The pricey, $189-a-year service called Clear that lets people cruise through airport TSA lines could be banned in California, under a proposed bill from state lawmakers who think its unfair to people can’t pay the extra 200 bucks.

I don’t spend a lot of money on travel, so when I saw this CBS News report that a new state bill could ban Clear from California airports, I just assumed it meant you couldn’t take some kind of Barry Bonds steroids through TSA checkpoints. But instead, Clear is a subscription-based travel product where a private security company allows people to bypass the TSA checkpoint lines if they’ve paid a $189-a-year subscription fee.

But Clear could be wiped out, in California at least, under a new bill proposed by state Senator Josh Newman (D-Brea). Newman’s SB-1372 would bar Clear from operating in California airports, and equalize that TSA line for everyone.

"It's a basic equity issue when you see people subscribed to a concierge service being escorted in front of people who have waited a long time to get to the front of TSA line," Newman told CBS News’ MoneyWatch. "Everyone is beaten down by the travel experience, and if Clear escorts a customer in front of you and tells TSA, 'Sorry, I have someone better,' it's really frustrating."

Newman insists his bill would not ban Clear outright, it would just remove the priority service for Clear. But that would seem to effectively eliminate any reason for people to pay for Clear in the state of California. And Clear, which is a private company and not directly affiliated with TSA, curtly stepped around the “equity issue” that Newman complains of in their own remarks to CBS News.

"We are proud to partner with nine airports across California — creating hundreds of jobs, sharing more than $13 million in annual revenue with our California airport partners and serving nearly 1 million Californians," Clear said in a statement to CBS News. "We are always working with our airline and airport partners as well as local, state, and federal governments to ensure all travelers have a safer, easier checkpoint experience."

It should be noted that Clear, unlike the federally sponsored TSA Pre-Check, does not necessarily get you through the TSA screening process any faster, it literally just lets you skip the first part of the line by skipping over the ID-check part. You still have to remove shoes and send bags through scanners, etc.

Interestingly, Newman’s bill has some airline industry support — from airline-related unions, at least. CBS News reports that the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA) supports the bill, as do the Bay Area unions for Transportation Security Officers. But the big airlines are already coming out swinging against the measure, as CBS News points out that Alaska Airlines, Delta, and United Airlines all have partnerships with Clear.

Newman’s bill is just a proposal at this point, and has not yet even received a single vote. It will have its first state Senate hearing tomorrow, Tuesday, April 23, at the California Senate Transportation Committee.

Related: Morrissey Still Griping About Groping At SFO, Says TSA Is Worse Than ISIS [SFist]

Image: Priority checkpoint for the private security screening service Clear at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), San Francisco, California, September 13, 2017. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

Well this is hilarious. The Stockton Metropolitan Airport has been trying to rename itself the San Francisco-Stockton Regional Airport, seemingly in a bid to attract unwitting tourists who have no idea how far away it is, and officials at San Francisco International Airport are trying to put a stop to this.

As KCRA is reporting, the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors was set to vote on the name change Tuesday, however they've decided to postpone the vote after receiving a strongly worded letter from SFO.

SFO Airport Director Ivar Satero writes to the board, "We formally object," and says that such a name change "is likely to cause confusion or mistake among the public in suggesting a relationship or connection between the two airports that does not exist." He adds, "The new name ... suggests to consumers that the Stockton Metropolitan Airport is closer to San Francisco than it actually is or that there is great and readier availability of transportation options between Stockton and San Francisco than there actually are."

As the Chronicle reports, the idea for this name change appears to stem from a marketing study commissioned by Stockton airport director Harry Mavrogenes, who is now kind of backtracking given SFO's objection. He said he supported the board's decision to postpone the vote, and said he was glad that "so much light got shined" on the topic of the renaming.

Rep. Jackie Speier, in whose district SFO lies, suggested diplomatically in a statement to Mavrogenes that there are "less confusing ways to achieve your goal" of marketing the airport.

Already on the airport's website, there are photos of San Francisco and copy that suggests that the airport "makes entering the Bay Area market an affordable business move," and it's "Northern California’s airport of the future."

Per KCRA, a vote on the renaming is "off the table for now and isn’t expected to resurface anytime soon."

Tuesday’s stabbing of a police officer at San Francisco International Airport could have been a lot worse, as the officer’s injuries were minor enough that he was released from the hospital that same day. (The alleged assailant, however, still faces attempted murder of a peace officer charges.) But the incident sheds light on the discomforting trend of Bay Area homeless people crashing at SFO each evening, since the suspect in the stabbing has been described by sources as “a transient hanging around the airport.” ABC 7 reports that both the SFPD and SFO are considering new methods of addressing the growing number of homeless people using the airport as a place to sleep and spend the night.

