Is the Case for CLEAR So Clear?

I’ve been an unabashed cheerleader for the CLEAR service for expedited airport screening service since I first got it a few years back, and it continues to impress me with its expanding set of services. In the past, I’ve gladly paid the yearly fee in order to make my travel less stressful, and since adding the American Express Platinum Card to my wallet that fee has been covered, so it seems like a complete no-brainer.

What’s not to like?

Why wouldn’t you get it?

But this week I read an article on Slate that didn’t necessarily change my mind, but caused me to reassess the service slightly. David Zipper raised several criticisms of the service in, “Annoyed With Clear, the Company That Fast-Tracks Its Customers Through Airports?”

His concerns were several, including the fact that it makes people uncomfortable when they legitimately “cut the line” and that it creates multiple classes of airport travelers. Even if that’s the case, to be brutally honest I’m willing to overlook them in favor of naked self-interest. First off, there are already different classes of passengers -- Have you ever been upset watching someone sipping champagne in first class as you trudged back to your middle seat by the restroom where you might be lucky enough to get water? If anything, those higher-paying customers may be subsidizing the rest of the plane.

The concern which did grab my attention, however, was the notion that because airports receive both a real estate fee and commissions from CLEAR for subscriptions, there’s an incentive to keep the other lines, including TSA PreCheck, inefficient. The worse those experiences are, the more people are likely to sign up for CLEAR (up to a certain point) and the greater the profit. Profit in and of itself isn’t bad, but the ultimate goal here should be to make the security screenings as reliable and painless as possible across the board. Right now, there’s a disincentive to make that happen. Could those same resources be used to make the overall experience better and/or safer? I don’t know.

Again, to be blunt, I’m keeping CLEAR, but I thought this was a valid critique. It made me reexamine the service’s benefits and recognize that not everything thinks it is entirely positive. We’d be remiss as a travel opinion and tips site if we didn’t at least bring that to light.