How does Clear allow someone to “skip the security line” at airports?
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In all honesty, it’s just about the money. You’re paying cash to skip the line, and the Clear people have made some sort of deal with the airport security people.
They have a way to check your identity via fingerprints or retinal scan, but in terms of security, I don’t see how it’s better than having the guard look at your ID.
Other posters are mentioning a more extensive background check, but that’s TSA Precheck, not Clear.
TSA Precheck is a government program where you undergo a one-time background check and your name goes into the system. This greatly increases the chances that you get the “TSA PRE” mark on your boarding pass. This lets you go through a faster, less invasive security screening. As someone who often carries two or three laptops, plus a couple of tablets through the airport, it’s been a real boon to me. It’s also much cheaper than Clear; $85 gets you five years. But you do have to go in and get your fingerprints recorded and fill out a questionnaire.
Worth noting: you can often get “TSA PRE” without having signed up for the service. I strongly suspect that being a white frequent traveller helps a lot there. You can also sign up for the service but still not get “TSA PRE” all the time. Signing up only improves your odds.
It’s a more extensive background check. Basically determines you’re not a risk so you can skip the line.
Everyone else they dont know who you are so you have to go through security.
It’s just another form of background check, they will bring you to the front of the line. It means you skip that long portion before you scan your boarding pass.
no extra background check, you’re just paying money to have a kiosk verify your identity instead of a TSA agent. That’s why you sign up with finger print and retinal scans.
Thy get to go through a special line for Clear people. Most people don’t have Clear, so it’s shorter, plus the security measures are slightly reduced. It’s pay to play, like TSA Precheck (or micro transactions on any game you download to your iPhone from the App Store).
I work at a Canadian airport but from a quick google it looks like something akin to a nexus pass.
Speaking from my perspective it’s a 5 year background check done by CBSA which essentially lets you go to the front of the line. You can get that same privilege just working at an airport and getting your red pass.
So essentially you pay money to do a semi extensive background check of the last 5 years (way more than any normal passenger) to verify your not a threat and because of that you go to the front of the line.
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