The police officer in question has asked that his name not be released, but we do know that he’s 49 years old has been with the department for 23 years. “He is very relieved that no members of the public were hurt and that he was able to overcome this violent attack,” SFPD airport bureau deputy chief Denise Schmitt said in a statement to the Chronicle. “He is thankful for the quick action of bystanders and especially the other airport employees who jumped in to assist him once he got the suspect on the ground. He and his family appreciate all the supportive messages they have received.”

The officer was stabbed multiple times when responding to a complaint about a suspicious person in Terminal One. That suspicious person was reportedly 64-year-old Dooris Johnston, a homeless man who remains held without bail at a correctional facility in Redwood City. “On average, we see about a dozen homeless people per day at the airport that we're making contact with," SFO spokesperson Doug Yakel told ABC 7, noting that many arrive on the 1 a.m. final BART train of the evening looking for a warm, quiet place to sleep.

SFPD has been making efforts to discourage this behavior. "We do meet the last BART train in and there's very little reason to be at the airport unless you're a ticketed passenger," SFPD deputy chief Denise Schmitt told ABC 7. Officers reportedly offer SAMTrans tokens, free bus rides to San Francisco, or referrals to mental health organizations.

But the recent stabbing indicates they may not be doing enough. To that end, SFO and SFPD are considering a joint effort to add full-time advocates at the airport to redirect and offer resources to people seeking shelter and hope to have that program in place by the end of the year.

Related: No, San Francisco Does Not Spend $36,000 Per Year On Every Homeless Person

A previously discussed project to repave one of the main runways at SFO, which is now in crunch-time as the summer travel rush quickly approaches, is going to result in significant delays and many flight cancellations this big travel weekend. While the work was supposed to be suspended over Memorial Day Weekend under the original schedule, as the Chronicle reports, airport officials announced Monday that they can't afford to take the weekend off now, and they're sorry.

The repaving is happening on the airport's main landing strip, Runway 28L, and the work began in late March, with most of it concentrated on nights and weekends in order to minimize the impact on travelers. The project already caused widespread delays and cancelations over one weekend in April, and that's expected again this weekend after inclement weather in the past couple months has put the project behind schedule.

It's expected that about eight percent of the total flights in and out of SFO are going to be cancelled, or about 100 per day, so travelers are being warned to be on the lookout and stay in contact with their airlines.

Airport spokesman Doug Yakel tells the Chronicle, "Yeah, it might impose an inconvenience during the Memorial Day weekend, but it would impose a much greater inconvenience during the peak summer weekends that we’re starting to get into." That is not going to be any consolation to people whose weekends get ruined by this.

The runway project includes new tarmac and a new strip of LED lighting down the center of the runway.

Work is expected to begin as of 10 p.m. on Friday, so if you're leaving earlier that that maybe you'll be OK. The work for this weekend will be wrapping up at 4 p.m. Monday, but will continue on nights and weekends into June.

Previously: Runway Repaving Strands Passengers At SFO, Causes Flight Delays And Cancellations Monday

Another reason to take BART to SFO? Privacy concerns. An Airport Commission vote last month gave San Francisco International Airport the go-ahead to use license plate readers to record the information from every car that uses the airport's roads and garages. SFO can now keep that data on file for more than four years, accessible to 70 airport employees who can release the data to the San Francisco Police Department, the San Mateo Sheriff's Department, and the FBI. That's cause for concern, the American Civil Liberties Union tells KQED, offering up a “honeypot” to authorities.

As Matt Cagle of the ACLU in Northern California poses the question to KQED, “Why does law enforcement need to know who’s visiting SFO?... It’s one thing if a crime has been committed or if there’s a legitimate demand from law enforcement with a warrant,” he says, “but it’s another thing if the airport has decided to simply share this information with law enforcement for their own purposes.”

SFO maintains that the primary function of its license plate reading efforts will be collecting the revenue it's owed by commercial drivers on its roads and at its garages with FasTrak accounts — much the way bridge authorities now do with all cars passing over the Golden Gate Bridge. “It’s important to remember that the primary purpose for the system that we’ve established here is for revenue collection,” airport spokesman Doug Yakel tells KQED. “Is there a correlation to law enforcement efforts? Of course,” Yakel adds. “It’s a benefit to thwarting vehicle theft and other types of crimes. But that’s really not primarily how it's used."

