Q3 2025 Clear Secure Inc Earnings Call

Speaker #3: Good morning and welcome to Clear's fiscal third Quarter 2025 conference call . We have with us today , Caryn Seidman Becker Co-Founder , Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael Barkin , President .

Speaker #3: And Jen , Chief Financial Officer As a reminder , before we begin , today's discussion contains forward looking statements about the company's future business and financial performance .

Speaker #3: These are based on management's current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties . Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these statements are included in the documents the company has filed and furnished with the SEC , including today's press release .

Speaker #3: The company disclaims any obligation to update any forward looking statements that may be discussed during this call . During this call , unless otherwise stated , all comparisons will be against the comparable period of fiscal year 2020 .

Speaker #3: For . Additionally , the company will discuss both GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures . A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures is provided in today's press release , and the most recently filed quarterly report on Form 10-q .

Speaker #3: These items can be found on the Investor Relations section of Clear's website . With that , I'll turn the call over to Karen .

Speaker #4: Identity is the foundation of trust , and clear is the secure identity platform . The digital connected world has been driving a paradigm shift in cybersecurity , and now layer AI .

Speaker #4: On top of that . And there is an urgent focus on identity cyber criminals aren't breaking in . They're logging in . 80% of breaches start with compromised credentials , and 84% of security leaders have reported identity related incidents that have disrupted their business identity has never been more important , and secure identity is the foundation to create safer and easier experiences .

Speaker #4: Clear is the future facing identity infrastructure layer that is transforming how security and customer experience come together . Global events such as the World Cup and the Olympics are on the horizon , and security is paramount .

Speaker #4: Clear is helping America's infrastructure rise to the occasion by combining technology , security and hospitality to make our airports sparkle . More than 35 million total clear members trust and rely on clear across many use cases .

Speaker #4: Our customer centric brand , which is known for privacy and security , as well as our physical and digital network , is accelerating our momentum across both clear members and enterprise customers as we close out the year .

Speaker #4: The premium , frictionless and predictable end to end travel journey , we are building for our 7.7 million Clear Plus members is the new customer expectation .

Speaker #4: Our mobile app enhancements are streamlining the enrollment experience and helping members navigate their day of travel with confidence and ease . Our beloved ambassadors enable the merging of hospitality and technology to provide an unparalleled customer centric and personalized experience that helps members win the day of travel and our product innovation from envy enrollment and verification pods to E-gates is having a meaningful impact on speed and member experience .

Speaker #4: Our long awaited rollout has commenced and the feedback from members is unanimous . The experience is magical , clear e-gates are vertically integrated .

Speaker #4: Combining our software and hardware across our nationwide network . Members verify in approximately five seconds and move directly into physical screening in 30s .

Speaker #4: We are seeing E-gates drive meaningful improvements in throughput , lane experience scores , and NPS . Our nationwide rollout will continue over the next few months , and we expect member experience to continue to improve as we scale automation across our network .

Speaker #4: Our ambassadors can create an even more elevated member experience with clear concierge , clear concierge is a premium , personalized , on demand service where a dedicated ambassador meets you curbside and guides you all the way to your gate .

Speaker #4: Now live at 23 airports . Clear Concierge is giving members a truly premium and effortless travel journey . The Clear travel experience and value is growing , and we are expanding our Clear Plus member base across all channels .

Speaker #4: Member acquisition in the airport remains strong , supported by a steady increase in total air travelers . Coupled with our new improved mobile one step enrollment , international enrollment is off to a strong start .

Speaker #4: Even before we have launched marketing , there is an exciting opportunity to tap this broader pool of potential clear Plus members . Partners continue to be an important channel for us to acquire high value , loyal members .

Speaker #4: We are pleased that Clear Plus is a highlighted , embedded benefit of the American Express Platinum Card refresh , reflecting the value each of us brings to our partnership .

Speaker #4: We have long talked about the power of public , private partnerships , and we are grateful that this administration is moving at the speed of business .

Speaker #4: We are working together on behalf of American travelers , connecting public sector priorities with private sector innovation , embracing technology and business is improving the everyday security and experience of all Americans .

Speaker #4: Clear won continues to scale modern fraud attacks are occurring with unprecedented speed and sophistication , and this is a critical and growing problem that every organization is facing .

