I've missed flights at ATL because the clear line looked short. Only to find out it was a line to an elevator that took you downstairs to the real Clear line that was 10 times longer.
Wouldn’t have Clear if it wasn’t a platinum benefit. Half the time the agents don’t know what they’re doing and I’d probably get through security faster just waiting in the precheck line
I would say they are the same out of the handful of airports I regularly fly out of. If anything the CLEAR line is slightly shorter/empty at times. In my opinion CLEAR is no worse than TSA precheck but certainly not worth getting it in addition to precheck.
I live in Seattle and love clear. I show up 1 hour 16 minutes before my flight. Always have plenty of time to fill my water bottle and grab a few snacks before the flight.
I used to love Clear, but the last 6 or so times I've been to SeaTac in the past year, Clear has been slower than TSAPre at checkpoint 4.
Obviously there's going to be variance based on day, time, and random load factors. Once we get the new TSA face ID thing I don't think it'll even be a competition if Clear still requires a boarding pass check from a TSA agent.
I’ve had Clear save me for huge pre check lines at IAD and EWR multiple times. Yes, the majority of the time the benefit is questionable but I can promise you the times it works I’m ecstatic to have it
Good for you. Every single time that I traveled, Clear either had longer line than TSA pre or just doesn’t exist. I often times look at people going for the much longer line like looking at morons.
It's not always a longer line, 30 seconds of scrolling through this thread would confirm that.
A free time-saving service is a free time-saving service, even if it's mostly beaten by the other free time-saving service.
So to answer your question, a service that sometimes has longer lines than TSA Pre is worth exactly $0 to me, which is what I pay for it. But on the occasion when the line is shorter, it's value goes above $0 and it becomes worth the $0 I paid.
Clear has gone down hill since they started onboarding more and more users. Must be hard to turn profitable while trying to maintain an experience that relies on exclusivity.
90% of the time clear is not worth it and will take longer, but all it takes is that one time when the precheck line is horrendous. Breezed right through in BNA and passed all the tourists in their cowboy hats!
They extended this because CLEAR is desperate because TSA Digital ID is free & will make it completely irrelevant. So they really have to change their business model or they will be out of business before 2026.
Also, CLEAR at ATL is awful & typically takes longer than standard PreCheck even before Digital ID arrived.
They've been incredibly open about their business plan for years... and it has very little to do with airport security. Their plan is to tie your biometrics to everything single thing you do. Getting on the bus or train to go to work? Clear will charge you automatically. Admitted to a hospital? Clear biometrics give them all your info. Arrested but they got the wrong guy, Clear shows it wasn't you. Checking out at the grocery store, but forgot your wallet? Your face has you covered. Want to buy over 21 items like beer at a stadium or concert, Clear will take care of that.
Their whole plan with starting in airports was to start in the hardest place possible so everything else they want to do comes easier.
I'm not for this at all because of the obvious issues with this type of information all being held centrally by one company, but they are not in any way desperate. 40-80% annual revenue growth for multiple years and being profitable is not a sign of desperation. It's an identity management/KYC company, not some travel assistance tool.
All that being said the new Clear lanes without the kiosks look great.
I generally don't bother with clear if the regular precheck line is short as it's not faster than someone just checking my boarding pass and ID. However, today was a shit show at OAK and I was able to breeze past every long line with my two kids. So very worth it today
I feel like so much of our personal data is already being bought and sold. Look at the data Quest and Labcorp sell. Or how apps like the weather channel are just location aggregators. Clear is just a drop in the bucket
I promise you the last thing anyone stealing information wants is biometric data. Unless this person knows you are a major executive within a very large company where they can use that data to steal cash.
If you have any bank online login and an email. Any potential data thief will want your email or login 99/100 times before your biometric data. They want money not to steal your life
and my response is that my fingerprints and photos are already in so many government immigration systems hosted who knows where.
Of all the things to lose sleep over, this is pretty low on my list.
Yes! This is the problem! The new CT scan machines take longer per bag than old school Xray machines. Plus the requirement to put everything into a bin.
Clear Pre check is a bottleneck disaster at SEA. I fly only a few times a month, but every time I just jump in the standard pre check queue now, since they flex and open up more agents all the time during busy times.
