Clear and TSA Race to Speed You Through Airport Security
TSA updates have helped it rival Clear’s membership-based verification service; Clear aims to further cut waits with new technology
Both Clear and the Transportation Security Administration are upgrading technology and adding new services, seeking to move travelers through airport security more quickly.
Clear has introduced new biometric scanning that saves users of the service a step in getting through security screening.
TSA’s Touchless ID expedites verification, averaging six to eight seconds compared with 18 to 20 seconds for other travelers.
Kelly Lomax and his co-workers decided to try a race while passing through a security checkpoint at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport earlier this year.
One tried the regular Transportation Security Administration line. Another tried the TSA PreCheck Touchless ID option. Lomax went with Clear YOU -2.33%decrease; red down pointing triangle, an identity-verification service that has become ubiquitous in airports over the past decade and a half.
Lomax, a longtime Clear member who also has TSA PreCheck, was surprised to be the last one through. “When your expectation is, I’m paying a premium to move faster through the line, the expectation and reality kind of clash,” said the 47-year-old logistics executive.
For years, Clear has been the fast lane through airport security—an extra layer of insurance for making your flight. TSA has often been a crapshoot, risking pileups as travelers pulled laptops from carry-ons and novice vacationers struggled to untie their sneakers.
Recently, though, TSA has taken steps to move those snaking lines more quickly. Travelers no longer have to slip off their shoes, and the agency has expanded its own facial recognition technology. Some travelers say the improvements give Clear tougher competition.
Clear aims to get faster too, recently introducing a new biometric scanning system that saves travelers a step. It opens directly to the spot with the baggage belt, rather than requiring an additional stop where a TSA officer checks IDs.
Kyle McLaughlin, Clear’s executive vice president of aviation, said customers will keep paying for the premium service. “There has long been a demand for predictability and frictionless experiences in travel,” he said.
The Clear view
Speed and convenience are core to Clear’s appeal. The New York-based company gets most of its revenue—which totaled $770.5 million last year—from subscriptions to its consumer-aviation subscription service, Clear Plus, according to corporate filings.
Clear Plus membership costs $209 annually for an individual and $125 for each additional family member. The company reported there were 7.6 million active Clear Plus members in June, up from about 7.1 million the year before.
The company doesn’t break out how many memberships come from credit-card issuers that offer the service as a perk for cardholders, like American Express Platinum.
As the cost has climbed over the years, there are signs that some Clear customers are reassessing the service. Annual usage rates fell 5% over the 12 months ended June 30, Clear has said, while the number of passengers screened by TSA rose 1.4%. The share of members who stick with Clear rather than canceling has declined for the past two years.
The company says its overall member base is healthy and that declining usage rates reflect its growing customer base, which includes more leisure travelers who might not fly as often.
If Rob Bigbee sees a Clear line at the airport, the 57-year-old project manager from Norman, Okla., uses it. “Usually it is faster, so that makes it worthwhile,” he said.
Clear is also looking beyond airport security, recently introducing concierge services that, for $99 or $179 per use, offer assistance from the airport curb to security or the gate. The company elsewhere has expanded into identity verification for healthcare, real-estate and job services.
A faster TSA
TSA in July brought an end to decades of fumbling with shoelaces and pit stops at benches when it announced new procedures that allow passengers to keep their shoes on while passing through airport security. Travelers rejoiced—and TSA lines picked up some speed.
At some airports, TSA has separately introduced a “family lane” for security screening, intended to help parents with children while speeding up traditional screening lines.
TSA has also updated its PreCheck line. Airlines have worked with the agency to develop a biometric process that expedites verification. Touchless ID allows eligible travelers to get past the security officer in an average of six to eight seconds, compared with 18 to 20 seconds for other travelers, TSA said.
Clear offers TSA PreCheck enrollment as an add-on to its service, and most of Clear’s members have both, said Clear’s McLaughlin.
This means many people have the choice between using TSA PreCheck; Clear, available in 60 airports nationwide; or the Touchless ID lines, available at 17 airports.
On a Wednesday afternoon in early August, Mike Phipps stood behind 10 others in the Clear lane at an Austin, Texas, airport. He waited, not moving much for five minutes, when another traveler left the Clear lane and headed for TSA PreCheck, sailing through.
“I was still in line and canceled my Clear membership,” the 35-year-old sales manager said. The TSA Touchless PreCheck line, he says, is much faster.
An eGated community
Peter Neffenger, a former TSA administrator who has since consulted for Clear, said the service’s utility in the airport had seemed murky a few years ago as TSA improved its technology. TSA under the Biden administration had also conducted more secondary ID checks of Clear passengers, slowing it down.
Clear said that random ID checks, important for security, have returned to standard levels, improving the experience. And in recent months, TSA has touted public-private partnerships, including with Clear.
The company installed new biometric “eGates” in Atlanta; Seattle; Washington, D.C.; and New York. The eGate opens directly to the spot where travelers load their bags and proceed through the body scanner. TSA maintains operational control of the gates.
The eGates solve a longstanding headache for Clear users. Previously, Clear representatives have had to escort travelers to a TSA officer, who grants access to the screening area. Clear says eGates take less than five seconds to use, on average.
Lomax, the logistics executive traveling through Atlanta, gets one membership in Clear through his credit card, and his family pays for another. When the latter came up for renewal over the summer, Lomax’s wife wondered—since TSA no longer required shoe removal, did it still make sense?
The eGates persuaded Lomax to stick with Clear. “It feels like everything that set Clear apart prior to this eGate was getting chipped away at,” he said.