Speaker #4: Clear one is a comprehensive enterprise identity platform that delivers strength and security with a multi-layered approach . The building block of trust Clear Won delivered its strongest quarter yet with a record number of enterprise customers signed in healthcare .

Speaker #4: Clear is a partner to the administration in the center for Medicare and Medicaid Services . Health tech ecosystem Initiative , as their trusted identity layer .

Speaker #4: The CMS pledge is a coalition of healthcare technology companies working to improve patient data interoperability and access , killing the clipboard while safeguarding sensitive health information .

Speaker #4: Over 60 companies have signed the CMS pledge , and to date , we have entered into clear won contracts with over 20% of the participating companies .

Speaker #4: Our work with epic is further embedding us into the healthcare ecosystem . Health providers on Epic can enable a clear , one turnkey solution within Mychart .

Speaker #4: This partnership creates distribution and seamless integration for clear one into the millions of patients with Epic electronic health records in workforce , clear one is protecting the full workforce identity lifecycle from pre hiring activities such as verifying candidate profiles to post hiring identity verification , use cases such as account recovery and privileged access .

Speaker #4: We are also beginning to expand our use cases with customers , cross-selling and upselling our various clear one workforce solutions . Identity security has become a mandate for all stakeholders .

Speaker #4: Clear one's trusted brand platform approach and elevated security standards are enabling our enterprise customers to protect their employees . Customers and assets with confidence .

Speaker #4: I am proud of our execution and strong financial performance and want to thank our ambassadors and all of the clear team members for how they serve travelers and customers .

Speaker #4: With that , I'll turn it over to Jen .

Speaker #5: Thank you . Karen . Third quarter revenue grew 15.5% year over year $229.2 million , and total bookings grew 14.3% year over year to $260.1 million , both exceeding the top end of our Q3 guidance range provided last quarter .

Speaker #5: Active clear Plus members grew to 7.7 million , up 7.5% on a year over year basis . Our rapid product innovation and growing suite of services in clear travel is elevating customer experience and attracting new members to .

Speaker #5: E-gates are elevating our home to gate value proposition . We continue to penetrate opportunities such as bundling TSA PreCheck with Clear plus , and we are growing our total addressable market with international travelers .

Speaker #5: We are now offering clear plus to over 40 international passport holders , and we are encouraged by the contribution of international to our Clear Plus member base .

Speaker #5: Prior to having activated any marketing efforts to this audience from a pricing perspective , we believe we have multiple levers to drive average revenue per member growth over time .

Speaker #5: This includes a regular cadence of price increases , closing the pricing gap with discounted members that we have acquired via our partnership channels and services such as Clear Concierge , which are add on transactional opportunities in aggregate , our member and pricing performance delivered sequential accelerating bookings growth in Q3 , and we expect that to continue in Q4 as we close out the year .

Speaker #5: Q3 gross dollar retention was 86.9% , down 40 basis points sequentially and consistent with our expectations as the impact from the larger general airline and family price increases we took in 2023 continued to normalize .

Speaker #5: Clear one is scaling and delivered a record quarter of bookings , excluding one time health pass performance in 2022 . We ended Q3 with 35.8 million total members , up 35.1% year over year and indicative of the momentum that we are seeing in clear one , our product innovation continues to drive meaningful impact to our value proposition and also our cost structure .

Speaker #5: Ambassador , efficiency and member throughput is significantly improved with our MVPs verification pods as we scale e-gates across our network in Q4 and into 2026 , we have the opportunity to rethink and reposition our ambassadors towards the highest value hospitality driving services for our members .

Speaker #5: Cost of direct salaries and benefits represented 20.8% of revenue in Q3 and improvement of approximately 180 basis points year over year . We continue to drive operating leverage through disciplined resource allocation and corporate cost efficiencies with Jeanné representing 25.7% of revenue , an improvement of approximately 150 basis points year over year .

Speaker #5: Taken together , we generated $52.6 million of operating income , representing a 23% operating margin and 5.3 percentage points of margin . Expansion versus Q3 2024 .

Speaker #5: And we generated $70.1 million of adjusted EBITDA , representing a 30.6% adjusted EBITDA margin and 6.1 percentage points of margin expansion year on year .

Speaker #5: delivered 47.3 million of net cash used in operating activities and -53.5 million of free cash flow , both figures reflect the annual payment to our credit card partner of approximately $229 million .

Speaker #5: We ended the quarter with $533 million of cash and marketable securities . After returning 16.7 million of capital to shareholders through our regular quarterly dividend of 12.5 cents per share and distributions .

