Over the years I’ve been a pretty regular, if not “frequent”, traveler – business, pleasure, and blog. (I always fly coach but usually “upgrade” to exit row seating for a fee – which I expect to be fully refunded in the event I’m called upon to evacuate the plane.) When I learned of the Clear card program, enabling one to zip through airport security as pre-screened flier, I started weighing the options.
The annual fee (now up to $199) was an initial deterrent. But time is valuable and I’m impatient, ultimately figuring I’d recoup that expense if saving even just ten minutes at each airport security checkpoint.
The bigger issue was giving up my digital identity. The Clear program scans and archives all fingerprints and both irises, which are mated with your personal information. When I began the registration process, I was under the impression I was dealing with a government initiative (which would be rolled out to all major US airports). As it turns out, Clear is a TSA-blessed private sector company/program (that must negotiate space/service in each airport). I’m not sure if that made me more or less comfortable. But it is what it is and we all have our price. So I reluctantly allowed my biometric markers to be recorded in order to save a few minutes.