Criminal checks

Most of us think of background checks in the context of applying for a job, or an apartment. But if you travel on airplanes, you probably go through airport security a lot more often than you change jobs. The steps a airline traveler goes through — lugagge screening, removing shoes, opening up a laptop, and passing lookup up against a no-fly list, constitute a background check in their own right. It is probably fair to say that most of us consider this something of an inconvenience.

The Transportation Security Administration has a Registered Traveler program that may allow travelers to bypass some of those long annoying lines. Since the TSA does not, apparently, wish to spend a lot of money on this, they are outsourcing the actual background screening to the private sector. The TSA’s cut is $28 per enrollment.

One such background check partner is Clear. For $100 per year, you can move through security a bit faster in 5 airports — none of them, alas, near Washington D.C. The website is rather vague on the benefits, other than stating enrollees will get a designated security lane. There is no […]