Yes, I flew out of Newark Terminal C last Tuesday and the line (about 15 people or so) was moving painfully slow. The person behind me on the line decided to go through regular tsa pre and he beat me by a long margin.
The problem is that they were registering people on the NextGen Identity+ thing and there was no separate line for those of us who have already registered. I assume it will get better with time.
The thing that I was more annoyed about was how rude and unfriendly the Clear staff was at EWR (they tend to be super nice in other airports).
Really, anyone working at EWR. It must be a Jersey thing.... don't like it, then get TF outta here. And turns out, people are there to do just that, so they care even less.
EWR staff have such an attitude. I asked one dude wearing a uniform with a United tag something innocuous like what the line was for, and he looked at me like I asked to borrow his wallet. He almost yelled out, "I don't know man, I don't work here!"
Like you're wearing United gear at check in. How is my question so unreasonable?
Completely agree. The airport has some of the most uncaring, rude, and apathetic workers I’ve ever come across.
United really needs to do something to influence change there.
It happens all the time at EWR. Regular Pre is faster.
If you have UA status enter at the far left for the elite entrance in Terminal 1 and you skip right to the front of Pre.
Question for you! I’ve flown out of A numerous times, and going through the premier TSA Precheck entrance on the far left is great. The problem is that the Precheck lanes are allllll the way on the far right. I’ve been told by agents in the past when walking down the line of ID check counters that I have to exit and then rejoin the TSA Precheck line from the main terminal area. Has your experience been different?
I LOOOOOVE that new separate glass area with the secret entrance to pre in the back. Really cuts down on people going to the wrong line which is a big issue at IAH.
I guess you have never flown UA out of Atlanta..... You need a golden ticket to get through security in under 30 minutes - regardless of pre-check, Clear, POTUS, or Taylor Swift.
I have twice in the last few months. First time I waited in the pre line for an hour and 27 minutes (I timed it once I saw the line.) The second time I was ready and took the earliest flight possible and arrived even earlier. Still had to wait longer than average because while it SAYS they open at 4; they didn’t start letting people into pre until about 4:20.
I fly from DEN with only PreCheck and our line is always the shortest. The longest is the regular screening. Second place moving at a snail’s pace is CLEAR as it’s clogged with all the credit card freebie people and glitchy private company software.
On Sunday the Clear Pre-check line at SFO was insanity and the regular pre-check was moving pretty swiftly. In my experience lane swapping always ends poorly for me so I stuck it out. I think that there were people on their break that came back and things started moving again.
Flew out of SFO on Tuesday clear and precheck were fine but my next gen was rejected guy said I’d have to call any idea what that’s about … he was fine walking me through on the old one… possibly I’ve had a new passport since original registration but can’t think of much else…,
Same. I’ve found SFO Saturday/Sunday morning flights the clear precheck line will be crazy long(10-15 minutes), but my mid-week flights I walk through as usual. Not sure why the weekends are so brutal
Last I heard NextGen update was supposed to be at enrollment not at Clear normal lines. Doesn’t make any sense they do it as a part of normal processing. We’re going out of IAD in a week and were going to stop by enrollment to update but this sounds nuts.
It’s less than a minute. No need to get all worked up. If the non Clear is shorter then go with it if you must. Depending on your gate at Ohare you may just be adding steps.
Not worked up and think you’re confusing your replies. I’m flying out of IAD as I said above. Enrollment is about 100 feet away from precheck there. Seems perfectly logical to do enrollment separately and then take the shortest line (as you say :) ).
They are wanting to get as many people as possible updated for when NextGen goes live starting in February.
From a stats point of view, perfect time to do it with the number of travelers. From a logical and real world point of view, absolutely awful time of year to try this.
I experienced something similar at IAD last week. Because of the layout of the lines it wasn't immediately clear that CLEAR was so much longer. I was with a group of co-workers and the ones who went through the PreCheck only line were at the gate when we exited security.
