Remember Clear, the company that promised faster trips through select airports’ security in exchange a background check, your biometric data, and around $200 a year? It, and several of its competitors, went bankrupt in summer 2009, stranding about 200,000 passengers who had prepaid for memberships that were worthless overnight. Well: They’re baaaaaaaack.

So far, two firms are getting into the Registered Traveler game:

• the derivatively-named Alclear, which purchased the assets of the original Verified Identity Pass/Clear out of bankruptcy, including the Clear website. There are no locations yet.
• iQueue, which has beaten Alclear to the punch by actually launching its first location — at the Indianapolis Airport.

If you were a Clear member before, the remaining time on your membership will be restored under (al)Clear. If you join iQueue (which costs $149/year), former Clear members get 6 months free.

iQueue is trying to sweeten the deal by proposing value-added services, beyond airport security, as a benefit:

including preferred parking, airport club access and airport retail discounts as well as local restaurant, golf, spa, tennis, health club, mortgage and auto lease/purchase discounts. A future iQueue Platinum Membership level will also include identity theft protection and enhanced travel insurance as well as worldwide travel assistance, medical services, lounge access and concierge services.

The devil is in the details — club access may be promising — but I’m not sure these benefits are worth the price of admission. It almost like they’re throwing in an Entertainment book. Big deal.

I was never a fan of this the first time around. I’m still not. Yes, airport security sucks, but the market niche that this appeals to is so narrow: Travelers who would be willing to pay for a shorter line tend to be frequent fliers. And those frequent fliers are likely be elite members of their frequent flier program, which, in turn, would grant them access to shorter lines at major airports.

The availability of these lines at airports isn’t impressive, either. At this point, though it’s admittedly really early in the rebirth, it’s all about Indianapolis. (Really??) At its pre-bankruptcy heyday, Clear had 18 cities. Hardly comprehensive, either.

It was a concept without a core customer base when it launched the first time. It appears it’s still that way.

Your mileage may vary, of course, and if you’re a fan of Clear, I’d love to hear about it, but speaking for myself, I won’t be spending any money on either of these programs.

Related:
- Clear / Verified Identity Pass shuts down
- Do airlines’ most frequent flyers deserve shorter security lines?
- Would you pay a fee to reserve a time to pass through airport security?

It’s been a while since I’ve traveled through Washington Dulles, but the next time I fly through, it’s not going to feel the same. I’m going to miss the mobile lounges.

Since January 26, the airport has changed the way passengers move from terminal to terminal. Out with the old, in with the new.

In: The Aerotrain, an inter-terminal subway. Out: The moon-buggy-style mobile lounges, oversized buses on hydraulic lifts that ferried passengers from one terminal to the other.

Sure, they were smelly, loud, and rather slow. There wasn’t much “lounging” in a lounge, either. Waiting for a lounge to get moving when you had a connecting flight was tortuous.

And yet… I liked them. Maybe that’s because I’ve always liked the tarmac-level view of the airport. Maybe it was the carpeted walls. Maybe it was the retro flavor. Maybe it was just… different.

Sure, the new train will be faster, cleaner, more efficient, and not prone to traffic jams. But a little piece of aviation history is on the way out.

(Edit: Via April in the comments, the lounges aren’t gone quite yet… but the AeroTrain is operational.)

Here’s a video for those who never experienced it. And a bonus info sheet (PDF) on the history of the buggies.

R.I.P. mobile lounges.

(image)

Reader Richard T. writes:

The incident where the guy snuck through security to see his girlfriend off on a flight got me thinking: Is there a legal way for a person to go through airport security without having a boarding pass? I’m happy to submit to all manner of screenings, wandings, pat-downs, etc.

Yes, actually, there are a couple.

1. Request a gate pass from the airline
Under certain circumstances, you can obtain a gate pass, essentially a permission slip issued by an airline, which allows you to pass through security and to the gates. (Of course, you’re subject to inspection, like everyone else.) Gate passes are typically issued to parents/guardians of a minor traveling alone, to a medical assistant, to an interpreter, or to someone designated as accompanying an elderly person, usually for health reasons. And under TSA Security Directive 1544-01-10w, family of military personnel may get passes to “sterile concourse areas to escort the military passenger to the gate or to meet a military passenger’s inbound arrival at the gate.” Gate passes are free, but are issued at the airline’s discretion. Just saying you’d like to meet your friends and family? Not good enough, typically, but take your best shot!