Speaker #5: We ended the quarter with $533 million of cash and marketable securities . After returning 16.7 million of capital to shareholders through our regular quarterly dividend of 12.5 cents per share and distributions We Turning to guidance for Q4 .

Speaker #5: We expect revenue of 234 to $237 million and total bookings of 265 to $270 million , representing 14.2% and 16.8% growth at the midpoint , respectively .

Speaker #5: This would reflect another quarter of accelerating growth from a bookings perspective . We continue to expect expanding adjusted EBITDA margins for the full year 2025 versus 2024 , and we are increasing our 2025 full year free cash flow guidance from 310 million to at least $320 million .

Speaker #5: Our free cash flow guidance reflects both the impact of additional CapEx related to our E-gates rollout , which was not originally anticipated at the onset of the year , as well as certain cash tax benefits related to the one big Beautiful Bill act , which went into effect in Q3 .

Speaker #5: With that , we will open the call for Q&A .

Speaker #3: Thank you. We will now be conducting a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad.

Speaker #3: A confirmation tone will indicate that your line is in the question queue . You may press star two . If you would like to remove your question from the queue .

Speaker #3: For participants using speaker equipment , it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys . We ask that analysts limit themselves to one question and a follow up so that others may have the opportunity to do so as well .

Speaker #3: One moment please . While we pull for questions . Our first question comes from Joshua Riley with Needham and Co . Please proceed with your question .

Speaker #6: All right . Thanks for taking my questions and a very nice job on the quarter here . How should we be thinking about the strong bookings guidance for Q4 , which is above my model ?

Speaker #6: How much of that upside is being driven by clear plus versus maybe some clear one ? And B2B deals that are a little bit bigger than maybe what you would have historically had ?

Speaker #5: Thanks , Josh . Nice to hear from you . So I would say we expect the product to member experience improvements that we're driving really across all dimensions of our business .

Speaker #5: If you think about mobile , one step enrollment to international to E-gates , all of this work is really impacting both member retention as well as member acquisition .

Speaker #5: And if you couple that with clear one , which continues to gain traction , as we talked about on the call with our enterprise customers , that business is starting to contribute more meaningfully to to top line .

Speaker #5: We obviously are not breaking out clear plus versus clear one in our in our guidance specifically , but we we did share that clear one had its largest bookings quarter .

Speaker #5: If you exclude health pass back in 2022 . And we expect that momentum to continue into Q4 .

Speaker #6: Got it . That's helpful . And then on the , you know , maybe what are some of the moving parts investors should be considering in terms of the , you know , it was a small sequential decline in gross dollar retention , but offsetting that is , you just implemented a price increase , obviously , at the beginning of the quarter , which should be a tailwind to that metric .

Speaker #6: How should we kind of be thinking about , you know , what happened in the quarter there and maybe the trajectory of that metric going forward

Speaker #5: Sure . So on gross dollar retention . So as a reminder , we took about $60 and $40 of price increase to our general airline .

Speaker #5: And family pricing plans back in 2023 . So from a gross dollar perspective , those pricing changes impact that metric over a 24 month period and sort of an accordion fashion .

Speaker #5: So think about the fourth and fifth quarter . Having the greatest positive contribution to to GDR . So this quarter , our GDR of 86.9% was anticipated .

Speaker #5: So think about the fourth and fifth quarter . Having the greatest positive contribution to to GDR . So this ? of this , which you alluded to is , is kind of the impact of retention .

Speaker #5: And if there's anything that we're seeing from our July 1st pricing increases this year , and I would say we're not having we're not seeing a material impact on retention .

Speaker #5: In fact , while , you know , it's early , but we're actually encouraged by the retention patterns we're seeing in recent months , which we believe are a result of the customer experience improvements that we're driving .

Speaker #6: Awesome . I'll pass the line . Thank you guys .

Speaker #3: Our next question comes from Corey Carpenter with J.P. Morgan . Please proceed with your question .

Speaker #7: Hey . Good morning . Thanks for the question . I have two , one on a follow up . So maybe just first would be good to hear what you're seeing in recent weeks .

Speaker #7: Just given a lot of the headline noise around TSA staffing issues . How is that impacting you or how do you think it could impact clear ?

Speaker #7: Should the shutdown persist in the coming weeks?