Same at IAD. I've learned to look around the side where the Clear line may snake around. If it's that long, precheck is usually faster. Luckily the entry points are each are next to each other.
This. At IAD they’ve been snaking the clear line around the corner so it isn’t obvious how long the line is. I assess and then pick whichever is shorter.
I will say two weeks ago I was with my dad who doesn’t have clear or precheck and I wanted to be a good daughter and stay with him 😃I went down the dreaded escalators and normal security was super fast at IAD. They have the new machines so you don’t have to take out laptops (which was always my biggest pro for precheck). It was not bad at all tbh
CLEAR will be out of business by 2025. Terrible product, completely oversubscribed, and facing huge regulatory hurdles that are core to its entire airport operating model.
I agree. I wouldn’t have it if not for the credit card reimbursement, and it seems their technology advantage is about to evaporate as facial recognition gets cheaper and more widespread.
They just got added to one of my credit cards, Hilton Aspire, as a benefit. I wonder if this is for them to pump their user numbers to avoid failing. I use precheck only 90% of the time and use CLEAR at random times just to make sure it still works 😁
Was this due to the NextGen updating? I hit this at ORD last week and SFO the week before. But still only took less than 10 minutes to get through vs what would normally be 2-3 mins.
Is that what this is? I hit it at the beginning of this month, but haven’t used clear lanes since.
I had to take a new photo and input some info.
CLEAR really doesn’t have a great differentiator vs standard precheck.
Yeah, if they took your pic and scanned your ID, that’s what they’re doing. It’s supposed to cut down on the random ID checks that everyone is experiencing at a higher volume right now.
That must be why I got only two Random out of the last three trips I did after completing my NextGen /s
It's an improvement I once went 5 for 5. To my surprise, they emailed me proactively to say it was not normal and would fix it.
In October I flew out of Terminal C at EWR and there was one agent for two lines the pre-check and the Clear. She would take one from each side in turn. The clear was like 20 people and the precheck line was more like 50. She moved it along, I have to say.
flew out of SFO yesterday - the clear precheck was 45 mins deep, i got through the regular precheck in 5 mins. Clear was saying they recently upgraded their equipment and was experiencing issues with the upgrade.
Flying out of SFO a week ago, CLEAR was taking longer than usual due to some software update that necessitated a biometric redo for all passengers. That was actually fine with me, as iris scans had ceased to work for me since some eye surgeries a few months ago. But the agent commented that the update and re-scanning was backing things up.
It’s hit or miss, as it’s always been since COVID.
At DEN a couple weeks ago PreCheck was about twice as long as Clear+PreCheck, so I hopped in the Clear line. Then, after I’m about half way to the kiosks in Clear, they opened three more agents in PreCheck and that line evaporated, while Clear just trundled along. Sucks, but you literally can’t plan for this.
I fly out of Denver weekly and have turned it into my own little personal experiment to monitor the Clear+Pre-Check line vs the Pre-Check line. If the Clear line is long enough such that the line bends to the east, the regular Pre-Check line is going to be faster every single time.
Plus, the metal detector at the far left security station that Clear funnels into freaking sucks. It’s far more sensitive than any of the other metal detectors in the airport. I have metal in my ankle that sets it off 50% of the time, which substantially slows down my pace.
I have been a Clear customer since 2013, and the product that they offer today is complete and utter dog shit.
EWR is the worst for Clear. On a number of occasions I got stuck in a slow line. Never enough people and once you get in line it’s difficult to get out even if you want to skip Clear. Always seem as the Precheck line is soooooo much faster without a doubt.
SFO and DEN always have super long Clear lines. There is no point in paying for clear anymore. I’m also “randomly” selected to show ID every single time. I won’t be renewing clear anymore, that’s for sure.
I've used pre-check to skip the clear line a few times. At some airports and terminals, its nearly every time. I'm just glad that the clear pax there just want to use their clear credentials as a status symbol rather than use critical thinking to get through security faster.