2. Buy a refundable ticket.
Buy a fully-refundable ticket — to anywhere. Somewhere cheap, somewhere expensive, it doesn’t matter. Buy it, then check in. Print your boarding pass. Walk through security, with a perfectly legal boarding pass. Wave goodbye (or hello) to your friends from the gate. Exit the secure area of the airport. Refund the ticket, by phone or at the counter. (Remember, it was fully refundable. FULLY. But do it before the flight leaves.) It’s an annoying step, but there’s nothing illegal about it.

Richard, you asked about the legal options. So I know you’re not interested in illegal methods, like printing your own forged boarding passes. Phony passes won’t work to get you onto a plane, but they might get you through the security checkpoint. They could also get you a visit from the FBI, since they violate the U.S. code, title 18, part 1, chapter 47, § 1036. Needless to say, NOT RECOMMENDED unless you want to go to jail. But it’s been done…

Any other techniques out there? Hit the comments!

The recent uptick in scrutiny of baggage — carried-on and checked — has claimed another victim: epicurean travelers who might have brought back a culinary souvenir of their travels abroad. The Wall Street Journal has a piece focused on chefs who smuggle in small quantities of cured meats, sausages, and other charcuterie for the demanding carnivore.

For the would-be meat runners: One of the tricks of the trade, revealed in the article: Hiding a meat product inside a fish, like a whole salmon (which can legally be brought in).

The chefs argue that they are bringing in samples of small-production meats from villages across Europe in order to “reverse-engineer” the products and recreate the recipes here in the US.

The US government’s view is less sanguine:

Sausages and hams “are much more dangerous than people think,” says Janice Mosher, an official at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which seizes about 4,000 pounds of prohibited meat, plant and animal products a day. “Those items truly have the ability to spread disease.” The government is concerned that bacteria from a smuggled piece of meat will spread through the ecosystem, infecting livestock and hurting agricultural production, Ms. Mosher says.

And then there’s this kicker, the culinary equivalent of a terrorist watch list:

Ms. Mosher [...] says that if people are caught bringing food in once, it’s a good bet they’ll be subjected to extra searches in the future. She says that Customs and Border Protection doesn’t target chefs, but their exploits are known to the government.

Sometimes it seems the CBP folks is targeting travelers from an entire country: On a recent international arrival in Philadelphia, I was horrified at the long lines to exit customs. But a friendly airport worker advised me that the long line was just for the people arriving from Italy. “Not arriving from Italy? Step right to the front.” No beagle sniffing the bags, no questions asked. (Travelers from Italy carrying aged meats might wish to consider changing planes in Paris, London, or Frankfurt, before heading back to the US, to improve their odds.)

The CBP isn’t just out to protect American soil from the dangers of smoked meats. They’re also defending America from smoke — Cuban smoke.

Wine Spectator and Cigar Aficionado critic James Suckling got dressed down at the US-Mexico border by CBP guards after (correctly) citing the law governing their transport of wine into the country. Correcting a border guard on the fine points of the law? Yes, asking for trouble, but the alternative (dumping cases upon cases of wine, when the law is on your side) is hardly pleasant. But, by standing up for his rights, Suckling subjected himself to an excessively thorough search, which turned up a pair of Cuban cigars — illegal to transport into the US.

I’ve been guilty of this in the past. I’ll cop to transporting both meats and Cuban cigars (the latter purchased at duty-free, no less). But in today’s post-crotch-bomber world, with its increased scrutiny, bringing it into the US is a riskier proposition.

Every so often, a rant about travel comes across so wrong-headed that it deserves to be held under the microscope for scrutiny. Charles DeLaFuente, one of the New York Times’ in-house stable of journalist-bloggers, wins that honor thanks to a recent post. It’s notable for its misguided attempt to assign blame for a travel mishap to all parties other than himself. But nonetheless, travelers, airports, and airlines can all learn from his account, both before and after his flight.

