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Whats there not to like about this? Now the rich and fabulous have to suffer through the same unnecessary hassles as the people in steerage

$199 / year (the highest price Clear ever got to) = "rich & fabulous"?

yeap. Because who would pay extra for what Clear offered?

Only those who flew a lot. There are very few middle class folks who fly more than 2-3x a year. While some consultants/salespeople may fly frequently because of their job, I would challenge you to find any such consultant/salesperson in the sub $150/hour bracket.

Not ordinary folk.

Clear enabled the people creating the onerous "security" rules to not be impacted by them.

I stand by my assertion. Good riddance to Clear.

"the people creating the onerous "security" rules"

People who fly often for work?

Anyway I would have guessed that there are plenty of people who are not paid huge salaries but fly often work.

For these people it wouldn't have made any fiscal sense for their companies NOT to get them Clear passes -- assuming Clear worked as described.

*who fly often "for" work, sorry.

@Ben ---

"there are plenty of people who are not paid huge salaries but fly often work."

In this economy? Since 9/11 ? Since the cutbacks in corporate travel budgets?

Name the positions of these mystery positions.

List an economic reason for a company to shell out $1 just so an employee doesn't have to show up at the airport 2-3 hours before their flight.

The answer is that it only makes any sense for upper-level management and high-priced consultants.

These are the people who run the country and shape the rules.

Now don't get me wrong -- I am not anti-rich (I am working hard at making myself rich). I am just anti-different rules if you are rich.

Level playing field. We are all humans no matter the wallet.

Suppose Clear saved 15 minutes per flight for someone who flew once a month; i.e. 12 times a year. That's 3 hours saved per year. At a $199 subscription, those hours cost that person's employer $66 each.

Factoring out benefits and payroll taxes, $66 is equivalent to a nominal wage of about $55/hour. So if that person gets just 3 more hours of productive time each year because of Clear, the cost of Clear is covered.

But you're suggesting a savings of 2-3 hours per flight. So now let's suppose someone who flies once per quarter. Wouldn't have to be a high roller, and that person is still saving 8-12 hours each year.

At 8-12 hours of productive time recovered each year, the "pays-for-itself wage" is somewhere between $15 and $22 per hour.

As far as naming positions goes, I saw a tiny web-design firm advertising for a Technical Project Manager recently -- contractor, not salary. "willingness to travel to clients" was a requirement.

This was a small, telecommute-oriented shop. I would be flabbergasted if that position is going to pay more than $50-$75 per hour. Which, for a typical contractor, amounts to a realistic annual salary of $60-$70k on the high end. Probably won't buy you admission to the Trilateral Commission.

The nature of this discussion is why Clear died. It was worth every penny to me. Truthfully, I would have paid more.

I make 100 flights a year. Suppose that Clear saved me 15 minutes per flight: 1,500 minutes or 25 hours. I paid $110 for Clear. Do you think my time is worth $5/hour?

The "rich and famous" people either have private planes or fly first class which has separate security lines, by the way.

Guy

Got another one for you. Owner of a sole proprietorship. Travels to trade shows a few times a year. Makes ends meet but not much else. Every minute is precious. Clear would absolutely pay for itself if it would actually save him 2-3 hours per flight.

The other thing about 2-3 hours is that it could easily mean the difference between getting up at 3am and 6am, which could translate into the difference between actually being able to function at your destination, and not.

The more I think about Clear the more I like it. I mourn its passing. ;-)

@Guy --

Take this as a complement. You are in my "rich and fabulous" category.

I will bet that you could stop working today and your current assets would support you quite well. If you were to be disabled for the rest of your life, would you be forced out of your home and on to a $800/month disability check?

I would hope that you are not that financially vulnerable.

But for the rest of America, we are. And the rest of America does not travel nearly 100x a year.

However, I do agree with you that for you it was a bargain.

Now that Clear is gone how about using your connections to make the airport security more sane. This way the lines diminish for everyone not just you?

@Ben --

I am a sole proprietor. All the sole proprietors I know look at every dollar going out the door and scream about it. If I have a choice not to travel I don't because that money could be better spent on hiring a temp for 5 hours to do data entry and the time could be better spent calling customers.

Once again, you are inventing hypotheticals with no concrete examples.

Name this person, position who travels so very much with an income near the U.S. average ( which is around $40K ). But I will give you some slack. How about up to $100K/year?

@Ben --

Sorry did not see your earlier post about "Technical Project Manager" posting.

As you said this a consultant position. Consultants are used when the company does not want to offer any benefits. "No benefits" would mean "No Clear". If the consultant was being paid about that rate, they would then have to cover:
* own health care ( $14K / year )
* employer & employee portion of payroll taxes ( 15.3% )
* all their own expenses ( no/limited reimbursement for those restaurant meals while traveling. )
* hotel expenses *might* be covered.