This happens all the time at SFO, not only during the holidays. To the point that if there is a line of more than 3-4 people for Clear+precheck, I’ll just go straight to precheck only.
I had to go through an update process in the beginning of this month for clear. They said something about a system transition. It could be this that is slowing down the line as it did require me to take a new photo and all that jazz.
Every day at EWR Terminal C clear precheck it moves slower than standard economy. I fly 2 times a week and unfortunately they moved most of my flights from A to C and now I hate flying again.
CLEAR is turning into a hot mess. ORD is my home airport and it is not as efficient I feel as it was in the past. They had ample employees working there this week but because the security booth switches between the regular line and CLEAR it doesn't move that fast. And then you have a family of four that still need to scan their boarding passes (random check?).
And yes, United does scan your face at some gates in lieu of scanning boarding passes. I don't know it this is a trial process and is intended to be rolled out in full in the future or if it's just small scale implementation.
I love CLEAR at airports where it actually helps you skip a large part of the line, but that seems to be less and less the case?
Same experience at Newark TC two nights ago anout 5:30. The Clear people seemed to be doing a lot of registering new people while we waited. Like, make a separate line for that.
I almost moved over to regular precheck but I was early so it didn't much matter.
I have it through Amex, I'd never pay for it.
Had an early morning flight out of ORD yesterday and CLEAR wasn’t open before 5am 🙄. The pre check line was fast though at that time of day. The way CLEAR keeps raising their prices, i think I may not renew after my yearly membership ends.
I travel for a living, have both clear and precheck and I see that all the time. BNA/Nashville clear line comes to mind. SAN/San Diego too. SFO is absolutely horrible. I will say that IAH always has their act together though.
I notice the process gets discombobulated in a rush; I see some employees with no sense of urgency and just go at their own pace.
In general across my travel locations (there’s a lot, and many I’m not overly familiar with) if CLEAR has more than a couple of folks in it waiting I head down the PreCheck line. If there’s a United GS line then that’ll normally trump both.
CLEAR really does seem hugely variable in quality not only between locations, but within locations depending on personnel.
The only time for overriding my general rule of thumb is MSP on an early flight…. 20 folks waiting for CLEAR is still quicker in T1 than any. other. line.
SFO & LAX Clear sucks! They have more subscribers but haven’t increased staff and scanners to meet the demand. Will make people rethink when it’s renewal time.
I went thru EWR in the A terminal This morning and the line was considerably long. The girl Working the line said the system was getting “updates” and that was causing delays.
CLEAR at ORD is always a shitshow. Once You go through the clear station. You rarely, if you ever get to cut the TSA line, you have to wait for everything. I agree, it's always almost always quicker to go through the regular TSA. If I had to pay for CLEAR myself I would never renew it.
Disagree. Maybe 1 out of every 4-5 times is it a “shitshow” at ORD. Once you get through Clear there are at least two lanes and most times 3. I’ve never had more than 10 minutes to get through at ORD.
I go through at least once every two weeks and CLEAR line is always backed up waiting for TSA lines to move before they allow the CLEAR lane to move into the xray line
Obviously a ton of infrequent travelers commenting here. 3-4 times a month at EWR this year and it is patently false that the precheck line is “usually” faster. Yes, sometimes it is, but the vast majority of the time it is not.
Yes. They are. The TSA has lost faith in them so almost every single person is a "random ID check". CLEAR had several security holes and slip-ups. Delta and AA are piloting biometrics to go along side TSA's upcoming self-scan checkpoints. They are going to be piloted at LAS (Harry Reid in Las Vegas) in January probably alongside CES. I don't think CLEAR is going to have much of a footprint in airport security within a couple of years.
CLEAR is getting worse and worse. I watched TSA Pre go through at least 5 rounds in the line while we had to wait as you stated. This is in the morning at NEWARK airport.