SFO serves 53 million passengers a year, and if every car that ferries them to or from the airport has its license plate recorded, SFO's data collection could on the kind of massive scale the ACLU has repeatedly warned against. "Private companies use license plate readers to monitor airports, control access to gated communities, enforce payment in parking garages, and even help customers find their cars in shopping mall parking lots," a report created by the ACLU explains. "While these uses in and of themselves are not objectionable, private companies can scan thousands of plates each day and store information indefinitely, creating huge databases of Americans’ movements." The report's recommendations include storing data about innocent people for the briefest possible periods. "Law enforcement agencies must not store data about innocent people for any lengthy period," the report recommends. "Unless plate data has been flagged, retention periods should be measured in days or weeks, not months, and certainly not years." The ACLU also encourages that entities who use license plate recorders publicly report their usage.

In fact, SFO's policy follows legislation calling for just that: Senate Bill 34, which went into effect last year, requires security protections for data collected by plate readers and “public disclosure” about the technology's use.

Update: In a statement issued to CBS5, SFO spokesperson Yakel emphasizes that "SFO does not record every license plate of every vehicle at the airport, nor do we have the capability to do so." Nevertheless, the Airport Commission's vote would appear to give it the leeway to do just that, prompting the ACLU's objections.

Related: RIP Virgin America Airlines, Which Alaska Is Officially Killing Off In Two Years

Air travel can be a discombobulating thing! Add to that the urgency we all feel when our Uber driver lets us know that he or she awaits, and you've got a recipe for disaster, like the $32,000 one that took place in San Jose a week ago today.

The scene: SoCal woman Libby Dahl arrived at Mineta San Jose International Airport on Friday, June 10, at 9:15 p.m., and used a restroom near the baggage claim in Terminal B. According to KCBS, as she she washed her hands, the restroom soap was loosening her engagement ring, a 3.25-karat gold band with 1.2-karat diamonds valued at $32,000. So, she placed it on the counter.

But then Dahl tells KCBS, “The Uber driver called to say he was there, we needed to hurry up, so I just grabbed my bags and ran outside."

The pricey ring remained in the restroom, as, Dahl told the OC Register, "a split second mistake turned into a nightmare."

When Dahl realized her oversight, she rushed back to the airport. But, she says, though only 20 minutes had elapsed, "when I got there it was gone."

She "checked with custodial staff and Transportation Security Administration agents, but the ring was never turned in," the OC Register reports.

"It had to be a woman that took it," Dahl told ABC 7.

"And that's extra heartbreaking because that's someone that knew the value of it and still not want to turn it in."

Though the ring is insured, Dahl says that it means a lot to her and hopes that it will be returned. If it is discovered, she asks that the finder call San Jose police at 408-277-5400.

The ring, which Dahl describes as "white gold with a round center diamond in a square halo setting," was custom made for Dahl based on "rings she displayed on her Pinterest board," the OC Register reports. It was given to her by her fiance, Jeremy Jorgenson, when he proposed to her at her parents' Minnesota home on Christmas Day, 2015.

Though the couple has yet to set a date for their wedding, they hope to marry in fall 2017, preferably with the original engagement ring on her finger.

"It's stupid that I even took it off, but makes me so sad someone would take it and not turn it in, especially a woman in the women's bathroom," Dahl says.

"I just want it back and would pay a monetary reward to get it back. Its sentimental value is irreplaceable."

SFist readers know how much this site enjoys ragging on the litany of stupid, overly-entitled, pointless, and public-safety-compromising apps that power our contemporary local economy. So it behooves SFist to occasionally highlight useful, pragmatic apps, to foster the illusion of journalistic balance. This one goes out to those of you traveling by air this summer (or this weekend) who will face airport security line misery like never before resulting in multiple-hour wait times that have generated less than outstanding publicity for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

No app will get you through TSA wait line more quickly, but a couple of Bay Area apps and websites can at least tell you how long you can expect to wait in the security line, and thereby prevent you from being one of the tens of thousands who will miss their flight because of TSA wait times. Let’s kick back, remove our shoes, place our laptops in a separate bin and take a look at the Bay Area’s best homegrown resources for hacking your time investment in the TSA line.

The above video “TSA are you f***ing kidding me?” was shot earlier this month at Chicago’s Midway Airport, not at SFO. Nonetheless, “We confirmed that waits are longer,” wait-time app MiFlight founder Michael Harmell told SFist. “All of the major [U.S. airport] hubs have had a spike. SFO has actually trended pretty well.” SFO, Oakland International, and Mineta International Airport in San Jose all face some wait time issues because the TSA and its various subcontractors are badly understaffed. What are the best hacks provided by local websites and apps to disrupt these inevitable travel disruptions?

