The guiding principle of airport design is that they should be navigable whether it’s a traveler’s first time passing through or hundredth time. Signs in multiple languages, ubiquitous maps, online resources, help desks, and more help with that. Outside resources with tips and tricks — like Matador Network’s guide to airports — only add to the list of tools.
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CLEAR’s Airport Assitants Will Carry Your Bags to Your Gate. It’s Less of a VIP Luxury Than It Sounds.
It isn’t perfect, of course, and some airports are worse than others. Which led CLEAR, the company that fast-tracks travelers through security in a dedicated line, to create an airport escort program called CLEAR Ambassador Assist. Its goal is to “guide you every step of the way” for $149 from the curb to the gate, or $49 from the curb to security — in addition to the $199 annual cost for the required CLEAR Plus membership.
It sounds luxurious and like an obvious VIP-level benefit, though the exact details make it a bit of a head scratcher as to who it’s for. Also who is willing to shell out an additional 25 percent to 75 percent of their annual membership fee for something that should take no more than an hour even in the most nightmare airport situation.
A trial program for the service started at Denver International Airport in September, and was extended to Washington-Dulles on Halloween. Orlando International Airport joined the list recently as well, and more locations are in the works.
The “ambassador” (CLEAR’s wording) meets guests who booked at least 10 hours in advance (though there’s a 12-hour minimum cancellation policy for a refund barring a canceled flight) when they arrive at the airport to help with luggage and bring them through the airport. If you choose the Curb-to-CLEAR option, the ambassador will take you as far as the CLEAR security lane.
Curb-to-Gate has the person stay with you past security and walk with you either to your gate, a lounge if you have access, or a restaurant. In the latter two cases, that’s where they leave you, so hopefully it’s clear enough how to get to your gate from there. They will, however, “help you find concessions or restrooms and wait for you for quick stops.” What they won’t do: wait at the gate with you, walk with you from a lounge to the gate, watch children or pets, or accompany minors. They also don’t accept tips.
I can understand a traveler who wants to bring as much as they possibly can in their carry-on. Checked-bag fees can be outrageous, and waiting for it to arrive on the other side (if it arrives at all) is annoying. Yet carry-on bag sizes and weight limits exist for a reason and limit carry-ons to what can be, well, easily carried by the traveler. Paying $149 to have someone carry a backpack and rollaboard — and being forced to either make small talk the entire way or exist in awkward silence — is steep by any measure. That’s perhaps even more true for the $49 escort to security, which in Denver is as simple as taking an escalator next to check-in and walking one or two minutes tops.
Those who do have a bunch of checked bags will certainly find it useful to have some help carrying all that they have with them to the check-in counter. Though in some cases, like with United and Delta in Denver, the bag drop station is right at the curb. Maybe the $49 fee for that distance is worth it to some. After all, that’s not all that much more expensive than a meal and a drink at an airport restaurant. I’ve definitely wished for some help while carrying my stuff as well as my toddler’s bags while pushing a stroller (though that wish withers if said help for 30 minutes would cost more than the plane snacks). Just keep in mind that Ambassador Assist is only for one leg of the flight — you’re on your own on the other side regardless of the airport.
With both the gate and the security options, you have to text the ambassador ahead of time to coordinate a meeting point. Everyone in the group 18 years or older is required to be a CLEAR Plus member, though 17 and younger can be present for free. If some travelers in the party have TSA PreCheck, the ambassador “will share the best options to keep everyone moving.”
Full disclosure: I’ve been a CLEAR member for years and skipping the main security line has saved me from missing a number of flights. This offering seems puzzling to me, though. Have we really reached a point of airport madness where travelers need to pay a not insignificant fee to a third-party company to “guide” them? Possibly not even guide them to their gate? I can only imagine the frustration I would have paying for this service only to be handed back my carry-ons 30 minutes max after texting the ambassador and meeting them at the curb.
This is coming from an able-bodied frequent flier. Maybe it makes more sense for people who need assistance, I thought at first, even if it does seem unfair to add on an additional cost just because some help is needed, whether that’s vision or hearing impairment or mobility related. Yet the Air Carrier Access Act already covers that assistance for free. Airlines are required to provide wheelchairs or assistance to people who need it, and it’s illegal to discriminate based on disabilities. Airlines are also required to help on both sides of the trip.
All of that pondering was for naught. CLEAR Ambassador Assist doesn’t help with wheelchairs and passengers paying for the service need to meet the ambassador at the airline’s special services counter after getting their reserved wheelchair. Presumably the airline employee that would otherwise guide the traveler through security and to the gate no longer has to join if the CLEAR ambassador is there. 