Boy did I make the wrong choice this morning going with CLEAR....

LGA terminal C security was a zoo. The digital sign just switched to 20 minutes for digital ID and CLEAR still said 10 minutes so I went in the CLEAR line. I marked the last person in line for digital ID. They got scanned by TSA just before I got to the CLEAR kiosk. Except after they got scanned they went right to the X-Ray scanner (the old kind). After the kiosk I had to get into another line to get to TSA, which probably took another 5 minutes (maybe I'm exaggerating). And when I got to the front of that line, whatever machine the CLEAR person was using apparently wasn't working, so everyone had to give their ID to TSA and do the regular TSA ID check process. Once past the ID check, I was at the new automated CT scanners TSA is switching to, which take 3x as long as the old scanners (there's only the one at LGA C, and it's where the digital ID line is). And then my coat fell out of the tray inside the machine, which caused the machine to reject the tray as "too big" and my bag had to get scanned again.

So if I wasn't eligible for digital ID, CLEAR would have definitely been faster than the regular TSA pre-check line. But digital ID would've easily saved me 10-15 minutes, if not more on top of CLEAR.