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Comment by njarboe | Hacker News Reader

If the TSA and its $85 for a five year TSA Pre pass make you upset (like it does me), then you should really check out the private security pass system call CLEAR[1] for the next level of crazy. $179 a year, lines even faster than TSA Pre, already in 35 airports and starting to make a big push into stadium events. "Our advanced technology is SAFETY Act Certified from the Department of Homeland Security." WTF?

[1]https://www.clearme.com

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I dislike the TSA immensely, but paying a private company for an express line through security screams misaligned incentives to me (even if the vast majority of airport security is theater anyways).

CLEAR is not Pre.

CLEAR is "skip waiting in line for a person to look at your ID and boarding pass". That's it. CLEAR by itself still sends you into the unpack-your-bag, take-off-half-your-clothes, body-scanner experience.

If you want to leave things in your carry-on, stay fully dressed and use the metal detector, you still need Pre (or another program which grants membership in Pre). CLEAR does not give you Pre.

As someone who has CLEAR, and flys frequently on airlines that are not enrolled in Pre (JAL out of SFO), this is simply untrue. CLEAR escorts me to the front of the Pre line, allowing me to keep my shoes on and laptop in bag -- even though the airline is not a part of the Pre program.

The international terminal at SFO often has dogs patrolling along the line; when they do that, everyone gets the Pre-style experience.

CLEAR does not provide Pre. You can read their own documentation on that; they only get you past the podium.

Last I heard they also get a DNA swab and can sell your biometric data to any private company.

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