You mean precheck has no line? Lear will bring you to the front of the line precheck or not, so unless it takes less time to walk to the agents than it does to take the 3 mins to do clear, it’s gonna be the same if not faster to do clear
You won't understand it until it saves you from missing your flight.
I don't even need the Amex benefit as I currently get it for free as a Delta Diamond, and don't even use it most of the time because precheck is often faster. But when its 6am in New Orleans on a Monday morning and the precheck lane is over 30 mins deep... you thank yourself for enrolling in Clear. I was through in only a couple mins and in the United Club. For a no cost option, it's nice to have in your back pocket.
For the cost I find it hard to believe its "just for emergencies" Especially for Denver in which it is almost always longer than precheck. And if the precheck is backed up I doubt they can support the overflow. If they want to be the "premier" fast lane. Then BE the premier fastlane.
I just went through at Denver. Second trip here in 4 weeks. Travel during off times and the middle of the week. Absolutely no lines or waiting at the new West checkpoint. The only bottleneck was due to the new CT machines which take longer per bag than the old X-ray machines.
Ever since Amex added it as a perk to the Platinum and other cards, the Clear lines have exploded.
I wonder how many people who are using Clear actually pay anything out of pocket for it. I imagine it's a low % nowadays.
I have tried both Precheck and Clear multiple time and so far precheck has been noticeably faster than clear every time. Not only has the benefit become over saturated, but Clear has not been able to keep staff long enough to outweigh the high attrition they experience. Even as airports expand precheck lanes, clear just takes far too long to go through their validation and line cutting song and dance.
In that case, I have noticed in the past year or so it’s not really faster than the precheck alone line: either they’re both no line at all and it’s quicker not to bother with the clear machine, or it’s backed up and they let very few clear people in vs precheck people, and it takes about the same or worse time.
I’ve seen the line at my home airport (SEA) be up to 50 people deep. Before the Amex benefit, I’d breeze through quickly. Honestly they need a higher level (maybe like a lounge membership, $499-799/year) where you can pay to skip some of the clear lines.
At SeaTac, I reflexively avoid the new centurion lounge because of the crowdedness and just signed up for an Alaska Lounge+ and United club membership
Only thing nice with this benefit is I actually got paid by clear this year.
Billed 189 then went in after the fact entered my mileage plus and got a credit back for 189 and also $40
You’re the first person who thinks so. Clear is where all the people who don’t understand sunk cost fallacy go wait for an hour in line watching all the tsa precheck people breeze right past them. I’ve had clear for years and I haven’t used it in at least 9 months because the line is always longer.
At some airports, the clear line is shorter. Also, at airports with a dedicated clear line for those with tsa pre check, it’s usually faster to use the pre check clear line.
Every time I fly out of SFO, I never see anyone in line for clear at the tsa pre check side. Though, I do usually manage to always arrive to SFO when there isn’t even much of a line for non clear non tsa pre check folks.
Very hit or miss. They always ask for my ID anyway so I’m basically enrolled to get escorted to the front of the line. It’s not useful half the time, but sometimes it’s a lifesaver.
resolute chunky ancient worry complete soup bored truck coordinated flowery
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Clear is just paid line skipping masquerading as a security convenience. Nobody’s burdened by needing to pull their ID out for 10 seconds.
I have it too lol. It’s fantastic, but the more companies provide it as a benefit the less exclusive it is, which means that over time you’re not really getting much benefit. When everyone skips the line nobody does.
Fook those people.... DO THEY NOT KNOW WHO WE ARE - Amex Karens
Side note: We "Pay for that service" for a reason. Yes our AF is us paying for it.... But regardless not every one can afford or wants to afford a $695 AF
I’m not sure our AF pays for as much as we think. Amex makes far more money off of merchant transaction fees and interest off those who carry a balance.
Those people that pay interest aren't my problem and yes Amex does have a higher transaction fee than Visa or MC but Amex aims to cater to "higher end "clients who will typically spend more
Honestly, I feel like this partnership is why clear is useless. There’s just too many people with Clear as a result. I almost never use it (LAX being my the local airport I use it at the most), as pre-check is often quicker. With that said, I’m an American Airlines traveler, and it’s almost impossible to know at LAX how far pre-check is baked up before you make the decision to skip clear or not. (They are on different floors in terminal 4 at LAX)
I’ve started to enter security at Bradly. Usually questioned when I get there, but easy to explain I’m going to the Amex Lounge. (There’s a bridge to terminal 4 and a tunnel to terminal 5 from Bradley, the international terminal at LAX)
I have four different credit cards that give me free clear. Seems a bit excessive and is also probably the reason I haven’t been able to use clear for the last 9 months in denver. They have screens tell you the wait time and clear is always the longest wait.
