Airport security can be quick, or take a long time. That variability is a problem. Having to show up extra early to the airport, multiplied across all passengers and all days, costs the economy about $80 billion per year not to mention the annoyance. And nobody talks seriously about it as a problem to solve.
You may get PreCheck, but even those lines can be line. CLEAR is another paid program that’s supposed to solve this but the more successful CLEAR becomes, the less useful it is. CLEAR has long lines, too!
So here’s a little trick that can get you through security much faster at some airports, and make CLEAR useful again.
In Austin, and some other airports, there are two different queues for CLEAR.
- CLEAR + PreCheck
- CLEAR + Regular security
CLEAR checks your identity and takes you to the front of the security line you’re eligible for. Most people with CLEAR also have PreCheck. Unless you’re somehow turned down for PreCheck, it’s odd to pay the more expensive fee for CLEAR and not also get PreCheck (whether standalone or through Global Entry, SENTRI or NEXUS).
If you have PreCheck, you queue in the longer line at CLEAR. If you don’t have PreCheck, you get in the shorter line and will get taken to the front of regular security. With the line for PreCheck-eligible CLEAR passengers stretching down the length of the terminal in Austin this week, there was not a single person in line to go through CLEAR and then regular security!
The line for PreCheck without CLEAR wasn’t great, either. Once you had your ID checked it was still at least 15 minutes to get through the checkpoint thanks to the volume of passengers, that not every lane was open, and the new slower Analogic scanners.
But this is the trick.
- CLEAR won’t let you go through regular security if you have PreCheck
- But you can remove your Known Traveler number from your reservation and refresh your boarding pass
- Then skip that whole line for CLEAR
- And CLEAR escorts you to the very front of the regular security line, which in this instance meant a 15 minute savings even compared to going to the front of PreCheck
You do have to go through the shoe carnival and walk through the full body scanner, but in this scenario it is much, much faster than CLEAR plus PreCheck, or PreCheck alone.
Here’s another shortcut through security to look for: priority lanes.
I’ve run into PreCheck lines backed up through the terminal, while general security was long too. And yet there is sometimes still a “priority” security line for first class and elite frequent flyers. I’ve run into situations where no one at all was using that line and I could walk straight to the front with no wait.
And even though it isn’t a PreCheck line, I’ve been given a printed PreCheck sign that flagged I wouldn’t need to take anything out of my bag, take off my shoes, or go through full body imagining. TSA also may not even check eligibility to use that line.
CLEAR is a total waste of time. It is supposed to validate users on LinkedIn.
IT NEVER WORKS!
These guy should sell to Point.me and then two non-functional pieces of software could be ignord together.
Very nice, assuming you accept the grotesque obscenity of the scanner. When I was randomly selected for it out of a precheck line I insisted on opting out. The officers said it would take hours. I readily agreed and they were done with me in 10 minutes.
As usual the MBA types can’t anticipate something the guy that drives your local garbage truck could. Airport after airport I go into the lines at PreCheck and Clear are longer than the normal screening line. Happened again at Terminal D at DFW this past Saturday and this morning at PHX Concourse B. The MBAs never thought they’d have to add more screeners and screening podiums if these programs were pushed onto the traveling public. The imbecile running TSA wants to push more flyers into PreCheck but of course no plan for additional people and infrastructure.
Clear only works effectively if there’s a dedicated ID checker (not also trying to handle PreCheck) or once the flyer goes through Clear they immediately go into a screening lane.
The other fun one is TSA facial recognition ID. Zip right through in airports that have it.
Though when you think about scaling, it takes about the same amount of time to scan your face as it does now to hand an ID to the agent and either scan your face or have the agent look at you. So if that gets heavily used likely not a net time saver either.
The entire Clear operation should be eliminated. After paying the fee and going through the process to get PRE, it is an insult to have people who circumvented it to be processed in front of PRE passengers. Clear takes up valuable airport floor space that would be better utilized for passenger queuing. The Clear operation adds nothing to the TSA efficiency and is a gross inconvenience the remaining population of passengers awaiting screening.
Most of the time I’m at SFO, PHX, or PHL early morning. Last week there was no one in the SFO TSA line. When it’s “busy” I never wait more than 5 minutes. Maybe 10 minutes at RSW.
@TW: +1
I’ve gone through the non-precheck clear line as SFO t3 a few times when the precheck line is too long. They have never turned me away because I have pre-check on my boarding pass. There are also times at SFO where everyone has to walk by a sniffer dog and when they do that you don’t have to remove shoes and electronics.
You’re ALL wrong!!
The solution to keep CLEAR and elitist institution.
Regular people should not be allowed in CLEAR. No elite status? No CLEAR! Only fly a couple times a year? No f***ing CLEAR.
Wearing Crocs at the airport? No goddamn CLEAR!!!
The reason CLEAR now sucks is that we let everyone in.
And Austin now sucks because we let all of you California, DC, Chicago, and Colorado assh*les in.
Clear is now a waste of time. My last four visits to the airport I waited longer in Clear than I would have in Precheck. If it weren’t included in my credit card I’d never pay for Clear.
I just went thru TSA at FLL and used CLEAR (normally the Pre line is empty enough) – and sure enough, the TSA still requires all the normal steps. CLEAR seems to only be useful as a shorter line when PreCheck is longer. No more just scanning your eyes and going.
@TW,
I’m not sure I understand your comments. Folks with Clear do not get to bypass the Pre procedure or fee to get Pre. Yes, they go to the front of the line, but they have gone through the same procedure to be vetted for Pre.
Cheers.
The REAL solution is effective and efficient security.
With all the screening measures used in the USA:
“Undercover tests conducted by the Department of Homeland Security have shown that the TSA’s failure rate frequently ranges between 80% and 95%.”.
Security is about recognizing the threat, not the weapon.
The land and people of Israel are faced with threats in a very real way. They know that
there are always people trying to harm them, and they can be very creative about the methods used.
It’s why Israeli security looks for terrorists, not weapons.
Security is made up of very sharp minds, who knows how to sniff out a threat. A lot of research goes into defining a passenger’s potential threat level.
A Jewish religious family returning to the Holy Land with 6 kids? Threat level 1.
An Arab returning from a trip to Iran with a stop in Lebanon? They’ll be pulled aside for additional questions.
And security starts way before checkin. They’re monitoring the cars entering the airport, the terminal… There’s security theater, and then there’s security.
Was this a commercial for CLEAR? I was a CLEAR member since its initial launch and didn’t renew this year. In Denver it’s faster to go through TSA pre-check without it. It’s losing its relevance.
@Travelgirl, change your status to Travelwife before your pussy loses its wetness
CLEAR used to be excellent in Denver, but now the CLEAR lines are always longer than just TSA Precheck (Gary’s hack above won’t work in Denver because CLEAR is only on the side of the airport with TSA Precheck). The CLEAR staff and scanners are speedy. The problem is that there is only ONE security line for TSA precheck, and hundreds of people are in line at any given time. There are 15 other lines for TSA Precheck passengers without CLEAR, and those move much more swiftly.