Speaker #4: Hi Cory , it's Karen , so as someone who just flew Newark to San Francisco Tuesday , I will say that going through the clear gates in San Francisco , in Newark were magical .

Speaker #4: And so I think the technology that we are putting out and the new services that we are putting out couldn't be coming at a better time .

Speaker #4: But I think that there's really two parts to the shutdown traffic and experience . And actually traffic has been trending upwards despite the government shutdown .

Speaker #4: It was up almost 4% in October . So even with the FAA announcement yesterday of trimming , we're heading into a very strong holiday travel season .

Speaker #4: And so , you know , I think that traffic continues to be strong on both the leisure and the corporate side . But certainly you are seeing challenges in some places regarding the experience .

Speaker #4: And I think regarding experience , clear is a private company is there to help all stakeholders improve the experience . And when I say all stakeholders , travelers are at the center of that .

Speaker #4: But that's airports, that's airlines, that's TSA and the federal government. And so I think our capabilities really shine through in these moments.

Speaker #4: And , you know , the overall airport experience , you're seeing it on the news remains highly challenging . So we are seeing a lot of excitement and appreciation for our improved member experience .

Speaker #7: Great . Thanks for the follow up , Karen . Just curious to hear how you're thinking about you have a big upcoming credit card renewal next year .

Speaker #7: Not expecting you to comment one way or the other on if you'll do it or not, but just kind of how you're thinking.

Speaker #7: Clears changed a lot in the five years since you initially signed it . So how are you thinking about the key considerations as you weigh your options there ?

Speaker #7: Thank you .

Speaker #8: Yeah , thanks . You know , Amex and our partnership there , we've had a great partnership with Amex and we're definitely pleased to be one of the highlighted benefits of the Platinum Card refresh , where Clear Plus is one of the key travel benefits that Platinum Card members value .

Speaker #8: And we also saw with Amex's recent announcement announcement of their refresh and the supporting and the marketing support for it , that the Platinum Card refresh really created good awareness around the embedded Clear Plus benefit .

Speaker #8: So as we look to our future partnership , we're going to make sure that the value that we bring to the benefits package is reflected in the terms of an ongoing agreement .

Speaker #8: And we really value our credit card partnership . And we'll share more information as it becomes available .

Speaker #3: Our next question comes from Mark Kelley with Stifel . Please proceed with your question .

Speaker #9: Great . Thanks very much . I had two quick ones . First one is , you know , as you continue to scale and you grow the membership base in your you're raising prices and the economics are , you know , clearly accruing to you .

Speaker #9: Does that give you an opportunity to go back to some of the agreements ? You know , when they come up for renewal with the different airports to maybe get better economics as well ?

Speaker #9: Like , are your agreements more tied to an absolute dollar number ? But expressed as like a rev share percentage and maybe would that , be a positive for your margins over time ?

Speaker #9: And second , just a quick one . We'd love to hear how you think about advertising . Bigger picture . You know , I feel like you continue to add more value to to the membership .

Speaker #9: You have all these great , you know , features and products that I think maybe even current members sometimes don't even realize you have .

Speaker #9: So maybe can you help me think about how to make people more aware of , you know , the broader offering versus what may be in people's heads historically ?

Speaker #9: Thank you .

Speaker #4: Sure. And so I agree with you. This is Karen. I don't think enough people know about all the great things that Clear is doing from home to gate.

Speaker #4: And that's an opportunity . But let me take your first question about airports . We have 60 airport partners today . We have over 160 lanes and and we expect to continue to grow our network .

Speaker #4: I prize we prize our airport partnerships and relationships . And I think they just continue to strengthen through the years . You know , we've been at this for 15 years and we have done what we said we're going to do on an innovation perspective , right ?

Speaker #4: We've gone from smart cards to fingerprint and eyes to face , and now with E-gates , which is something that we have been working on and talking about for five years , and today we're at ten airports .

Speaker #4: We continue to roll them out and so that innovation is so appreciated by our airport partners . And I think it's a really powerful economic partnership that its success based .

Speaker #4: And it's a win win for us and for airports . So when I think about margins , what I think about is our opportunity to continue to drive automation and innovation and scale .

Speaker #4: I think E-gates drive enormous efficiency . I think new services like concierge drive , enormous opportunities for high margin new revenue sources . And to your point now , about awareness and home to gate , right .

Speaker #4: We have an app . We are going to be improving our app . We have concierge now live in 23 airports . More coming .

