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Verified Identity Pass Shuts Down "Clear" Operations
torrentami writes that Verified Identity Pass, operator of the "Clear" program, which allowed pre-screened passengers faster access to US airport gates, "sent out emails to its subscribers today informing them that as of 11 p.m. PST they will cease operations. Clear was a pioneer in speeding customers through security at airports and had planned on expanding to large events. The service, where it was available, offered a first class security experience for travelers willing to fork over $200 a year and their biometrics. Customers are now left holding their Flyclear cards with encrypted biometrics. The question now becomes, what happens to all that information? This is not the first time Clear has been in the news. A laptop containing customer records was reportedly missing from the San Francisco International airport recently but then turned up shortly thereafter. Another casualty of the recession's downturn in business travel."
The question now becomes, what happens to all that information?
Simple. It gets sold on eBay along with their servers.....
"City hall" in German is "Rathaus" Kinda explains a few things......
This is too bad for a few folks. One of the training companies used extensively by my employer is headquartered in Florida. All of their staff signed up for Clear and said it was either unavailable or pretty much worthless everywhere EXCEPT Orlando. There, seasoned travelers frequently found themselves in line behind hundreds of Disney-vacationing families with little kids, families unused to flying and doing everything wrong while still trying to herd the ankle-biters. It was supposedly a nightmare. For that airport and that airport alone, those guys thought Clear was a godsend.
Everywhere else? Their attitude was...meh.
I was always amazed that they could put together a program like that for anyone who wanted to pay $200 but couldn't come up with a way to clear flight crews through without doing the whole "scan all your crap in front of the uneducated TSA goons who will then ask you 20 stupid questions about your approach chart holder" thing... (No kidding, one of them once asked me why I was carrying a "giant razor blade".)
They still have something similar at the new BA Heathrow terminal. If you're a business or 1st class passenger you get your own special lane in the security checks where (presumably - I'm just an economy pleb) the line moves faster (fewer unwashed masses) and maybe the staff are less rude to you. I guess it's just another part of the "aspirational" nature of flying, where you wish you could afford to fly business because it might be a slightly less depressing and dehumanising experience.
The cynic in me says that this is a natural and welcome part of security theatre. Like forcing everybody to rebuy their bottled water every time they fly, this practice seems to have a lot more to do with making companies associated with flight security a pile of money than it does making anybody safe.
All Your Biometrics are Belong to Us!
134340: I am not a number. I am a free planet!
Another casualty of the recession's downturn in business travel
When this economy turns around, I hope some sanity remains regarding what business travel is necessary vs. wasteful. So much of the time these business meetings could have been conducted by phone or over the internet.
Run and catch, run and catch, the lamb is caught in the blackberry patch.
"If it's legally possible"
What do they care about legalities, they're going out of business, there'll be no one left to sue.
Right now I'm so glad I never signed on for that BS.
They came for the Communists, and I didn't object - For I wasn't a Communist; They came for the Socialists, and I didn'
I looked at the Clear Pass program. It's a waste of money as far as I can tell. Basically, as I understand it, you get to pay $200/yr for....wait for it.....a special line where you can go through the exact same security procedures as the other non clear pass lines.
It begs the question: why bother? Which is why I am sure they are having trouble attracting customers.
I travel enough that an expedited security procedure would be helpful. However I can't see *any* value in this program. Apparently, I am not alone.
I am very glad to see this go. I have always thought that the "trusted" traveler program is unfair and dangerous to everyone's civil liberties. Those who travel frequently should have the go through the same hassle as everyone else, and so will be more likely to complain and get the system fixed for all of us. If frequent traveler are segregated into their own first class lane, they have less incentive to work to change the system, and the rest of the traveling public do not fly enough to care. This is the same reason that racial profiling of any sort is wrong. If society decides that law enforcement needs to inconvenience people, then all people, especially those with the power to effect the decision should have to pay the price, and not just a relatively powerless minority.
Airport security, as a whole, is pretty much worthless, and seems only to serve the purpose of getting people used to law enforcement checkpoints ("papers, please") The one post 9/11/01 change that did matter was the reinforcing of the cockpit doors. Everything else the TSA (or private screeners, before the establishment of the TSA) did, from the banning of drinking water, to the confiscation of Leatherman tools has not done anything to make anyones flights any safer.
I am so glad I decided not to enroll. I am a very regular traveler through the Denver airport and Clear had a very visible presence at the security gates. I was tempted at first but decided against it for 2 reasons:
1) Privacy: When I emailed Clear they stated that they did not share data with the government but they couldn't guarantee they -wouldn't- share data in the future. Clear takes -both- fingerprints and retinal prints. I asked if I could just give the retinal and they said no. While I haven't done anything that would have gotten me in hot water if the government got my finger prints ... well ... I reserve the right to keep them to myself, thank you very much.