Clear easily becomes an optional extra.

Wow - sounds like Pat has some anger and reality issues. Or is just jealous.

I am one of the Clear members that was affected. I am self-employed, and have to travel a lot for my business. Last year, my clients paid me to travel over 100k miles on Delta alone.. that does not include any international travel or flights on other airlines.

I joined Clear way back when it was only $99 per year, and bought 3 years in advance. It was ABSOLUTELY worth every penny that it saved me from having to get to the airport so much earlier. I live in Orlando, and the tourists always slow down the security lines. I easily saved an hour using Clear each time I traveled out of Orlando alone. I didn't keep track of how many trips I took last year, but even if it was once every 2 weeks, at an hour per trip, I saved over 25 hours PER YEAR, allowing me to spend that extra time with clients or at home with my family. $99 / 25 hours = $4 per hour.. and it would have been worth it at double that price (which is what the last rate increase took Clear to be).

I am not even close to being one of the "rich and fabulous" people you mention. I make well under $100k, I know plenty of other Clear members, and NONE of them are part of this elitist society that you mention. We are all working stiffs, technicians, salespeople, brand managers, regional reps, and I would bet that less than half of us make more than $100k per year.

Next, you'll be telling me that because I fly so much, and have Platinum Medallion status, thus getting first class upgrades for free, that I am one of the few people that is ruling the world. Sure, that is my plan, but I can't have you telling the whole world, now, can I?

@Kirk --

No not believing you rule the world. Nor do I believe the Trilateral... what-cha-ma-call-it.. rules the world.

Anger issues.... well yes... but mostly I am aware at how fundamentally screwed up life is for most people.

I am very aware of how screwed up life is for a lot of people because of the "rich and fabulous" active ... indifference.

I am upset because the people that have the power to change things for the better -- are not.

Here in Mountain View home of Google, End of the road for summer school meal deal.
District program cut back due to budget constraints:

The district used to provide 600 meals a day during the summer. But facing cuts in state support that could total millions of dollars, Mountain View Whisman administrators and trustees decided to reduce the summer school program in order to save the district roughly $60,000, said chief financial officer Craig Goldman.

So for the sake of the rich man's taxcut, 300 children will not get fed in Mountain View, Google's home town. Sergey Brin has made his billions in Mountain View. Yet the only news articles about Sergey in the local paper is about his sweet private jet parked at Moffet. And you can do similar searches on all the big names. All the kids go to private schools and live above the hoi polloi.

Oh sure occasionally they will do something individual and meaningless. But I know of few people who are actively changing the world to be a better place. And all of those people are not wealthy.

How many of Silicon Valley millionaires are using their wealth to make the world a better place? No I don't mean donating a few fractions of a percent of wealth to some random charity. I mean taking their money and working on changing attitudes in society in a positive direction.

Show me the person funding/financing/educating/and solving these issues:
* climate change ( Gore is working on this and for decades he was laughed at. )
* clean water ( 50%+ of world has unsafe drinking water this includes communities in the US )
* public transportation ( on second thought, please no -- the well-to-do never ride public transportation and they just screw it up.)
* public schools
* reducing the cost of university education
* public financing of elections ( to reduce corruption )
* or anything else.

When it comes to "public good", it is pretty restricted to raising money for their kids private school.

Lots of people will head overseas to talk about helping the poor children in Southeast Asia and do nothing for their nextdoor neighbor.

3000 Sand Hill Road (VC land) is in Menlo Park but so is the Taliban gang that preyed on the other half of Menlo Park. So none of that money at 3000 is making it to give a different future to the kids of East Menlo Park and East Palo Alto.

So bottom-line to me: Clear was always a symbol of the rich creating problems for others but not themselves.

Congratulations on paying bucks to avoid the stupid (useless) security measures. Now welcome back.

And to repeat: no I don't believe in some sort of "secret" cabal to control the world. I just believe in willful indifference to others and a "so long as I get mine" attitude. That's enough.

As for me I am working my ass off to get rich enough to stir up some social change.

Is this anger? or indignation?

OK, I'll bite. My last job was salaried at $43,400/year. I flew to client sites every other week, so 8 times a month=96 flights a year, assuming all were direct (they weren't). I wanted Clear very very badly and would have gladly paid for it out of pocket for the time savings. Why didn't I? Cause I was often flying into smaller airports that Clear wouldn't have helped me on, and DFW (my home airport) wasn't on the list. I likely would have bought it if DFW was on the list, as then half my flights would have worked out fine.

But there you go, one real world example of a nominal income person flying many times a year. And I was one of about 40 at my company that were in the same job title with the same travel schedule.

By the way Pat: You do know that Bill Gates just retired to run his charity full time, right? Depending on the day he's either #1 or #2 richest in the world, and he's now devoting 100% of his time and money to helping others.