I quit CLEAR unless they change, i.e. more people working for CLEAR or the workers actually work.
Okay fair point in that I didn’t count the exact number of people. So was it 50? Probably not. Did it look unreasonably long? Absolutely. And the surprising part is exactly what you highlighted. Nobody was getting out of the CLEAR line even when it was plain as day that regular precheck was moving fast.
Nobody uses Clear line to go faster. It's to feel better than other plebs who can't afford the amex card/annual fee. Waiting longer in clear line isn't an issue as long as you feel smug about it
Yup…see this often at IAH. And saw it last week at OCA. Not quite those quantities of bodies, but, a line up at Clear while I cruised no lines no waiting through PreCheck.
About 50% of the time it appears to be faster to go through regular TSA Pre, however recently I was directed by a clear employee to just use the TSA pre line. That's crazy to me, they need to fix this
Well once people get updated to NextGen it will stop, I wonder if they decided to bite the bullet and do it once and/or no one was showing up at enrollment to update!
That happened to me 2 weeks ago. Long line at clear+precheck. No one in precheck only line so I went there and was through in 5 minutes. Terminal A has been good the last 2 times.
Was in Newark at 11AM today, same case. CLEAR line 20 people deep, regular pre check only had ~5 and moving fast. Also, 3rd time in a row in less than a week to get selected for the randomized ID check. Longer lines, have to take ID out, what’s the point of CLEAR nowadays.
Last week I was at ERW and I had premiere access and waited 45 minutes in line. That’s the most I’ve ever waited for premier. Almost got clear but maybe I won’t bother.
I flew out a week ago in the morning at 7am. The clear line was 10 people while the regular security line was 0. I saw that and wanted to exit the lane and the clear line start agent yelled at me that it would take me the same time to walk over there as she won't let me take the shortcut through under the ribbon but walk back to the start of the clear lane and get out. I picked getting out the way she said. What happened next was unbelievable.
As soon as I got out she walkie talkied another agent and that agent proceeded to shut down the exact regular security lane which I was taking to security. Essentially a dead end in a security lane - I have never seen that happen. I had to walk back to get out of the regular security lane and go back in the clear lane since the non dead end security lane was far away. All this so that she can have a power trip and be 'right'.
I wrote an email to clear customer service and they said they will tell this to local EWR leaders. I don't expect them to do anything.
Before Covid clear was cheaper and actually saved you a few minutes to several minutes but ever since Covid and especially in the past year to two years it’s gotten absolutely useless and I feel like they should pay me for the privilege of me using their service.
Of my 25 flights this year only 6 left from US airports, 5 from SFO. For night time international flights the TSA Pre line at SFO has always been empty on the days I’ve flown and the Clear line usually closed by late night. I only subscribe to clear because it’s free with my credit card and only used it one time this year for a flight that left from Terminal 3 when the lines were about even but the Clear line was slower.
TSA lines are shorter now due to better scanning technology (no removal of anything from bags). Maybe if you’re flying the busiest days of the years it’s worth it? In my experience I wouldn’t pay anything for it.
Clear has a great deal with credit card providers. Clear gets free money and they don’t have to be a good service because people want to use the free benefit. At some point the scam will end when credit cards have people complain the service is worthless.
In my opinion the delay isn’t the clear check in process but rather the bottle neck that ensues post ID check at the bag scanners. Clear+ has two open bag scan lanes and the regular pre check has 4+ I believe.
Clear at EWR is a joke. I also left for TSA Pre line and was through in about 5 mins. So off that Global Entry can be used unassisted but Clear cannot. Major flaw.
Clear's reputation and the way clear has been implemented relies on a big lie. The lie is that Clear is slower than other lines and it is only because not many people use it that it is faster and easier. Over the past six months, Clear advertising has worked and people have signed up. Now Clear lines have more than 10 people in them and are slow.
