There are two significant changes rolled out by TSA that are likely the cause of CLEAR to finally give up. (They have been struggling financially since inception, and had a very narrow adoption rate)...
Here in Tampa, FL the TSA rolled out a new method of security line queues for travelers that segments travelers into three different classifications:
* The first being an "Expert Traveler", highly familiar with TSA procedures and traveling light - they use a lane marked with a black diamond, ideally moving through security much quicker than the 'masses';
* The second being a "Casual Traveler", familiar with TSA procedures and has multiple carry-ons - they use a lane marked with a blue square;
* The third category is "Family/Medical Liquids", travelers with small children, strollers, wheelchairs, medical liquids in excess of 3oz, large groups, anyone needing assitance and new flyers - they use a lane marked with green circle.
Having flown out of Tampa several times sinces these have been implemented, I can say first hand they work pretty well as intended. The new "Black Diamond" lane is every bit as quick and effective as a CLEARPass lane. I have inquired and been informed that TSA is in the process of rolling this new security line queing process to most airports in the US.
The second major change implemented by TSA that was likely the death knell for CLEAR is the new identification rule that went into effect on June 15th, and will beginincreased phase-in over the next 6 months. TSA now requires all tickets to be reserved/purchased in the EXACT full name that is on your government issued ID. For example, if your full legal name on your DL/Passport is Jonathan Quincy Public, but you are known by and go by Jon Public & in the past you bought your ticket for 'Jon Public', that is no longer acceptable, your ticket will now need to be issued to 'Jonathan Quincy Public'. In addition to your full legal name, when reserving/purchasing tickets you are also required to provide your date of birth and gender, two things that have never before been required.
The change regarding names, gender & age are being 'rolled out' over the next 6 months. Meaning they are not required ATM, but requested & after the 6 month window they will be REQUIRED to purchase a ticket and travel through a TSA checkpoint.
That last change is due to TSA taking over the process of name screening against the NO-FLY LIST during the ticket purchase/reservation stage. They are no longer allowing the airlines to be in charge of that process.
That was the only real advantage CLEAR offered.... prescreened against the NO-FLY List. They had very limited effective benefits for the mass market because they were not able to get their screening locations across a wide enough array of airports and still required the same basic TSA level creening.
