Privatize Airport Security?

You can get through airport security much more quickly these days courtesy of the CLEAR program. For a modest annual fee you can be screened in advance so that you can pass through airport security in an express lane with minimal searches. All you have to do is pay to be screened in advance. I find this disturbing. I don’t think airport security should be for sale.

I travel by air fairly frequently, I’d say at least twice a year throughout my adult life, including years in which I traveled more than 2-3 times a month. I feel like I’ve gotten pretty good at getting through security quickly, and I also have some ideas how to speed things up.  This program won’t help.

Delays at TSA checkpoints are caused by a variety of factors such as people unfamiliar with the process who haven’t removed their shoes or taken things out of their bags, families who have to take their children through the process, equipment issues, or something else unpredictable.  (Remember this analysis from Up in the Air?)Some airports have responded to this by instituting separate lanes at their busier gates for families and people with medical equipment, travelers with carry on bags, and experienced travelers with no carry on. Travelers self-select, and when the lines aren’t long people use any lane, but in the one or two places where I’ve been and these procedures are used, it makes a big difference. People appreciate it. The family dealing with children or the first time flyer don’t like to be rushed, and the business travelers don’t like to be delayed.

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I don’t believe the CLEAR program will enhance airport security or even to make lines move more efficiently overall. It’s a buy-into, for-profit program. Whether you are a first-time flyer or a someone who flies 3-4 times a week, you join the program on the same terms. Our priority ought to be to ascertain how we can more efficiently get people who are not a threat through security, and screen those who may be.

Moving people through airport lines more smoothly and quickly may seem a trivial concern in fiscally challenging times, but moving people quickly and efficiently through airport security improves the travel experience. It gives people more time to spend money at the airport, where it not only stimulates the economy but generates tax revenue. Probably encourages more frequent travel, which has the same economic impact.

Unfortunately, the CLEAR program itself has struggled to sustain financial viability, having fallen into bankruptcy, but since emerged. You have to wonder about the ability of a program that has struggled so much already really contribute to security and efficiency at airports.