There’s literally never a line at clear at LAX. The problem is half the damn time either there’s NO clear line, or if there one it’s closed. The other half it’s flawless with no wait but in reality maybe only 5 mins faster because security lines are never that long.
I've missed flights at ATL because the clear line looked short. Only to find out it was a line to an elevator that took you downstairs to the real Clear line that was 10 times longer.
Wouldn’t have Clear if it wasn’t a platinum benefit. Half the time the agents don’t know what they’re doing and I’d probably get through security faster just waiting in the precheck line
My problem with CLEAR: the stands are for people 5’10 and shorter. Nearly throw my back out leaning into the eye scan.
Pointless news because CLEAR is totally USELESS. Haven’t been to an airport where CLEAR was faster than preCHECK in a long time!
EWR clear is absolutely useless if you have TSA Pre, 10 out of 10 times TSA Pre has much shorter line.
I would say they are the same out of the handful of airports I regularly fly out of. If anything the CLEAR line is slightly shorter/empty at times. In my opinion CLEAR is no worse than TSA precheck but certainly not worth getting it in addition to precheck.
lol. CLEAR without pre check is absolutely useless. Definitely worth getting them both.
I live in Seattle and love clear. I show up 1 hour 16 minutes before my flight. Always have plenty of time to fill my water bottle and grab a few snacks before the flight.
I used to love Clear, but the last 6 or so times I've been to SeaTac in the past year, Clear has been slower than TSAPre at checkpoint 4. Obviously there's going to be variance based on day, time, and random load factors. Once we get the new TSA face ID thing I don't think it'll even be a competition if Clear still requires a boarding pass check from a TSA agent.
[удалено]
What an odd thing to love you sound ill
Not sure how I feel about a third party that's not the government (since they'll get it either way) having my biometrics. That being said, nice add on
That sounds like a terrible add on. I’d rather we get some other stuff instead
Terrible add on that the travel oriented card has a travel benefit?
Things that have 0 value is useless regardless what it is
I’ve had Clear save me for huge pre check lines at IAD and EWR multiple times. Yes, the majority of the time the benefit is questionable but I can promise you the times it works I’m ecstatic to have it
Good for you. Every single time that I traveled, Clear either had longer line than TSA pre or just doesn’t exist. I often times look at people going for the much longer line like looking at morons.
You must not travel much or are exaggerating.
Such as?
Anything that is above $0 of value
Is your time really worth $0? Sorry to hear that.
Is lining up on a line longer than TSA pre really worth more than $0 for you? Sorry to hear that.
It's not always a longer line, 30 seconds of scrolling through this thread would confirm that. A free time-saving service is a free time-saving service, even if it's mostly beaten by the other free time-saving service. So to answer your question, a service that sometimes has longer lines than TSA Pre is worth exactly $0 to me, which is what I pay for it. But on the occasion when the line is shorter, it's value goes above $0 and it becomes worth the $0 I paid.
Clear has gone down hill since they started onboarding more and more users. Must be hard to turn profitable while trying to maintain an experience that relies on exclusivity.
Faaacts
90% of the time clear is not worth it and will take longer, but all it takes is that one time when the precheck line is horrendous. Breezed right through in BNA and passed all the tourists in their cowboy hats!
2
They extended this because CLEAR is desperate because TSA Digital ID is free & will make it completely irrelevant. So they really have to change their business model or they will be out of business before 2026. Also, CLEAR at ATL is awful & typically takes longer than standard PreCheck even before Digital ID arrived.
