Registered traveler program goes bust on clarkhoward.com

Clear -- the verified identity program for travelers -- has gone bust and left business travelers across the nation high and dry.

Executive producer Christa is among those impacted. Clark, however, is a member of a Clear competitor called Preferred Traveler.

Unless you signed up for Clear within the last 60 days, you'll probably have to kiss your money goodbye. If you are lucky enough to be within the 60-day limit, you can do a credit card charge-back (aka dispute) to get your money back.

The consumer champ had been hoping that Clear would bring some real security to the United States, with its emphasis on retinal and fingerprint scans. But in the end, it was nothing more than a "glorified front-of-the-line experience," according to Clark.

It's been almost a full 8 years since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. And in that time, we've done remarkably little to ensure safety for air travelers.

The crux of the problem goes back to former Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, who is of Japanese descent. Mineta came from a family that spent time in a Japanese internment camp and understandably took a very PC approach to airport security and issues of profiling.

So now we have to tiptoe through the airport while barefoot and segregate our liquids. It's just plain silly. Clark's wife calls it "security theater."

What's even sillier is that we're not relying on human intelligence. In Europe, they have trained staff to look you in the eye and ask targeted questions. They then make a human determination about whether you seem suspiciously deceptive or nervous in your answers.

In addition, Clark says it's terrible that we haven't hired an entity like the Israeli government -- from a country that faces plenty of security threats each day -- to come and advise us on how to run real airport security.

We've blown this for almost 8 years now. Yet with the collapse in tourism and business travel, now is a good time to make amends.

Speaking of tourism, The Orlando Sentinel reports that hotel occupancy in May was at 58%, down from 70% a year ago. That means the deals are everywhere.

The last time Clark looked, he saw decent hotels in Orlando for $35/night. Hotel rates at decent New York hotels are in the $90/range.

If you have the money, now is a great time to take advantage of the deals.

What others are saying

SECURITY
They have better security devices than the $10 an hour TSA joke that stands around talking to each other or doing little to ease the congested flow of people at Hartsfield airport...In 1996 before the olympics they installed special sniffer screeners in atlanta which blew puffs of air around a person and anylized it for drugs and explosives...at the time they only had them in a few airports, recently in either Atlanta or Miami (i forget which) we went though a screener that could look through clothes (sortta like in that movie Total Recall with Arnold on mars) they had warning signs saying that you could opt for a personal frisk instead and showed pictures of how people looked to the operator. With the Billions of dollars collected from 9/11 fees (supposedly temporary fee) why dont they have 10 of each of these machines in every american airport?
shortly after 9/11 the national guard did duty at airports (paid by the taxpayer) and the 9/11 fee was supposed to buy extra equipment and better people to screen passengers, then the TSA would remove it. Now its going in someones pocket because i know that the fees collected are way more than the extra screeners are getting paid. It's become a way for the airports to fund their operating costs and they will never get rid of it and will not likely use it fully to upgrade equipment and staff. Like the airlines fees it helps their bottom line....they say airline fees will make 1 billion dollars for the industry in the next year, with charges for everything short of using the restrooms and barf bags....someone needs to expose the books on the airports usage of the 9/11 fees it would be interesting to see where it really goes...clark has connections with channel 2 in atlanta, get them to investigate Hartsfield's use of these funds...they expanded security lines twice since 9/11 but i bet that costs nothing compared to what they collected
By DAVE @ 06/25/09 09:02:39 PMreport abuse
Re: Security
Just because one person abuses a right doesn't mean we should restrict others'. Why not address the root of the problem and use profiling to eliminate my 87 year old grandmother who has never left the US. This is like the war on drugs. It incredibly expensive and disruptive and accomplishes little but making 10% of the public feel good.
By drew @ 06/25/09 10:20:53 AMreport abuse
Screening for tried before?
So Rob, if it had been the "Underwear Bomber" instead of the "Shoe Bomber" you be cool stripping down so they can check? I'd have a problem with that. We have to be smarter than they are. There is no replacement for people thinking and making judgment calls. But we have to make sure they have the tools to make those judgements. That means training and equipment. And even if you don't like the Israeli-type security, it can't hurt to learn what they do. Some day it maybe what's needed.
By Jake @ 06/25/09 10:13:59 AMreport abuse
Security
"So now we have to tiptoe through the airport while barefoot and segregate our liquids. It's just plain silly. Clark's wife calls it "security theater."

