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Comment by beej71 | Hacker News Reader

I wouldn't mind Clear one bit if they had their own dedicated security scanners. But they don't--they cut into the PreCheck line.

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If a Clear customer goes through a PreCheck line, that's because they also have PreCheck (paid separately, not related to their Clear subscription). They are different things -- the gov offers PreCheck, and all Clear does is let you jump whatever queue you would've gone into anyway.

You can also be a Clear customer without having PreCheck, in which case they'll just move you to the front of the non-PreCheck line.

Why should you be able to pay to jump any line, just to go through the same screening? Total regulatory graft.

I agree, and wish Clear were not a thing. To a lesser extent I also think PreCheck should not be a paid service, just an optional free screening that any citizen or resident could get.

I do mind my government contracting out the ability to cut the line to a non government entity.

The whole setup is ridiculous. PreCheck is pay to play too. If the government wanted equitable security it could just offer the same background check for free to anyone. But then all the lines would be long again because everyone would be on equal footing, like the citizen lines in immigration.

It's just their lame way to appease rich people and business travelers after the increased security after 9/11.

And yeah, outsourcing some of that security to a private company -- and a single one at a that --just seems like rampant corruption. Wouldn't expect any less from the US gov.

> It's just their lame way to appease rich people and business travelers.

PreCheck costs $75 and is valid for 5 years.

Which, for the many people who don't travel frequently, is a non-trivial cost on top of expensive tickets.

And time to go to an airport and get your fingerprints taken. Either way, it could cost $0.01, the point is a barrier is put in place to allow some people to save time.

Supposedly, the line could move faster if we didn’t have to take shoes off.

After the next terrorist attack, we're all just going to have to start flying naked.

If one were to truly embrace the free market you would allow airlines to compete on the level of security. Maybe say Delta does a full CT scan and chemical tests. American is like getting on BART[1]. And we can let the free market decide the risk people want to take.

[1] Small hill to die on. On BART someones packing a gun on every ten car train.

> PreCheck is pay to play too.

True, but typically doesn't involve cutting into the non-precheck line.

> all the lines would be long again because everyone would be on equal footing

Also true, but processed faster.

I certainly wouldn't mind it being free.

Not at the Austin airport. They have their own dedicated scanners at the Austin airport.

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