2) Speed: Clear was supposed to be a "breeze through security" service. And yet all the stuff they do in the line (scan you for identity, put you through a "puff & sniff" detector) seemed to make people go through Clear -slower- than the normal lines over half of the time. The only time Clear was faster when I watched was during very high holiday traffic times ... and then only when there weren't many people in the Clear line.
Thanks but no thanks. Instead of getting us to pay to make a few people go through faster why not improve the TSA processes in the "real" security lines so that we don't have to suffer through things like:
* Idiots who STILL don't know how to remove their jewelry/shoes/laptops (easily accomplished by a -free- registration card that you can apply for after having passed through security at least once and using that completely wasted "1st class" security line for us business travelers)
* TSA jerks who literally go on break while being the baggage scanner. 25% of the time or -more- I am in a line where the scanner just stops. NO they aren't being diligent by double-checking a bag they are just sitting there. The last time a supervisor came over and started chatting up the bag scanner ... positioning themself between the growing line of travelers and the scanner so they couldn't see us ... even looking back, seeing the line growing, and continuing to chat the with the bag scanner attendant. Based on the amount of laughter and hand motions it was all just fun ... for them. Meanwhile there were other people standing nearby who could have helped.
And Clear wouldn't have helped in that situation. Why? Because it was late in the evening on a Sunday and Clear had closed up.
Clear was an attempt to make money off the fact that the TSA has no damned concept of speed nor efficiency. That's the wrong way to do it.
Good riddance!
It is more productive to voice thoughtful opinions (reply) than to judge (moderate) others.
Priority lines at the airport bug me. First class passengers are not paying me or the airport, the airline is collecting the cash. So why should they get special treatment and make the wait worse for the rest of us? Maybe I should set up a toll booth on my street. Or go to the DMV and set up velvet ropes to one station, and sell the "right" to that quicker line for $50/head.
The problem with Clear's model is that there was never any evidence to speak of that the TSA cared about traveler's identities, at least not enough to allow them to bypass any meaningful amount of screening that they would otherwise perform. All the "Clear" screening bypassed, as far as I was ever able to determine, was the no-fly list check. As such the only advantage (unless you had a name that tended to cause false positives on the no-fly list) was that you got to cut the queue. Then you put up with the same removal of shoes, millimeter wave scan, and other indignities and fourth amendment violations as everyone else.
All the people who complain about having to buy water make me laugh.
The prohibition is on the liquid, not the container. If you want to have a bottle of water on the plane then carry an empty bottle through security. I've carried reused plastic bottles, Nalgene hiking-type bottles, and even a metal Kleen Kanteen through security without any problems. Once you're through security, find a water fountain and fill up!
Just remember to vent the bottle once on the plane. The pressure changes can leave you with a leaking bottle.
I signed up for Clear last year. I live in northeast Florida but work in DC, so I fly to and from Jacksonville to Reagan in DC or BWI up in Baltimore. Reagan and Dulles had Clear lines, BWI does not.
In Jacksonville, the service was there prior to Clear. Called Preferred Traveler, it's operated by a company called Vigilant Solutions. They always accepted my Clear credential. I contacted their office this morning via email and was informed that they are still operating and will continue to accept Clear's card at their gates. If you look at the list of their participating airports on their site, you'll see a long list. I don't know if these are their exclusive locations or ones that include Clear's lines, since I know Clear accepted their credentials as well.
The Clear shutdown news was a shock...I thought the email I received last night was a joke or spam, until I verified the news at their website.
Fortunately for me, I can still use my card where I need to most frequently: flying out of Jacksonville on Monday mornings. The regular security lines there can be brutally long, and using the Preferred Traveler line saves me more than 30 minutes of waiting. I can sleep later, the wife can sleep later, and I'm getting to my gate with no pressure. Worth every penny.
My hope is that some enterprising company steps in and take over Clear's operations. The service is really great.
Joe Dougherty, Florida, USA
The words I thought I brought, I left behind. So, never mind.
Common misconception on Slashdot (and a lot of other places). Board members and employees can still be held liable -- criminally and/or civilly -- for gross negligence. It's a necessarily high bar, though. The business largely takes the liability for the employees' simple mistakes, and for decisions made by the board members, they need some level of insulation against civil claims. Running a business involves risk, and they can legitimately make the wrong decision about a path to follow. If that happens because of a simple oversight or just a wrong bet (figuratively speaking), they shouldn't be held liable for it.