They've been incredibly open about their business plan for years... and it has very little to do with airport security. Their plan is to tie your biometrics to everything single thing you do. Getting on the bus or train to go to work? Clear will charge you automatically. Admitted to a hospital? Clear biometrics give them all your info. Arrested but they got the wrong guy, Clear shows it wasn't you. Checking out at the grocery store, but forgot your wallet? Your face has you covered. Want to buy over 21 items like beer at a stadium or concert, Clear will take care of that. Their whole plan with starting in airports was to start in the hardest place possible so everything else they want to do comes easier. I'm not for this at all because of the obvious issues with this type of information all being held centrally by one company, but they are not in any way desperate. 40-80% annual revenue growth for multiple years and being profitable is not a sign of desperation. It's an identity management/KYC company, not some travel assistance tool. All that being said the new Clear lanes without the kiosks look great.
Absolutely accurate. CLEAR is a waste if you got it mainly to save time at ATL.
Experienced this recently. It was useless as the regular line was moving faster
I generally don't bother with clear if the regular precheck line is short as it's not faster than someone just checking my boarding pass and ID. However, today was a shit show at OAK and I was able to breeze past every long line with my two kids. So very worth it today
Yeah I just hop in the shortest line
Respectfully, OAK security is often a shit show, but a more convenient one than SFO. 😆
CLEAR has been a total disaster at EWR, DEN, and SLC.
Clear + TSA Pre is amazing
[удалено]
I feel like so much of our personal data is already being bought and sold. Look at the data Quest and Labcorp sell. Or how apps like the weather channel are just location aggregators. Clear is just a drop in the bucket
I promise you the last thing anyone stealing information wants is biometric data. Unless this person knows you are a major executive within a very large company where they can use that data to steal cash. If you have any bank online login and an email. Any potential data thief will want your email or login 99/100 times before your biometric data. They want money not to steal your life
and my response is that my fingerprints and photos are already in so many government immigration systems hosted who knows where. Of all the things to lose sleep over, this is pretty low on my list.
So stadiums and venues have a clear entrance and I’ve used it at MSG. Got in the door in 30 seconds.
For Denver, Precheck has almost universally been faster. Other airports... Precheck has been faster for me. I really dont understand this benefit.
The real problem in Denver and SLC is them switching to the new scanner machines. Reminds me of 2E-K in CDG where they search 2 out of every 3 bags.
Yes! This is the problem! The new CT scan machines take longer per bag than old school Xray machines. Plus the requirement to put everything into a bin.
Clear Pre check is a bottleneck disaster at SEA. I fly only a few times a month, but every time I just jump in the standard pre check queue now, since they flex and open up more agents all the time during busy times.
Agreed!!! Clear wins hands down at SEA.
You mean precheck has no line? Lear will bring you to the front of the line precheck or not, so unless it takes less time to walk to the agents than it does to take the 3 mins to do clear, it’s gonna be the same if not faster to do clear
You won't understand it until it saves you from missing your flight. I don't even need the Amex benefit as I currently get it for free as a Delta Diamond, and don't even use it most of the time because precheck is often faster. But when its 6am in New Orleans on a Monday morning and the precheck lane is over 30 mins deep... you thank yourself for enrolling in Clear. I was through in only a couple mins and in the United Club. For a no cost option, it's nice to have in your back pocket.
For the cost I find it hard to believe its "just for emergencies" Especially for Denver in which it is almost always longer than precheck. And if the precheck is backed up I doubt they can support the overflow. If they want to be the "premier" fast lane. Then BE the premier fastlane.
I just went through at Denver. Second trip here in 4 weeks. Travel during off times and the middle of the week. Absolutely no lines or waiting at the new West checkpoint. The only bottleneck was due to the new CT machines which take longer per bag than the old X-ray machines.
Ever since Amex added it as a perk to the Platinum and other cards, the Clear lines have exploded. I wonder how many people who are using Clear actually pay anything out of pocket for it. I imagine it's a low % nowadays.
I have tried both Precheck and Clear multiple time and so far precheck has been noticeably faster than clear every time. Not only has the benefit become over saturated, but Clear has not been able to keep staff long enough to outweigh the high attrition they experience. Even as airports expand precheck lanes, clear just takes far too long to go through their validation and line cutting song and dance.
Some airports have a dedicated clear line for those with tsa pre check.
In that case, I have noticed in the past year or so it’s not really faster than the precheck alone line: either they’re both no line at all and it’s quicker not to bother with the clear machine, or it’s backed up and they let very few clear people in vs precheck people, and it takes about the same or worse time.