Speaker #4: We have E-gates and there's so much more we can be doing . And so driving this home to gate Journey and experience is really important for us to communicate .

Speaker #4: I do think the best communication are happy customers and great word of mouth . And so when we talk about improving customer experience scores , improving NPS scores , improving employee satisfaction scores , improving hospitality scores , all of that is the best advertising we can do because members talk and we think that there's more that we can do to drive awareness cheap and cheerful .

Speaker #4: But you'll find me and us . More on Instagram . And so we are definitely leaning in to new ways to tell our story .

Speaker #4: And I think in the world of , you know , not just SEO , but how you leverage AI and share the story in so many different digital ways .

Speaker #4: We are definitely thinking a lot more about that . But you know , it starts with happy customers and that is what we are most excited about right now .

Speaker #4: And now you're right , we need to tell that story in bigger ways , both for the member experience and our services , but also clear as a secure identity company .

Speaker #4: Right . So I think you're going to see us lean into both sides of that story .

Speaker #9: Perfect . Thank you very much .

Speaker #3: Our next question comes from Dana Telsey with Telsey Advisory Group . Please proceed with your question .

Speaker #10: Great for Dana . Congratulations on a great quarter . You know , we the question is about e-gates . You know , it's an exclusive benefit for Clear Plus members .

Speaker #10: And we feel like it is game changing to the model because it solidifies your relationship with the clear plus members . You know it's great to see launched in the New York area .

Speaker #10: Just curious to know can you share some more statistics on like , you know , how it has changed ? The member experience any color on operations side like verification , speed or the process of clearance and any capital investment , any color you can share on E-gates would be helpful .

Speaker #4: Yeah , I'll start and then maybe Jen and Michael want to chime in . As I said on the call , what we're hearing from our members is the word magical .

Speaker #4: And so today we're at 10 airports. We expect to be at at least 30 airports by the end of the year, starting in the PreCheck lanes.

Speaker #4: And then adding other lanes . We expect to be nationwide in 2026 . And , you know , something that I want to .

Speaker #4: So you are seeing a significant improvement in member experience scores in MPs . We talked about the speed less than one minute through the lane , less than five seconds for verification .

Speaker #4: I think what's really important and part of the magic is the predictability . Right . So when you have it on either end of your trip , you know exactly what you're getting .

Speaker #4: And it is the same every time . You know , I think there's a saying when we started and it's still there today , you've seen one airport , you've seen one airport every airport , every lane , every terminal , every security checkpoint is different .

Speaker #4: And so having this predictable , consistent , universal experience is so important for both domestic travelers . But I would also add now for international travelers .

Speaker #4: So, being able to add 42 different visa waiver countries and having those travelers be able to enroll when they have not been able to have anything in the U.S., and having those experiences look like Doha, Singapore, Tokyo, and London.

Speaker #4: It's such a great step forward . But the other thing that I want to add to that is that e-gates are magical . We've been working on them for a long time .

Speaker #4: That's awesome . Our real thing is the journey . The whole journey , the mobile , the concierge , the home to gate , the family , the pre-check .

Speaker #4: Like being able to meet travelers where they are and craft a customized journey for them from home to gate and back again . And e-gates are certainly a great unlock , and it unlocks our team members , our ambassadors , to drive the hospitality .

Speaker #4: So we're really excited about the nationwide rollout , excited about the customer feedback , excited about the scale , and I probably just took all of Jen and Michael's talking points , but I'll turn it over to them .

Speaker #4: Yeah .

Speaker #8: I think the only thing I would add is that , you know , we have been very , very focused on all of those pieces that Karen just talked about in terms of improving the member experience .

Speaker #8: And that is what we show up every day doing . That's what our 3500 ambassadors across our 60 airports wake up and deliver right every day for travelers .

Speaker #8: And what can be a challenging experience . And I think one of the things that we're most pleased about is seeing the improvements in our lane experience scores , which really measure what's happening in the moment of the experience , as well as our NPS scores and we're seeing that across the network .

Speaker #8: But then what we're really specifically seeing it on is the change that we're seeing once E-gates go in and we're very encouraged by that because we believe that delivering that member experience is , critical to to our success .

Speaker #8: And we're pleased to be to be making good progress there .

Speaker #5: And I'd just add , I think you had a capital question tied in , tied in there , but we are not disclosing the specific CapEx associated with E-gates .

