A Rapid Security Check Could Be Revived at Airports
The idea of a monthly subscription service that
Tarpsallows people to jump to the head of airport security lines by submitting to a fingerprint or iris scan may be getting another chance.
The assets of Verified Identity Pass, the start-up that ran the Clear service in 18 airports in the United States and shut down about a year ago in a dispute with creditors, were acquired for $6 million in a federal bankruptcy proceeding on April 16.
The winning bidder, AlClear, is led by two former investment managers and backed in part by Robert V. LaPenta, chief executive of L-1 Identity Solutions, a biometrics company based in Stamford, Conn., that supplied kiosks and other technology to the original Verified Identity Pass.
The new company, to be renamed Clear, will be based in New York. Mr. LaPenta and Michael Chertoff, a former secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, will sit on its board.
AlClear acquired the customer database, the brand and the airport kiosks of the old V.I.P., which had more than 160,000 subscribers when it went out of business. But AlClear did not acquire what was perhaps the older company’s most important asset: its relationship with airports. Those contracts were voided in bankruptcy court.
The company said it was in advanced discussions with several airports and hoped to open its fast-lane security service this fall. In the next few weeks, it will begin contacting former subscribers and offering them the opportunity to reactivate their memberships.
“We know customers were left holding the bag,” said Caryn Seidman-Becker, a co-founder of the new Clear along with Kenneth L. Cornick, a former colleague in Arience Capital Management, a defunct hedge fund. “We have to rebuild relationships with airports, Washington and with our customers, and make sure we are building long-term partnerships. We want to bring back the service in the highest integrity way.”