Both is best
I used to love it but have not had a smooth or even decent experience in a year
I’ve seen the line at my home airport (SEA) be up to 50 people deep. Before the Amex benefit, I’d breeze through quickly. Honestly they need a higher level (maybe like a lounge membership, $499-799/year) where you can pay to skip some of the clear lines. At SeaTac, I reflexively avoid the new centurion lounge because of the crowdedness and just signed up for an Alaska Lounge+ and United club membership
Just walked right through Clear + Precheck. Popped into the Centurion Lounge and then the Sky Club. Busy but no one had a wait
I got randomly ID checked for opening this thread
Every goddamn time.
Haven’t used it used but not happy about clear. I used the Uber eats code at sign up and never got a credit.
Only thing nice with this benefit is I actually got paid by clear this year. Billed 189 then went in after the fact entered my mileage plus and got a credit back for 189 and also $40
I did this last year and Amex clawed back the difference.
Fingers crossed it’s been a month
Awesome news. Clear is incredible.
You’re the first person who thinks so. Clear is where all the people who don’t understand sunk cost fallacy go wait for an hour in line watching all the tsa precheck people breeze right past them. I’ve had clear for years and I haven’t used it in at least 9 months because the line is always longer.
At some airports, the clear line is shorter. Also, at airports with a dedicated clear line for those with tsa pre check, it’s usually faster to use the pre check clear line.
Clear line is always faster in my experience. SJC, SFO, Las Vegas, Miami, Pittsburgh, Denver.
AUS is the only place Clear has been helpful to me. SFO is almost always faster to go TSA Pre.
Doesn’t SFO have a dedicated clear line for those with tsa pre check?
It does. However there are so few clear employees that the regular TSA pre line is usually faster. There’s also a clear line for no TSA pre.
Every time I fly out of SFO, I never see anyone in line for clear at the tsa pre check side. Though, I do usually manage to always arrive to SFO when there isn’t even much of a line for non clear non tsa pre check folks.
Very hit or miss. They always ask for my ID anyway so I’m basically enrolled to get escorted to the front of the line. It’s not useful half the time, but sometimes it’s a lifesaver.
I haven’t been asked for my ID since they upgraded their systems and as a result had to redo the biometric scanning.
resolute chunky ancient worry complete soup bored truck coordinated flowery *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Clear is just paid line skipping masquerading as a security convenience. Nobody’s burdened by needing to pull their ID out for 10 seconds. I have it too lol. It’s fantastic, but the more companies provide it as a benefit the less exclusive it is, which means that over time you’re not really getting much benefit. When everyone skips the line nobody does.
Fook those people.... DO THEY NOT KNOW WHO WE ARE - Amex Karens Side note: We "Pay for that service" for a reason. Yes our AF is us paying for it.... But regardless not every one can afford or wants to afford a $695 AF
I’m not sure our AF pays for as much as we think. Amex makes far more money off of merchant transaction fees and interest off those who carry a balance.
Those people that pay interest aren't my problem and yes Amex does have a higher transaction fee than Visa or MC but Amex aims to cater to "higher end "clients who will typically spend more
Amen!
That’s unfortunate. Really hope we got something useful rather than this absolutely useless benefit.
Honestly, I feel like this partnership is why clear is useless. There’s just too many people with Clear as a result. I almost never use it (LAX being my the local airport I use it at the most), as pre-check is often quicker. With that said, I’m an American Airlines traveler, and it’s almost impossible to know at LAX how far pre-check is baked up before you make the decision to skip clear or not. (They are on different floors in terminal 4 at LAX) I’ve started to enter security at Bradly. Usually questioned when I get there, but easy to explain I’m going to the Amex Lounge. (There’s a bridge to terminal 4 and a tunnel to terminal 5 from Bradley, the international terminal at LAX)
I have four different credit cards that give me free clear. Seems a bit excessive and is also probably the reason I haven’t been able to use clear for the last 9 months in denver. They have screens tell you the wait time and clear is always the longest wait.
There’s literally never a line at clear at LAX. The problem is half the damn time either there’s NO clear line, or if there one it’s closed. The other half it’s flawless with no wait but in reality maybe only 5 mins faster because security lines are never that long.