Speaker #5: But but that is incremental CapEx spend that we were not anticipating at the onset of the year . It is reflected in our revised and increased full , full year free cash flow guidance , which we increased .

Speaker #5: So that gives you some perspective of of kind of scale of CapEx and , you know , not not material . I think from an overall business perspective , the last thing I think is important is from an ROI standpoint , if you think about E-gates and the labor savings that we can create with , with the E-gates , we have a pretty unique ability to repurpose our ambassadors towards what we believe are the highest hospitality driving services for our members .

Speaker #10: That's that's great . Now , very helpful . And you know , the other big initiative is the international . I feel expanding the the clear plus to 40 countries member travelers from 40 countries .

Speaker #10: A big , big opportunity question is how do you market to these people ? We are already seeing some gains . As you mentioned before , but how are you marketing to these people ?

Speaker #10: Is it like in the future , like would you have like airlines , partnership , credit card partnerships , like you have it in the US or it's more like targeted like UK or you know , France or just curious to know how you are targeting and you know , how meaningful it can be for like next two years for you guys .

Speaker #10: Thank you .

Speaker #8: Yeah . Thanks . Thanks for the question . I think we're yeah , we're very , very excited about the introduction of our ability to enroll international travelers from 42 countries in the clear , plus product .

Speaker #8: As you know , this is this is still relatively early innings for us . But we're really pleased with with what Jen has shared in terms of the the early enrollment with relatively limited marketing , our plans are to certainly do our own marketing efforts , but then as we've done with our domestic business here in the US , find really meaningful strategic partnerships that help us drive both awareness and and enrollment from across these countries where folks are have heavy travel patterns within the US .

Speaker #8: And we're certainly excited about trying to find ways to help folks in particular , who are coming for the World Cup next summer be able to use the benefits of the clear plus lane when they're traveling to and from the World Cup and within the country .

Speaker #8: As we know that that travel will be will be busy around that important event that's coming up .

Speaker #4: I just I just want to add to what Michael is saying , and I talked about it on the call . I think we are heading into a travel boom .

Speaker #4: Right ? Like look past the government shutdown . The World Cup , the America 250 Olympics in 2028 , business travel , rebounding .

Speaker #4: You know , we've been saying for some time that today there's about 3 million people a day coming through airports . I think by 2030 you're going to have 4 million people a day .

Speaker #4: Travel is growing here in the US and our infrastructure needs to shine . We need to be better than Tokyo and Doha and Singapore and Paris was for the Olympics .

Speaker #4: And I think the power of public , private partnership and innovation and putting the customer at the center like you do in so many different industries , gives our airports our travelers , a unique opportunity .

Speaker #4: And certainly creates a moment for us , which is why you see us launching more products over the past six months than I think we have over the past few years .

Speaker #10: That's great . I'll pass it on . Thank you .

Speaker #3: Our next question comes from Michael Turrin with Wells Fargo Securities . Please proceed with your question .

Speaker #11: Hey , great . Thanks very much . Appreciate you

Speaker #11: . First , I want to go back to just some of the commentary on IG and the incremental CapEx relative really to what you're expecting at the start of the year .

Speaker #11: Is it the rollout to ten ? Is that happening faster than you expected at this point , or is the rollout generally as expected as E-gates have started to come to market in some of the major airports and then any incremental commentary you can give us ?

Speaker #11: There's been some hints around the ability to shift the ambassadors , but any other ways for us to think about incremental margin of gate relative to the traditional clear plus business ?

Speaker #4: Thanks for your question . I think to Jen's point that some of the CapEx was not calculated at the beginning of the year .

Speaker #4: Certainly , we've been pushing on E-gates for quite a while . It has taken us longer to get them out , and then once this administration was ready to move , it is moving faster and we couldn't be more thrilled that they are moving at the speed of business .

Speaker #4: So while some were thought of this year , not only have we rolled out , but we're buying forward for , you know , the the ones that we're rolling out this year .

Speaker #4: And then more for next year . So I would say it is happening faster and we are thrilled by that . And then yes , certainly , E-gates frees up our ambassadors to , you know , be used for their highest and best use , which is hospitality and service .

Speaker #4: And again , this is about the entire home to gate experience . And that's so important . So I'll , you know , so I think that's just a really big opportunity for us to roll out new revenue streams with no or low incremental costs .

