Guest Author - Julia Reed Zaic
The Story and Sad Ending of the CLEARcard Saga
It was almost too good to be true. The CLEARcard was a license to bypass the security lines at major airports. If you were willing to go through the online screening process, present your credentials and appear before an application station that offered CLEAR lines (a slightly disorganized process that even yours truly had not navigated through completely), you became one of the chosen few who received that coveted CLEARcard. It was a brilliant concept short of DNA scanning or some other high tech program that had no hope of being widely available in airports for years to come.
Yet, as with all good things, the end came. And it did so abruptly in 2009 without notice. This left those who had paid memberships to re-enter the doldrums and inconvenience of the “regular” lines, and wonder about their privacy after submitting to iris scanning and fingerprinting. Now if you don’t travel often, you might not understand the gravity of this. Yet, for those of us who spend days and weeks of our lives in airports that benefitted so heavily from such a pre-screening process, the news of losing this program was met with mild devastation. A moment of bereaved silence was overshadowed by the thud of the unceremonious moment. Not to mention the thought of potential identity theft, or worse.
But, there is a beacon of hope shining on the horizon. I don’t want to get your hopes up, and full blown celebration would be premature at this point. However, CLEAR is officially, ever so slightly…back. Well, maybe it’s more of a future comeback in the making.
Building a CLEARcard 2.0
No, that’s not its official name, but this version of CLEAR definitely has all the trappings of an upgrade. Here’s what they have to say on their website:
”We bought CLEAR because we loved it and members loved it. As frequent travelers ourselves (for business and with our families), we think CLEAR is a must have service…In June 2009, due to the economic downturn and too much debt, old CLEAR closed without notice. Nearly 200,000 members were stranded. Recently, we bought CLEAR out of bankruptcy and we are thrilled with the opportunity to re-launch it. We are deeply sorry about the way it ended and appreciate your patience. As the new owners, we will honor prior management's obligation to you, the customer, by reinstating your remaining membership term. We are focused on re-launching CLEAR with you and for you. We are excited to exceed your expectations.” – From www.clearme.com
Personal commitment is the key to any successful business, and if you can build a business based on a product you yourself need, even better. A quick scan of the website also reveals another sign of future success: The CLEARteam. What struck me about the team is the people who are now running the show. Some of them were heavy-hitters with JetBlue, which is an example of airline success and innovation, in my humble well-traveled opinion. CLEAR’s General Counsel also holds the joint title “Chief Privacy Officer”. Good to know considering the biometric requirement for membership (see below).
Also, the Board of Directors is stacked with the sort of folks you’d want guiding the future of a company that’s entrenched in the aviation industry with such heavy ties to privacy issues. A few of its members include former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, and the founder of JetBlue airlines David Neeleman.
Getting Back into the CLEAR Game
The good news is, your former memberships will be honored. More good news, if you haven’t obtained a CLEAR card, here are the steps you must complete in order to join the team:
1. Register online at www.clearme.com (You can reactivate a membership here)
2. Visit an enrollment center with 2 forms of identification.(See list)
3. Receive your CLEARcard!
You will be required to have your “biometrics verified”. That means you will need to be fingerprinted and have your iris imaged so that each time you use your CLEARcard bypassing the security lines, the system knows it’s you and not someone who stole your wallet.
Okay, here’s the bad news, and it’s pretty bad…for now. There are only 2 airports that have re-embraced the CLEAR program: Orlando and Denver International Airports....for now. Keep that in mind and stay hopeful. You can do your part by visiting the CLEAR website and selecting the airports in which you would like to have the CLEAR program again. You can also click the “Tell Your Airport” button on the CLEAR website and tell them where you’d like to see the CLEAR program adopted.
So although CLEAR hasn’t returned with the ticker tape parade we were envisioning, there is hope. The company has been rescued and, according to the biographies posted, it appears to have good management resources including officers with good business and investment experience, not to mention compassion.
Travel safely, and hopefully you (and I) will travel CLEARly again, someday.
[The author was not compensated for this article]
