TSA lines are chaos—and this $209 airport hack is exploding right now

A clear winner is emerging from the chaos at airports this month: Clear Secure.

Gone are the days when a representative from the biometric firm might approach airport passengers to cajole them into signing up for a $209 membership to Clear. Amid staffing shortages with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) caused by the nearly six-week-long shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), travelers desperate for a shorter journey through security lines are now rushing to download the Clear app.

Through Wednesday, downloads of the Clear app across both Apple’s App Store and the Google Play store have totaled approximately 319,000 in March, a 228% increase from the comparable period in 2025, according to figures from the analytics firm Appfigures Intelligence. At the start of the month, its daily downloads totaled less than 5,000, but a daily threshold of 24,00 has become the new norm as the situation at airports has deteriorated more recently.

On Monday alone, there were more than 29,000 downloads of the app—a 674% increase from the beginning of the month, the company shared with Fast Company.

Clear is a private security service that uses facial biometrics to confirm the identities of passengers, and it is currently available at 64 airports in 33 states, as well as Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. Amid the busy spring break travel period, there have been reports of TSA lines with wait times of up to six hours, or potentially longer, at some of the nation’s busiest airports.

Investors, too, have been flocking to snatch up a stake in Clear. Since the DHS partial shutdown began in mid-February, shares of the New York-based company have surged more than 68%. 

HOW CLEAR IS HELPING TSA

A Clear representative told Fast Company that the company has deployed extra staff to airports to help TSA to serve all travelers. Its 3,500-plus “ambassadors” are also helping the TSA with divestment of travelers’ personal items, wayfinding, and line management, and the company has donated approximately $200,000 in gas and grocery gift cards to TSA workers. 

“We are working hard to support airlines, airports, and TSA officers,” Kyle McLaughlin, executive vice president of aviation at Clear, said in a statement to Fast Company. “On behalf of American travelers and TSA officers who are showing up to work without pay, we hope a resolution comes soon.”

Indeed, Senate Republicans are pushing President Donald Trump to declare a national emergency so that TSA agents can be paid.

But travelers new to Clear are also facing some obstacles, The Wall Street Journal reported. At some airports, lines for the TSA alternative have still clocked in at over an hour, while the lines have been altogether shuttered at others. What’s more, people have reported some technical issues and other frustrations with the app recently, and 10 of the past 11 reviewers on Google Play have given the app a one-star rating, on a scale of one to five, at the time of this writing.