Speaker #4: And I think that when you think about the second derivative impacts , gross adds trial conversion , retention family ads , things of that nature , it all just connects .

Speaker #4: And so it's just it's a really exciting moment . E-gates are a great unlock for us to drive this home to . Gate journey and for us to launch and build new products around it as well .

Speaker #11: Thanks for that . And maybe just on .

Speaker #5: Maybe just to add on your incremental margins point , you know , you've seen us continue to deliver pretty significant margin expansion on a on a consistent basis .

Speaker #5: This quarter , 30.6% of EBITDA margin was over 600 basis points year on year , over 300 points sequentially . This quarter , we we we delivered operating leverage across every line of of our personnel , both again sequentially and and year over year .

Speaker #5: And I think innovation such as E-gates really gives us the opportunity to either reallocate capital and or flow it through to the bottom line .

Speaker #11: Thanks for that . Just a small follow on , just on the bookings growth , improvement in the second half are the tailwinds that you'd previously indicated from from pricing or what you're or what you were expecting from pricing holding consistent since the since the July 1st price increase .

Speaker #11: Thank you .

Speaker #12: Yeah , I .

Speaker #5: Think the short answer is yes . The pricing increases . Obviously are improving our our Rpu equation . And ultimately our bookings growth in the back half of of this year .

Speaker #3: Our next question comes from Wyatt Swanson with D.A. Davidson . Please proceed with your question .

Speaker #13: Good morning . Thanks for taking the questions . First question , I realize it's early , but could you provide some thoughts on how concierge is doing , how usage has maybe looked thus far , and how it's tracking relative to your expectations ?

Speaker #8: Yeah , we're we're really pleased with the rollout of concierge in terms of the the experience that we're providing for those members who taking advantage of it .

Speaker #8: As Karen mentioned , we're in 23 airports . We're , you know , hoping to launch more airports by the end of the year .

Speaker #8: And continuing to expand the footprint are who are think that one of the key things for us is continuing to drive awareness on concierge , you know , has just been launched here in a in a meaningful way over the last few months .

Speaker #8: And we do think that what we're seeing is that the members who are using it are , are really appreciating it . We're seeing a lot of repeat usage for those who have tried it .

Speaker #8: And so our our big effort will be in continuing to expand awareness and getting more folks to try it , because we think that it offers an incredible service for families , for folks who may need a little more assistance , or folks who are worried about getting to their to their flight on time .

Speaker #8: And so in this , you know , moment when the airport experience , you know , is challenged and , and traffic is up , we really think is an incredible value proposition for our members .

Speaker #8: And , you know , as Karen described , we think it's a really important step in helping people understand that the clear Plus membership really expands from home to gate .

Speaker #8: And that'll be something that we continue to emphasize and roll out product and innovation around to enhance our members experience and the value of the clear Plus membership .

Speaker #13: Got it .

Speaker #4: And I just . want to add to that , that the question that came earlier , I think our opportunity set going forward is awareness and

Speaker #4: communications . We if you look at us concierge two years ago , we had one product , right ? And now we have you can really customize your product for your needs , for your journey and driving that awareness as well as the ease of enrollment .

Speaker #4: And that's where mobile is so important . So yes , we have one step mobile enrollment . Now you can add concierge to that .

Speaker #4: There's a lot more that we're doing to drive digital enrollment . So that you just can come to the airport , show up .

Speaker #4: And it all happens magically .

Speaker #13: Great . Thank you very much . And then could you maybe provide an update on your largest channels for adding Clear Plus members during the quarter ?

Speaker #13: And how is the TSA PreCheck bundling channel sort of developing as you continue to scale that deployment ?

Speaker #12: Yeah , I mean , by and large , we we think about .

Speaker #5: Member acquisition .

Speaker #12: Really .

Speaker #5: At the highest level between airports . And then our digital marketing efforts . So I'd break it out between between those two and from a bundling perspective , we are still seeing significant success .

Speaker #5: There . We haven't shared a specific kind of cross-sell percentage , but we're happy with the percentage of of TSA PreCheck customers that we're able to to cross into clear plus .

Speaker #13: Thank you .

Speaker #3: There are no further questions at this time , so I'd now like to turn the floor back over to Caryn Seidman Becker for closing comments .

Speaker #4: Thank you for joining our third quarter earnings call . It is certainly an important time to be a secure identity company , and we are confident and excited as we wrap up the year .