Hacker News Reader

Comment by fifteenforty | Hacker News Reader

Clear exists because the TSA have made life bad for everyone.

Economy class passengers in Australia have a better experience than Clear passengers in the USA and don't have to pay extra for it.

View on HN

Clear doesn't let you skip TSA screening, it let's you skip the ID check before the screening. Clear verifies your identity instead.

You're probably thinking of TSA precheck which is a more streamlined screening you pay extra for.

Clear operates a line cutting service pretending to be identity verification. DHS can already identity proof at domestic and international checkpoints using biometrics. CBP has processed almost 500M travelers at the border using biometrics.

https://www.tsa.gov/biometrics-technology

https://www.tsa.gov/sites/default/files/tsa_biometrics_roadm...

https://www.cbp.gov/travel/biometrics/airports

The entire TSA system seems useless, a waste of money

TSA is more than just the public security line at airports.

It's responsible for all aspects of airport security including all employees, both resident and transient, inside and outside the airport.

What's really baffling is how many different ID and security badge regimes DHS is responsible for, because they areythe exclusive issuer. Each airport issues their own security ID badge (SIDA). There's no interchangeability for identical clearance levels. It's remarkably inefficient. This isn't TSAs fault. Congress is the responsible party, yet rarely does it consolidate anything.

I get TSA Precheck for free since I have Global Entry (which does have a cost).

Man, unless its dramatically improved in the last 5 years Sydney and Melbourne were around the same level as hell as LAX/SFO are. Sydney was particularly bad the 3 times I had to move through it haha. My average LAX traversal is much smoother than Sydney ever was.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com