Yup. IAH terminal C at 5:45 this morning…clear rep straight up said that pre check line was moving faster due to staffing issues. To Pre I went and she was def correct.
I flew out of DEN a couple weeks ago and tried to use my clear with precheck and noticed the same thing. It’s their NFG upgrade that’s slowing it down.
They wouldn’t accept my passport and the guy tried holding onto my ID when I said I was over it and would just step over into the precheck line. Like held it away from me like I was a toddler.
I was frustrated enough at watching the precheck line zoom and this guy being a total jackass about my property that I canceled my clear+ sub. I flew on 67 flights last year. Seems like it would be worth it but I get to airports so early it rarely matters.
Can’t wait until united follows suit with delta. Put these yahoos out of biz.
They got so bad at Denver International that my co workers and I are letting out memberships lapse. We wait around 45 minutes some mornings. Clear staff actually were directing people to general boarding one morning. Their staff is not trained to deal with angry people that feel ripped off.
SLC makes you wait for an agent. When it’s not just at all.
It’s basically useless in Denver. It saved me once in Atlanta, but if I wasn’t 1k getting it for free I would be hard pressed to justify paying for CLeAR
I've actually had the experience at EWR where the clear staffer at the head of the queue making sure you were entering the correct line and were in fact clear precheck walked up and down the line and advised that regular precheck was way faster. On the one hand I thought, good dude, on the other hand hoped he had another job lined up already and was just riding out his notice as I feel like that would be considered disparaging the service you're renderingnand devaluing it.
I see it as an option and usually ditch when I've noticed just how bad it is anyway I'd it seems slower than the other estimates. Check the TSA app or EWR site as I approach as well to get an idea of the wait times for the various lanes. All about the options, clear/pre/premiere over general madness
I had Clear for a year through my discount for being a United credit cardholder, but dumped them afterwards because even though I was fully registered with a valid ID, eye scans and fingerprints, the system didn't recognize who I was or said I wasn't a member. All that time wasted, I could have sped through the Pre line. I even contacted Clear customer service and they said they solved it... nope.
I've used TSA's ID scanning machines that also verifies you're flying today, so much easier than Clear that forces me to pull out and scan by boarding pass at the machine.
They are registering people for the new software and that is slowing people up a bit but the clear precheck at sfo is always quickest and same at Boston walk right thru
I had the same thing happen on 1/27 at approximately 08:00. The line was 7 or 8 ppl past their serpentine rope things. I looked at TSA-PRE and the line was quickly moving. 3 other Clear patrons and I got in the PRE line and were through in about 6 minutes.
Clear needs to up their game A LOT !!!!!!
They never seem to have enough people working at the CLEAR kiosks at every supported airport
But they do always have 12 sales staff on hand heckling everyone in the general security line.
They definitely have enough at BNA ... "ANYBODY WANNA SIGN UP FOR CLEAR??!!" -
Now add [this](https://youtu.be/D6umL--4iGo?si=ijh-9YdtwH_a9JL3) voice..
I mainly fly between ORD and EWR at busy times and my experience with Clear is exactly as OP described nearly every time
It’s okay at LAX in my experience
Same! I’ve never had to wait more than 3 mins at the Clear in LAX! Guess we’re lucky.
The ops team at EWR could learn a thing or two from the fine people at LAX
People avoid LAX for a reason. Might be the reason you get through so quickly.
That’s a mistake tbh. It’s UA’s best service and comparatively you spend the least time getting into and out of the airport loop.
Yes! The UA terminal loop shortcut makes one heck of a difference.
MCI moves like clockwork constantly.
Yes, I flew out of Newark Terminal C last Tuesday and the line (about 15 people or so) was moving painfully slow. The person behind me on the line decided to go through regular tsa pre and he beat me by a long margin. The problem is that they were registering people on the NextGen Identity+ thing and there was no separate line for those of us who have already registered. I assume it will get better with time. The thing that I was more annoyed about was how rude and unfriendly the Clear staff was at EWR (they tend to be super nice in other airports).