Clark, you say on one hand that the TSA has done little to ensure traveler safety, and on the other hand you make fun of their inspections of the very things that have been attempted attacks - shoe bombs and liquid bombs. Knowing that these two things already *have* been tried, how can you be against screening shoes and restricting liquids?
By Rob Evans @ 06/25/09 07:42:24 AMreport abuse
Airport Secuirty
I agree the current TSA security is more theater than security. However, I DO NOT want an Israeli-type security system at airports. There are too many stories where people have been held without cause simply because they "acted suspicious." There is no reason to go that far. Until TSA and Congress get real about security, we - the traveling public - will have to put up with moronic security rules and unnecessary screening delays.
By GaLiberal @ 06/24/09 10:23:29 PMreport abuse

SECURITY

They have better security devices than the $10 an hour TSA joke that stands around talking to each other or doing little to ease the congested flow of people at Hartsfield airport...In 1996 before the olympics they installed special sniffer screeners in atlanta which blew puffs of air around a person and anylized it for drugs and explosives...at the time they only had them in a few airports, recently in either Atlanta or Miami (i forget which) we went though a screener that could look through clothes (sortta like in that movie Total Recall with Arnold on mars) they had warning signs saying that you could opt for a personal frisk instead and showed pictures of how people looked to the operator. With the Billions of dollars collected from 9/11 fees (supposedly temporary fee) why dont they have 10 of each of these machines in every american airport?
shortly after 9/11 the national guard did duty at airports (paid by the taxpayer) and the 9/11 fee was supposed to buy extra equipment and better people to screen passengers, then the TSA would remove it. Now its going in someones pocket because i know that the fees collected are way more than the extra screeners are getting paid. It's become a way for the airports to fund their operating costs and they will never get rid of it and will not likely use it fully to upgrade equipment and staff. Like the airlines fees it helps their bottom line....they say airline fees will make 1 billion dollars for the industry in the next year, with charges for everything short of using the restrooms and barf bags....someone needs to expose the books on the airports usage of the 9/11 fees it would be interesting to see where it really goes...clark has connections with channel 2 in atlanta, get them to investigate Hartsfield's use of these funds...they expanded security lines twice since 9/11 but i bet that costs nothing compared to what they collected

By DAVE @ 06/25/09 09:02:39 PMreport abuse

Re: Security

Just because one person abuses a right doesn't mean we should restrict others'. Why not address the root of the problem and use profiling to eliminate my 87 year old grandmother who has never left the US. This is like the war on drugs. It incredibly expensive and disruptive and accomplishes little but making 10% of the public feel good.

By drew @ 06/25/09 10:20:53 AMreport abuse

Screening for tried before?

So Rob, if it had been the "Underwear Bomber" instead of the "Shoe Bomber" you be cool stripping down so they can check? I'd have a problem with that. We have to be smarter than they are. There is no replacement for people thinking and making judgment calls. But we have to make sure they have the tools to make those judgements. That means training and equipment. And even if you don't like the Israeli-type security, it can't hurt to learn what they do. Some day it maybe what's needed.

By Jake @ 06/25/09 10:13:59 AMreport abuse

Security

"So now we have to tiptoe through the airport while barefoot and segregate our liquids. It's just plain silly. Clark's wife calls it "security theater."

Clark, you say on one hand that the TSA has done little to ensure traveler safety, and on the other hand you make fun of their inspections of the very things that have been attempted attacks - shoe bombs and liquid bombs. Knowing that these two things already *have* been tried, how can you be against screening shoes and restricting liquids?

By Rob Evans @ 06/25/09 07:42:24 AMreport abuse

Airport Secuirty

I agree the current TSA security is more theater than security. However, I DO NOT want an Israeli-type security system at airports. There are too many stories where people have been held without cause simply because they "acted suspicious." There is no reason to go that far. Until TSA and Congress get real about security, we - the traveling public - will have to put up with moronic security rules and unnecessary screening delays.

By GaLiberal @ 06/24/09 10:23:29 PMreport abuse

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Jun 24, 2009 -- Registered traveler program goes bust

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