MiFlight
MiFlight (pronounced MEE-flight) is an app for iOS that crowdsources user data Waze-style to determine your TSA wait time and communicate it to you in advance. ”Everyone has a right to information about their lives,” the app’s founder Michael Harmell told SFist. MiFlight can assess your individual terminal and gate’s wait time, and is “freemium” with 99-cent add-ons like removing ads and unlocking terminal maps of airports.

Alas, though, MiFlight is only available as an app for iOS. If you're an Android person or prefer to just use a mobile browser, you have other options for checking your TSA wait time in advance.

iFly
Los Gatos-based iFly.com also lists wait times by airport online, but the information is less specific. As seen above, iFly only displays information in three wait time assessments: 0-10 minutes, 11-20 minutes, and 21+ minutes. The site is crawling with intrusive ads and difficult to navigate, but we can cut to the chase and provide direct links to SFO wait times, OAK wait times, and SJC wait times.

iFly also has an iOS app called TSA Wait Times by iFly that appears to cost $3.99 in the iTunes store.

My TSA
Not-terribly-accurate wait times for many airports are also available on the My TSA website, and the My TSA app for iOS and Android, but the time totals on the apps display no higher than “31+ minutes”. That’s no help if your wait is three hours! You also have the option of getting through the line more quickly with TSA Pre-Check, but that requires going through an application process — including an interview at the airport — and paying an $85 fee. In other words, you would not be able to access TSA Pre-Check this weekend unless you've already been accepted into the program.

Related: Morrissey Says Security Officer At SFO Groped His Junk

It seems that for at least one Oakland International Airport security officer the temptation to abuse her position of power was just too (ahem) high. Federal officials have charged the officer with using her status at the airport to facilitate the smuggling of marijuana for the past two years.

A federal grand jury indictment unsealed yesterday accuses the woman, 28-year-old Kiana Scott Clark, of working with a partner to facilitate the transport of "100 kilograms and more of marijuana,” according to the Chronicle.

The paper notes that Clark is "charged with four counts of conspiracy, two for obstructing the operations of the Transportation Security Administration and two for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances."

Clark was nabbed after a joint (pun not intended this time) investigation by the FBI and the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office. The charges against her are no joke, and could result in a minimum sentence of five years if she is found guilty.

This calls to mind a recent case at SFO where three airport screeners were indicted on fraud and conspiracy charges this past November for allegedly allowing cocaine through the screening process in exchange for money.

It also calls to mind the March case of yet another SFO TSA screener accused of working to smuggle pounds of methamphetamine through the airport.

Who knew there were so many criminal masterminds working for the TSA? Well, other than the Feds, obviously.

Related: SFO Security Screeners Busted For Cocaine Smuggling Ring

This is decently big news in the taxi/rideshare wars: SF's Yellow Cab is doing what New York City taxis have been doing for a couple decades and finally offering a flat-rate fare to SFO from anywhere in the city. The company is offering the fare through its app, and in other news, Yellow Cab has an app.

Yes, the SF Yellow Cab app can be downloaded to your iPhone or Android, and on it, as long you as make the request 30 minutes before you need the cab, you can get a $35 flat rate to the airport with no up-charges, and no worries about surge pricing. Just use the promo code GOSFO when you order the cab.

Of course, even though NY cabs have offered flat fares to JFK since the 90s (it was once $35 from anywhere in Manhattan, and it's now $52), SF Yellow Cab is only offering this as a temporary promotion during August and September.

But maybe if enough of you use it they'll keep it around longer.

It should be noted that an airport shuttle trip for two people will run you $32 to $34, and an UberX trip will run you about $38 to $44, including a $3.85 SFO surcharge. A regular metered taxi to SFO will easily run you $50 plus tip, if not more.

We thought maybe Sidecar had struck some kind of sweetheart deal last week getting permits to drop off and pick up passengers at SFO, but it turns out the other rideshare companies got the same deal.

Uber's black car/limo drivers already had rights at SFO, since they're already limo drivers, but as of this week, Uber X drivers as well as Lyft drivers also are now allowed at the airport.

As the Business Times reports:

In order to get approved for the agreements, San Francisco-based Uber, Lyft and Sidecar all agreed to pay ongoing fees of $3.85 per trip, and to pay either a flat $100,000 to cover fees for rides already given, or some other amount based on the number of trips provided since April. That's when the airport first made permit applications available for so-called Transportation Network Companies, said airport spokesman Doug Yakel.