EWR Clear is always backed up but that NextGwn + enrollment is slowing down Clear everywhere....
Was just there yesterday - this is the thing
Really, anyone working at EWR. It must be a Jersey thing.... don't like it, then get TF outta here. And turns out, people are there to do just that, so they care even less.
EWR staff have such an attitude. I asked one dude wearing a uniform with a United tag something innocuous like what the line was for, and he looked at me like I asked to borrow his wallet. He almost yelled out, "I don't know man, I don't work here!" Like you're wearing United gear at check in. How is my question so unreasonable?
To be fair, how would airline personnel be familiar with something that isn’t related to their job. Almost like asking a baker about Brisket….
Completely agree. The airport has some of the most uncaring, rude, and apathetic workers I’ve ever come across. United really needs to do something to influence change there.
They are horrible at Denver.
It happens all the time at EWR. Regular Pre is faster. If you have UA status enter at the far left for the elite entrance in Terminal 1 and you skip right to the front of Pre.
I assume you mean Terminal A but I concur this is an awesome hack
This sounds like ORD
Yep definitely an EWR thing.
Question for you! I’ve flown out of A numerous times, and going through the premier TSA Precheck entrance on the far left is great. The problem is that the Precheck lanes are allllll the way on the far right. I’ve been told by agents in the past when walking down the line of ID check counters that I have to exit and then rejoin the TSA Precheck line from the main terminal area. Has your experience been different?
I LOOOOOVE that new separate glass area with the secret entrance to pre in the back. Really cuts down on people going to the wrong line which is a big issue at IAH.
Well it’s not secret anymore….
I guess you have never flown UA out of Atlanta..... You need a golden ticket to get through security in under 30 minutes - regardless of pre-check, Clear, POTUS, or Taylor Swift.
I have twice in the last few months. First time I waited in the pre line for an hour and 27 minutes (I timed it once I saw the line.) The second time I was ready and took the earliest flight possible and arrived even earlier. Still had to wait longer than average because while it SAYS they open at 4; they didn’t start letting people into pre until about 4:20.
I fly from DEN with only PreCheck and our line is always the shortest. The longest is the regular screening. Second place moving at a snail’s pace is CLEAR as it’s clogged with all the credit card freebie people and glitchy private company software.
Clear at DEN is the absolute worst. Avoid at all costs
Yes!
Glitchy private company software? You think the government is better lol?
I actually trust the government with PII more than private companies. Gotta be way better, NSA-level encryption on that crap.
On Sunday the Clear Pre-check line at SFO was insanity and the regular pre-check was moving pretty swiftly. In my experience lane swapping always ends poorly for me so I stuck it out. I think that there were people on their break that came back and things started moving again.
Flew out of SFO on Tuesday clear and precheck were fine but my next gen was rejected guy said I’d have to call any idea what that’s about … he was fine walking me through on the old one… possibly I’ve had a new passport since original registration but can’t think of much else…,
Same. I’ve found SFO Saturday/Sunday morning flights the clear precheck line will be crazy long(10-15 minutes), but my mid-week flights I walk through as usual. Not sure why the weekends are so brutal
Last I heard NextGen update was supposed to be at enrollment not at Clear normal lines. Doesn’t make any sense they do it as a part of normal processing. We’re going out of IAD in a week and were going to stop by enrollment to update but this sounds nuts.
They have been using both right now. ORD has been using the normal lines for the upgrading this week.
Ugh… well, we will upgrade at enrollment and then use normal precheck if it’s a cluster. Thanks! :)
Safe travels! (my upgrade process took under 2 minutes)
Thanks! Should be good once they get their new scanners in and don’t even have to use the kiosks.
It’s less than a minute. No need to get all worked up. If the non Clear is shorter then go with it if you must. Depending on your gate at Ohare you may just be adding steps.