Had they been completely insulated, we'd never have seen Bernie Ebbers charged, convicted, and sentenced to 25 years in federal prison.
You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
There are two significant changes rolled out by TSA that are likely the cause of CLEAR to finally give up. (They have been struggling financially since inception, and had a very narrow adoption rate)... Here in Tampa, FL the TSA rolled out a new method of security line queues for travelers that segments travelers into three different classifications: * The first being an "Expert Traveler", highly familiar with TSA procedures and traveling light - they use a lane marked with a black diamond, ideally moving through security much quicker than the 'masses'; * The second being a "Casual Traveler", familiar with TSA procedures and has multiple carry-ons - they use a lane marked with a blue square; * The third category is "Family/Medical Liquids", travelers with small children, strollers, wheelchairs, medical liquids in excess of 3oz, large groups, anyone needing assitance and new flyers - they use a lane marked with green circle. Having flown out of Tampa several times sinces these have been implemented, I can say first hand they work pretty well as intended. The new "Black Diamond" lane is every bit as quick and effective as a CLEARPass lane. I have inquired and been informed that TSA is in the process of rolling this new security line queing process to most airports in the US. The second major change implemented by TSA that was likely the death knell for CLEAR is the new identification rule that went into effect on June 15th, and will beginincreased phase-in over the next 6 months. TSA now requires all tickets to be reserved/purchased in the EXACT full name that is on your government issued ID. For example, if your full legal name on your DL/Passport is Jonathan Quincy Public, but you are known by and go by Jon Public & in the past you bought your ticket for 'Jon Public', that is no longer acceptable, your ticket will now need to be issued to 'Jonathan Quincy Public'. In addition to your full legal name, when reserving/purchasing tickets you are also required to provide your date of birth and gender, two things that have never before been required. The change regarding names, gender & age are being 'rolled out' over the next 6 months. Meaning they are not required ATM, but requested & after the 6 month window they will be REQUIRED to purchase a ticket and travel through a TSA checkpoint. That last change is due to TSA taking over the process of name screening against the NO-FLY LIST during the ticket purchase/reservation stage. They are no longer allowing the airlines to be in charge of that process. That was the only real advantage CLEAR offered.... prescreened against the NO-FLY List. They had very limited effective benefits for the mass market because they were not able to get their screening locations across a wide enough array of airports and still required the same basic TSA level creening.
Well, I thought it was funny.
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200811/airport-security/2
I thought the same thing until an international flight a couple of years ago. I was flying home from Japan and knew the flight would be long and I always get dehydrated when flying, so I brought 4 empty bottles with me. This worked fine at Narita and I was able to fill one of them up for the short first leg of my flight. And it even looked like it would work at the Seoul airport since I was able to fill up all 4 once I was beyond the security checkpoint.
But then it came time to board the airplane and there was yet another checkpoint for all flights to the US where they took all 4 of my bottles. The checkpoint was literally at the gate just before boarding the airplane, so there was no opportunity to fill the bottles beyond the checkpoint. And, of course, the flight attendant said they didn't have enough water on board to give me my own bottle.
So yes, there are many times where you can fill up your bottle beyond the security checkpoints. But no, it's not always possible and there are instances where people have a legitimate gripe about the availability of water.
P.S. As someone who does what you say for most flights, you can avoid the pressure issue by filling your bottle to the brim with water since the volume of water doesn't really change when the pressure changes. It's only when there's air in the bottle that you have to worry about pressure changes.
"Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos!"
I don't know what the japanese airports have, but all I had to do was drop my soft drink onto a scanner and pick it up a couple seconds later. I assume it was some sort of chemical sniffer. Although it could certainly just been a bit of security theatre. I don't know. Slightly difficult to ask, too, when one doesn't speak the language.
Walk through the security check point enjoying my drink, not being hassled, not throwing away a perfectly fine refreshment, not having to take my shoes off to be scanned. And the lines at Haneda for security/check-in.. far better than the ridiculous times at Newark.
I don't expect morality, equality, consistency, or justice from the law. I expect only legality.
I find in my travels that a lot of business travelers consider themselves experts just because they fly a lot. These are the same people who need 6 bins because they have to practically strip naked to get through the metal detector and haven't checked a bag since 1987. If it takes you any more than 30 seconds to a minute to "prep" for the check once you are in everyone's way you are doing it wrong.
One of the best features of being Elite... you only have to wait for a short line of idiots, not the really long line of idiots.