Crush Of Coachella Music Festival Fans Impacts Palm Springs Airport

PALM SPRINGS, CA — Palm Springs International Airport announced an option Thursday designed to ease airport lines as thousands of festival-goers flock to the Coachella Valley for the Coachella Music & Arts Festival.

The CLEAR Expedited Security Lane was added to the airport's Transportation Security Administration checkpoint on Thursday, allowing travelers with CLEAR membership to verify their identity with their eyes, eliminating the need to produce identification. After the eye-verification, members will be escorted by a CLEAR ambassador through a dedicated lane to the TSA checkpoint.

Interim Executive Director of Aviation Harry Barrett acknowledged that tourist season is on the horizon, coinciding with the Coachella music festivals. While the growth has added more travel options for our community, we've also had to get to work to improve our facilities due to the increased passenger demand, he said.

Barrett also said that airport officials plan to make more improvements over the summer such as replacing carpeting and adding common-use technology systems at all gates. Improvements scheduled for fall include installing new restrooms renovating and renovating existing ones.

"Our facility wasn't designed to handle the level of passengers we have today ... so we're working with our partners now to make improvements where we can ahead of next season," Barrett said.