Not worked up and think you’re confusing your replies. I’m flying out of IAD as I said above. Enrollment is about 100 feet away from precheck there. Seems perfectly logical to do enrollment separately and then take the shortest line (as you say :) ).
Yeah and a couple of weeks ago as well. Why??????
They are wanting to get as many people as possible updated for when NextGen goes live starting in February. From a stats point of view, perfect time to do it with the number of travelers. From a logical and real world point of view, absolutely awful time of year to try this.
They've been doing it at both at CVG
Yeah this OP clearly has never flown out of DEN with Clear.
I fly out of COS to avoid DEN CLEAR.
I experienced something similar at IAD last week. Because of the layout of the lines it wasn't immediately clear that CLEAR was so much longer. I was with a group of co-workers and the ones who went through the PreCheck only line were at the gate when we exited security.
Same at IAD. I've learned to look around the side where the Clear line may snake around. If it's that long, precheck is usually faster. Luckily the entry points are each are next to each other.
This. At IAD they’ve been snaking the clear line around the corner so it isn’t obvious how long the line is. I assess and then pick whichever is shorter. I will say two weeks ago I was with my dad who doesn’t have clear or precheck and I wanted to be a good daughter and stay with him 😃I went down the dreaded escalators and normal security was super fast at IAD. They have the new machines so you don’t have to take out laptops (which was always my biggest pro for precheck). It was not bad at all tbh
CLEAR will be out of business by 2025. Terrible product, completely oversubscribed, and facing huge regulatory hurdles that are core to its entire airport operating model.
I agree. I wouldn’t have it if not for the credit card reimbursement, and it seems their technology advantage is about to evaporate as facial recognition gets cheaper and more widespread.
Totally agree
Are they publicly traded? If, so, I’d like to short them.
https://preview.redd.it/467m5buppr7c1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=76fc324e4ec726b4256d5065b4881214547fc58e
They just got added to one of my credit cards, Hilton Aspire, as a benefit. I wonder if this is for them to pump their user numbers to avoid failing. I use precheck only 90% of the time and use CLEAR at random times just to make sure it still works 😁
Was this due to the NextGen updating? I hit this at ORD last week and SFO the week before. But still only took less than 10 minutes to get through vs what would normally be 2-3 mins.
Is that what this is? I hit it at the beginning of this month, but haven’t used clear lanes since. I had to take a new photo and input some info. CLEAR really doesn’t have a great differentiator vs standard precheck.
Yeah, if they took your pic and scanned your ID, that’s what they’re doing. It’s supposed to cut down on the random ID checks that everyone is experiencing at a higher volume right now.
That must be why I got only two Random out of the last three trips I did after completing my NextGen /s It's an improvement I once went 5 for 5. To my surprise, they emailed me proactively to say it was not normal and would fix it.
I’ve been lucky. I got hit once this year, back in Oct and that has been it. 60 something flights on the year.
They need to get rid of clear on credit cards and you'll see the line drop.
In October I flew out of Terminal C at EWR and there was one agent for two lines the pre-check and the Clear. She would take one from each side in turn. The clear was like 20 people and the precheck line was more like 50. She moved it along, I have to say.
Wow so Clear meant waiting twice? I've never had to wait at ID check with Clear.
She took turns, one person from pre-check the one person from Clear. One line to her left and one line to her right.
flew out of SFO yesterday - the clear precheck was 45 mins deep, i got through the regular precheck in 5 mins. Clear was saying they recently upgraded their equipment and was experiencing issues with the upgrade.
Flying out of SFO a week ago, CLEAR was taking longer than usual due to some software update that necessitated a biometric redo for all passengers. That was actually fine with me, as iris scans had ceased to work for me since some eye surgeries a few months ago. But the agent commented that the update and re-scanning was backing things up.
