A $189 airport travel hack is no longer working very well
Few things are more tiresome than slowly shuffling forward in an airport line with one anxious eye on the ticking clock, especially as US travel surges with the end of the pandemic. That airport anxiety has become a lucrative business line for Clear Secure Inc. Customers pay $189 a year to breeze through to the front, using the company’s eye-scan or fingerprint technology to avoid the security backups that often develop at peak times.<br/> Only lately Clear’s lines have been backing up themselves, and annoyed travelers have taken to social media to complain. In interviews, some cited a lack of staff, fickle computers, and the at-times clumsy process of escorting people to Transportation Security Administration checkpoints. Some openly wonder whether the Clear Plus service is worth the price. “Hard to justify the $$ when the line is really long,” Andrea Yoch, a Minnesota businesswoman, said in a recent tweet about her slog through Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport. Clear’s success may be partly responsible for the complaints. The company has logged explosive growth, forcing it to rapidly hire and train new staff. While it doesn’t disclose paid subscribers, Clear reported a 53% increase in Q1 from a year earlier. The company also faces a review of “security vulnerabilities” in which the TSA is investigating Clear’s process of verifying people’s identities, TSA Administrator David Pekoske said. He didn’t comment on the lines, but it’s possible that the added ID checks the TSA has imposed are adding to the waits. Clear said its business is thriving because travelers are pleased. It plans to expand lanes at major airports such as Atlanta Hartsfield and Washington Dulles and has increased its airport staff by 35% this year compared with 2022. “Obviously, travel is hard and getting harder, but we know that traveling with Clear Plus is better and faster because we hear it from our members daily,” the company said while declining to comment on the TSA probe. This summer is shaping up to be the busiest travel period since 2019, and lengthy waits at US airports will likely be common. Clear’s expedited screening might be a welcome alternative for vacation-bound Americans if it offers reduced wait times. The service appeals to business travelers, a market that has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2023-05-29/general/a-189-airport-travel-hack-is-no-longer-working-very-well
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/logo.png
A $189 airport travel hack is no longer working very well
Few things are more tiresome than slowly shuffling forward in an airport line with one anxious eye on the ticking clock, especially as US travel surges with the end of the pandemic. That airport anxiety has become a lucrative business line for Clear Secure Inc. Customers pay $189 a year to breeze through to the front, using the company’s eye-scan or fingerprint technology to avoid the security backups that often develop at peak times.<br/> Only lately Clear’s lines have been backing up themselves, and annoyed travelers have taken to social media to complain. In interviews, some cited a lack of staff, fickle computers, and the at-times clumsy process of escorting people to Transportation Security Administration checkpoints. Some openly wonder whether the Clear Plus service is worth the price. “Hard to justify the $$ when the line is really long,” Andrea Yoch, a Minnesota businesswoman, said in a recent tweet about her slog through Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport. Clear’s success may be partly responsible for the complaints. The company has logged explosive growth, forcing it to rapidly hire and train new staff. While it doesn’t disclose paid subscribers, Clear reported a 53% increase in Q1 from a year earlier. The company also faces a review of “security vulnerabilities” in which the TSA is investigating Clear’s process of verifying people’s identities, TSA Administrator David Pekoske said. He didn’t comment on the lines, but it’s possible that the added ID checks the TSA has imposed are adding to the waits. Clear said its business is thriving because travelers are pleased. It plans to expand lanes at major airports such as Atlanta Hartsfield and Washington Dulles and has increased its airport staff by 35% this year compared with 2022. “Obviously, travel is hard and getting harder, but we know that traveling with Clear Plus is better and faster because we hear it from our members daily,” the company said while declining to comment on the TSA probe. This summer is shaping up to be the busiest travel period since 2019, and lengthy waits at US airports will likely be common. Clear’s expedited screening might be a welcome alternative for vacation-bound Americans if it offers reduced wait times. The service appeals to business travelers, a market that has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels.<br/>
