It looks like there is a new convenience to be purchased. Are you sick and tired of waiting in long security lines at airports? If so, the Clear card is a card that allows passengers who have been pre-screened to get through the security lines at airports more quickly.
You will need to purchase the card from the Clear program that is run by Verified Identity Pass, Inc. With the 9/11 attacks still very much in our consciousness, I would think that any program like this would have to be run by the government if any such program were going to get to exist at all. But, that is not the case, although the website says that the Department of Homeland Security’s Transportation Security Administration (TSA) works closely with the company that runs it.
Further, it should also be noted that for every person that buys one of this cards, $28 of the purchase price of $99.95 goes to the TSA. It looks like the government isn’t taking any chances at losing any income.
There are only 5 airports/terminals that currently implement this system. They are Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky (CVG), Indianapolis (IND), New York JFK Terminal 7, Orlando (MCO), and San Jose (SJC). As I live in San Diego, obviously none of these locations are very helpful for me. However, the site claims that the Clear pass will soon be coming to other airports, so perhaps this will be useful to me in the future. Nevertheless, I would think that business travelers or other folks who often travel frequently that live near any of these airports would hop on this band wagon right away.
Do any of you travel enough to make this card a necessity? If so, what have been your experiences with it? If not, are you wary, like I am, at the prospect of folks misusing this program?
I don’t like the idea, if it includes that cute little card. What is to stop a wrong doer from paying an individual to purchase the pass for them?
I believe to make this an effective, cost saving and time saving thing, we need to have a print scan, palm scan, or something along those lines, prohibiting transfer.