As TSA lines continue to stress travelers, and a self-imposed meltdown causes countless wasted hours and missed flights, one man has found opportunity.
Lines in many airports aren’t quite as bad today because midweek travel is lighter than Fridays, Sundays and Mondays and because Spring Break has broadly passed – but if the partial government shutdown doesn’t end soon things will likely heat up again, and could get even worse.
The line at IAH may become a new type of microsociety. Babies will be born in the line. They’ll grow up knowing of nothing outside the line. The line will develop its own language, its own culture https://t.co/2eAgsztDmU
— Brooks Otterlake (@i_zzzzzz) March 24, 2026
🚨 😱 6+ HOUR WAIT TIMES AT ATLANTA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT!!!
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) March 23, 2026
An enterprising man has come up with the idea of just getting in line himself, even though he’s not flying, and selling his spot in line to someone who wants to use their time more efficiently. He’s a professional TSA line-sitter, and he’s causing passionate reactions on both sides of the plan – from ‘hilarious and smart’ to ‘other people in line are going to hate this.’
The truth of course is that there are already paid ways to skip long security lines. This man is just capturing a little slice of the revenue that TSA itself, CLEAR, airlines and concierge services already take in.
Airports are getting out of hand… so I’m offering a solution.
If you don’t feel like standing in those long TSA lines, I’ll do it for you.
I’ll stand in line, hold your spot, and call or text you when I reach the TSA scan point. You walk up, step in, and keep it moving.
Strong legs. Strong bladder. Zero complaints.
Available at MSY for $600
Available at IAH for $800
Available at ATL for $1,200
*Fees paid in advance. 2 pieces of luggage. Give me a week’s notice.This isn’t for everybody… but if your time is worth more than your patience, you already understand.
Serious inquiries only…because I’m dead @$$!
This man has set up his own black market CLEAR, and I’m here for it.
Houston Intercontinental is down to just a couple of checkpoints. Atlanta was warning travelers to allow three hours for security. But wait times are variable, and tomorrow hopefully won’t be as bad. This $600 – $1,200 could easily turn into “you paid a guy to stand in a line, but there wasn’t one.” Maybe it’s not such a great deal, but you’re paying for certainty as much as time-savings.
- This isn’t against any federal law. The traveler, not the lineholder, has to be present when ID is checked. But he’s trading places with you before that!
- Airport rules often forbid this, though not directly. For instance, New Orleans airport forbids any revenue-producing activity without their written authorization. Here’s the rule:
No Person shall occupy or rent space; carry on any business, commercial enterprise, or activity; or undertake any other form of revenue-producing activity on the Airport without first obtaining a written contract, permit, or other form of written authorization from the Aviation Board,
Director of Aviation or designee.
At Atlanta, Houston Intercontinental and New Orleans you don’t just have CLEAR but also CLEAR Concierge, a $99+ service that lets you skip the CLEAR line. All adults in the party must be CLEAR+ members, and occasional travelers (with a credit card that reimburses it) might not also want to pay the $209 starting rate just for a one-off. Even so, that’s cheaper than this Facebook ad. Although CLEAR and PreCheck may not even be open at your airport, the way TSA closed it at Houston Intercontinental.
Of course the better bet at many airports is TSA Touchless, where PreCheck members can opt in with their airline for facial recognition – because Touchless lines generally dump out at the front of PreCheck, and relatively few travelers have yet signed up for this.
It’s somewhat strange to me that these programs aren’t generally resented by travelers, though an explicit line-cutting service likely would be. Although early one we did see backlash at PreCheck and a view that premium security lines were unfair to everyone else (although the frequent travelers taking advantage of them were generally taking more trips, and therefore spending more time in security overall than those in the standard queues).
California even moved to ban CLEAR from airports on the theory that no one should go through security faster than anyone else – we should all suffer – except of course of for the politicians themselves who may receive their own escorts.
I can see a number of reasons why this will not go well, not least the reaction from people in line getting ‘exercised’ as folk claiming special privilege attempt to walk past them!
Can someone post a link to the appropriate app for TSA Touchless? When I search it in Google Play I get too many choices and it’s unclear which is the correct one. TIA
@LS – you have to set up TSA Touchless precheck with each individual airline on their website or app. Have to have precheck already then enter passport info and opt into touchless. My suggestion (what I did) is Google “how do I set up touchless precheck with American Airlines (for example)” and follow the steps. I did it for AA, DL and UA – each was a little different.
@LS, You got the right advice from @Retired Gambler. Note, however, that your AA opt-in expires in a year and requires you opt in again.
@LS I just signed up with Alaska on their website for Touchless Pre. I’ll be testing it on Thursday with my wife, who does not have Clear. I have never seen anyone at SEA use touchless Pre, so I’m hoping for a very short line.
There are other options. Assuming that TSA checks have shorter wait times at regional airports, some people may end up rerouting their travel so they start at a regional airport so that the connection at a hub (maybe not the closest one) is an airside transit instead of driving to a hub and going through TSA there. The ticket price would likely be higher and the journey would likely take more time but it would have less standing and be more relaxing.