DeLaFuente and his family missed a JetBlue flight at Newark Airport. He blamed the airport’s (and airline’s) lack of sufficient signage to help him find his gate:

Jet Blue has two gates in a concourse also used by Continental, but only Continental has signs at the security area that leads to its seven gates in Terminal A, along with monitors showing the departures from them. Jet Blue has nothing there to alert passengers that its gates lie in that concourse, too.

Granted, I would have seen the Jet Blue counter and the monitors showing gates 21 and 22 if I had entered the terminal on the upper level, where anyone dropped off by private car or taxi, or with bags to check, would normally arrive.

But many passengers enter at the terminal’s ground level, where shuttle buses stop. And if, like me, they have no bags to check, they go up the escalators and emerge at the security checkpoint without ever passing the Jet Blue check-in counter. That’s where it can get confusing. There are three concourses in the terminal. Behind which one do the Jet Blue gates lie?

When I read this, I thought, “You have to be kidding me.” Newark’s terminal A is divided like a split level house. The upper level is a short, half-level escalator ride from the level where you enter security. If there were no flight monitors immediately visible (…aren’t they also at security?), then a few steps up the escalator, and voila.

This photo appears to be from the C-terminal, if I’m not mistaken, but the basic architecture is the same, and should gives you a sense of the distance involved between the top (check-in) and middle (security/gates) levels at Newark:

And when you reach the top of the escalator on the check-in level, there are monitors listing the flights (this image is from Terminal A):

So, I’m sorry, it’s really not that hard to find your flight’s gate at Newark.

But DeLaFuente’s rant gets worse:

I arrived at the terminal with my teenage son and daughter about 30 minutes before flight time, then spent about 10 minutes searching for the right concourse and maybe 10 minutes waiting in the security line.

Hold on: DeLaFuente left himself only 30 minutes from the moment of arrival to the moment of departure? At Newark? When he didn’t know where he was going?

Sure, the airlines will tell you to arrive early and to leave abundant time for your flight. And there are plenty of us who leave less time than the recommended 1 hour+ cushion, especially if we know the airport well. (The TSA’s security line wait time estimator is unfortunately down for the time being, though when it’s up, it can be of help in planning things, too.) But 30 minutes at Newark, one of America’s busiest airports, is begging for trouble. I’ve spent nearly that long in security lines there.

To his credit, DeLaFuente raises a few valid points. Jetblue could have been nice and let him standby for the next flight without charging him extra, instead of upcharging him. Their customer relations staff should have written back to him when he sent a certified letter of complaint to their CEO (which was the wrong way to escalate a complaint, but that’s another issue…). And Newark Airport and Jetblue should, yes, consider placing monitors differently, or in more places.

But I find it nearly impossible to show sympathy for someone who arrives 30 minutes before departure from Newark, isn’t capable of taking an escalator up a half flight of stairs, and won’t take any responsibility for his actions.

Redbox, the company that sets up DVD rental machines at supermarkets, drugstores, and convenience stores, has quietly been adding their machines at airports. For the same $1 per day rental fee, travelers can pick up a movie in one airport, watch the movie on the plane, and return the disc at any Redbox, at the airport or not.

Nashville, Milwaukee, and Grand Rapids have had them already for several months. Boston and Cincinnati were just added. Some airports have them before security; some have them both before and after security.

It’s a brilliant idea. Cheap last-minute inflight entertainment for those bringing a laptop or a portable DVD player. (Of course, you’ll need a device that plays a DVD (most netbooks don’t have an optical drive anymore) and if you plan ahead you might have something else at the ready.) And make sure your batteries are fully charged.

The company is also making deals with in-airport concessions. For example, at Cincinnati’s airport, buying a popcorn and soda combo at a vendor called Buckeyes & Bluegrass yields you a free DVD rental code. Expect more tie-ins like this.

My biggest beef with Redbox (which I’ve only accessed at my supermarket, not while traveling) has been the selection. Yes, they have some recent films, but there is too much straight-to-DVD junk in their inventory. I hope their airport locations have a more desirable selection, and remain well-stocked.