This is great news considering how much cheaper rides from the airport will be via Lyft or a non-surge-priced Uber X than a traditional cab, but this is of course terrible news for the traditional cab companies. Airport trips are the bread and butter of regular taxi drivers, and until now this was the last advantage that taxis had over rideshare cars.

So tell us, Uber: Do you really need that PR firm launching an anti-taxi propaganda website? Isn't that just a nail in the coffin too many?

Related: Taxi Drivers and Cab Companies Are Escalating Their Losing Battle Against Uber and Lyft

San Francisco International Airport is closing 2 of its 4 runways this summer, right at the height of vacation season, in order to complete some federally mandated safety upgrades. Good luck getting anywhere on time from May to September.

The closures come after the same upgrades — which involve lengthening the runways on either end to provide more of a buffer zone for planes that undershoot or overrun them — were already completed on two of the runways, 28L and 28R, as the San Mateo County Times reports. The other two runways, 1R and 1L, known as the primary departure strips for domestic and Europe-bound flights, will close May 17th to mid-September, reducing the number of planes that can land at peak hours, in perfect conditions, by 15 percent.

A spokesman for SFO says carefully, "There is the possibility of delays during this period."

The first two runways were successfully lengthened to fit new FAA standards, but...

SFO's two departure strips are shorter than the arrival paths and cannot be sufficiently lengthened to meet Federal Aviation Administration requirements. So the airport will install "engineered materials arresting systems" at both ends of the runways. Instead of pavement the ground will consist of a material designed to collapse under the weight of an airplane, slowing its momentum.

Also, because of the closure, flight paths will be greatly impacted, and virtually all flights are going to have to take off over Serramonte/Daly City, upsetting those who live there for several months.

SFO says they're doing everything they can to reduce the possibility of delays, but come now. It's an airport. In fog season. We should all expect the worst.

In brighter news, the airport will soon have a swell new control tower that looks like a big torch.

[San Mateo County Times]
[SF Business Times]

A 62-year-old woman who may or may not have cancer but who seriously wants to get to Hawaii has now been nabbed four times at SFO either boarding planes or attempting to board planes, to the point that there's now a court order for her to stay away from the airport. As of yesterday, she was arrested again just for sitting in the food court at the International Terminal, because technically she's now trespassing.

We're not clear on the details of Marilyn Jean Hartman's story or mental state, just that she told authorities during one of her arrests that she has cancer and was trying to go somewhere warm. This apparently hasn't been confirmed, but Hartman actually got onto a Hawaii-bound plane without a valid boarding pass on February 15 and was only found out when the true seat-holder arrived. She was later caught carrying a discarded boarding pass on two other occasions, February 18 and 20. The first two times she was let off with a warning, and the third time she was arrested and went to court, pleading no contest to two counts of misdemeanor commercial burglary. She got 18 months probation and was told she was not to return to SFO without a ticket to fly. And then she did.

Can we please just put this woman on a plane? I'm not saying we should do this for every criminal trespasser who perseveres like this, but she must have a really good reason to want to go to Hawaii, right? And she apparently has no money and all the time in the world to lurk around the airport until she figures this out.

I'm not the only one to have this idea — there's a GoFundMe campaign you can donate a couple dollars to right here. They've only raised $135, but this shouldn't be that hard.

[SF Appeal]
[Patch]

Previously: 62-Year-Old Woman Arrested At SFO For Desperately Wanting To Retire In Hawaii

While details about the cause of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 continue to unfold, Lee Kang Kuk, the pilot of the 777 Boeing that killed two and injured dozens, told federal crash investigators that he was "temporarily blinded by a bright light when 500 feet above the ground."

The alleged flash reportedly happened around 35 seconds before it hit the runway, around 500 feet off the ground. This is when the aircraft slowed down and dropped to the runway before crashing.

The Chronicle reports:

The pilot, who was making his first approach into the airport in a Boeing 777, told South Korean and American investigators that as the jetliner descended to 500 feet in altitude, something flashed in his eyes, said Deborah Hersman, chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board.

"We really don't know at this point what it could have been," Hersman said after a reporter at the news conference asked whether it could have been a laser. "We need to look into it. We need to understand what he's talking about. We may need to follow up with him."

However, as USA Today goes on to point out, the flash shouldn't have affected his ability to land the plane "because the pilot was still able to see the flight control instruments after the flash."

Yep. That's our town.

Photo: Facebook