Clear Card

I received my Clear card in the mail a week or so ago. This is the expedited security check service at US airports, based on submitting to a background check and being biometrically profiled: turns out my eyes are too shifty to be retina-scanned (or the machine was on the fritz), but fingerprints worked alright.

The other day, I showed up at Dulles with my Clear smartcard. The line is on the first floor, nowhere near the usual security line for travelers, immediately next to the line for employees. The line for Clear was zero people -- literally no people. There were seven or eight employees lined up, but I walked up with no delay. Stuck in my card, press my index finger to a plate, approved. Then went through the security check in the usual fashion, just with no other people around. Sweet.

If you decide to sign up -- and you should -- there is a fee: $128 for the first year. Would make a great gift for a busy traveler. I think I could save 30 minutes at the typical airport during crush times, especially in the summer when the tourists jam everything up.

If you opt to sign up, please use this referral code: DSCAM1159566. I get a free month for a referral. Thanks!

Comments

[Dennis Stevenson]

Stowe -

I saw this for the first time at the San Jose airport. I was in a security line that took maybe 15 minutes to wait out. Clear Card was wide open with no line and 2 or 3 people waiting to handle customers. I watched one man walk up, to the validations and get personally escorted down the exit-walkway and right to the front of the security line. I don't travel much, but it seemed like a pretty sweet deal to me all the same.

Dennis

[Luca]

I've had a Clear card for a few months now, and I agree that it is 100% worth the money.

What puzzles me, though, is the whole thing about the retina scans, fingerprints, TSA approval, etc. You still go through security like everybody else. They might as well forget about all the "security theater" stuff, and just get the $128 in exchange for the privilege of skipping the line...

[Yan]

ClearCard is an alternative to the human checking of passport or driver's license, namely, identity check. Well, after this, we still need to go through security check as usual.

I am thinking, if a special line is formed still for human checking of identity, yet with a $128 fee per year, would the speedy traveler feel the same? In the processing time, etc?