Clear Traveler: Register for a Fast Pass Through Airport Security

by Jamie Rhein on

Willy wrote about the Clear Registered Traveler Program in February, but last week when I heard yet another story about someone who keeps getting pulled in for hours of questioning because of his name, I wondered if this pass might help fix that situation.

Let’s say you’re one of those people whose names (or looks) gets you stopped for hours of questioning each time you meet up with airport security. Maybe your name is on the No-Fly list. Or perhaps, airport security moves too darned slowly for your tastes–you’re a frequent traveler, and if you were paid for the hours you’ve waited in airport lines, you’d be a rich person.

As Willy wrote, the Clear Registered Traveler Program serves as an early security check-point that, once you’ve been approved and pay your membership fee, you get to breeze through the subscriber security line at the airport using your Clear pass. Here’s a recap of how it works. First, you go through a background check for TSA approval, and once you are found to be a-okay, you’re issued a card that has your encrypted fingerprint image or an iris scan. This is not a through the mail process, but involves an in-person visit.

At the airport, you insert your card into a kiosk that reads it and matches the card with your fingerprint when you put your finger on the scanner. Once cleared, you get a clearance stamp that shows TSA you are good to go. You and your baggage still have to go through TSA screening, but I assume this is faster? Otherwise, what’s the darned pass for? Still, it does sound very James Bondy or something. This is biometrics, baby.

Not all airports have this service, but the list is growing. Clear security lanes in La Guardia in New York are the lastest ones–they were to open this month.

The membership fee runs about $100 per year. Here’s the link for how to join. If your security status changes, your membership is revoked. By, the way, I’m not sure if this would work if your name is on the No Fly List even though you are not the person who is the security threat, but a person who has the same name.

10 tips for smarter flying


Mile-High Laptop Etiquette

by Catherine Bodry on

First cell phones, now laptops.

When you’re in tight quarters, is it okay to read the spreadsheet of the passenger next to you? What about watching that R-rated movie when there’s children nearby? And what to do about more shocking incidences, like the man hunched over his X-rated flick, or the child who doesn’t use headphones?

As there’s no current rules set for in-flight laptop etiquette, these questions are up for debate.

While manufacturers are making bigger screens, they’re also lengthening battery lives, which means more visibility for a longer time. Furthermore, laptops are becoming more and more affordable, which in turns means more passengers toting them aboard.

As with any flight disruption, flight attendants mediating between laptop abusers and laptop snoopers either move passengers to a different seat or help them come to a mutual agreement.

One solution for those who’d like to keep their financial spreadsheets private but can’t stand a few hours away from their accounts is a filter for their screen. These sell for about $50 to $125 and keep anyone but the person directly in front of the computer from viewing it.

Or, they could try not using their computer for any “business” they might not want anyone else to see.

[via USA Today]

France’s Mighty Fast Train

by Jamie Rhein on

If you have the urge to get from Point A to Point B very fast, France has an option. Yesterday, Train V150 went 357.2 miles per hour. (547.8 kph) This particular speedy ride was to prove that a French train can go that fast. The hope is that China and Japan may want to buy France’s technology for their own trains.

Going that fast does not seem that pleasant. If you’ve ever seen a cartoon where the character’s cheeks are flapping and eyelids are almost turning inside out, that’s what writer Ingrid Rousseau’s experience of riding on this train’s demo journey sounds like. Her ears ached even. Then there was the “green blur” of the scenery as the train sped through. The train did slow down to 194 mph at its cruising pace. Upon arrival at the Champagne-Ardennes train station, passengers were given champagne.

The AP article includes specifics about how a train is made to go that fast and details about China’s plan to build miles of railroad. It’s interesting that the Wright brothers made demo flights in France more than 100 years ago to show just how safe airplane travel is in order to get people to buy their technology. One of the demo flights in Pau, France was when their sister Katharine was the 2nd female passenger to ride in an airplane just to show the safety of air travel for females.

Have Treo, Will Travel

by Karen Walrond on

Erik Olsen introduced you to New West
Magazine a couple of weeks ago, and I have to agree with him — it is a superb magazine.  I’m particularly a
fan of Tonya Poole, one of their newest writers (and, incidentally, author of the beautiful blog Adventure Journalist: The Notebook).  Tonya
lives, literally, out in the middle of nowhere — amongst the brush and coyotes of the San Luis Valley, in Southern
Colorado.  As a travel writer, she therefore relies on technology to ensure that she makes her deadlines and stays
in touch with publishers.

Tonya, who’s been known to do month-long road trips, recently reviewed the Palm
Treo 650 Smartphone for New West Magazine — and suffice to say, she loves it.  In Tonya’s words:  "
Mobile technology continues to open up the road for us, and, as travel lovers and business owners, has let us blur
personal and professional lives together so that focusing on one no longer means neglecting the other." 

If you’re a person who travels a lot, you definitely should check out her article.  But be warned:  if you
don’t already have a Treo, you may be tempted (like I am!) to pick one up, soon.