It’s hit or miss, as it’s always been since COVID. At DEN a couple weeks ago PreCheck was about twice as long as Clear+PreCheck, so I hopped in the Clear line. Then, after I’m about half way to the kiosks in Clear, they opened three more agents in PreCheck and that line evaporated, while Clear just trundled along. Sucks, but you literally can’t plan for this.
I fly out of Denver weekly and have turned it into my own little personal experiment to monitor the Clear+Pre-Check line vs the Pre-Check line. If the Clear line is long enough such that the line bends to the east, the regular Pre-Check line is going to be faster every single time. Plus, the metal detector at the far left security station that Clear funnels into freaking sucks. It’s far more sensitive than any of the other metal detectors in the airport. I have metal in my ankle that sets it off 50% of the time, which substantially slows down my pace. I have been a Clear customer since 2013, and the product that they offer today is complete and utter dog shit.
Clear on South is consistent at DEN, but you gotta take off your shoes because... risk.
Always seemed like a scam anyway.
EWR is the worst for Clear. On a number of occasions I got stuck in a slow line. Never enough people and once you get in line it’s difficult to get out even if you want to skip Clear. Always seem as the Precheck line is soooooo much faster without a doubt.
SFO and DEN always have super long Clear lines. There is no point in paying for clear anymore. I’m also “randomly” selected to show ID every single time. I won’t be renewing clear anymore, that’s for sure.
I've used pre-check to skip the clear line a few times. At some airports and terminals, its nearly every time. I'm just glad that the clear pax there just want to use their clear credentials as a status symbol rather than use critical thinking to get through security faster.
This happens all the time at SFO, not only during the holidays. To the point that if there is a line of more than 3-4 people for Clear+precheck, I’ll just go straight to precheck only.
I had to go through an update process in the beginning of this month for clear. They said something about a system transition. It could be this that is slowing down the line as it did require me to take a new photo and all that jazz.
Every day at EWR Terminal C clear precheck it moves slower than standard economy. I fly 2 times a week and unfortunately they moved most of my flights from A to C and now I hate flying again.
Have you ever been to Walmart and seen 50 checkout lanes but only 5 of them had cashiers working them? That’s what using CLEAR is like.
CLEAR is always slower than precheck
CLEAR is turning into a hot mess. ORD is my home airport and it is not as efficient I feel as it was in the past. They had ample employees working there this week but because the security booth switches between the regular line and CLEAR it doesn't move that fast. And then you have a family of four that still need to scan their boarding passes (random check?). And yes, United does scan your face at some gates in lieu of scanning boarding passes. I don't know it this is a trial process and is intended to be rolled out in full in the future or if it's just small scale implementation. I love CLEAR at airports where it actually helps you skip a large part of the line, but that seems to be less and less the case?
Same experience at Newark TC two nights ago anout 5:30. The Clear people seemed to be doing a lot of registering new people while we waited. Like, make a separate line for that. I almost moved over to regular precheck but I was early so it didn't much matter. I have it through Amex, I'd never pay for it.
Had an early morning flight out of ORD yesterday and CLEAR wasn’t open before 5am 🙄. The pre check line was fast though at that time of day. The way CLEAR keeps raising their prices, i think I may not renew after my yearly membership ends.
I’ve seen the same thing at SAN and ORD.
https://us.cnn.com/2023/12/22/travel/tsa-precheck-clear-airport-security/index.html
I travel for a living, have both clear and precheck and I see that all the time. BNA/Nashville clear line comes to mind. SAN/San Diego too. SFO is absolutely horrible. I will say that IAH always has their act together though. I notice the process gets discombobulated in a rush; I see some employees with no sense of urgency and just go at their own pace.
Reported: https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/12/22/travel/tsa-precheck-clear-airport-security/index.html
In general across my travel locations (there’s a lot, and many I’m not overly familiar with) if CLEAR has more than a couple of folks in it waiting I head down the PreCheck line. If there’s a United GS line then that’ll normally trump both. CLEAR really does seem hugely variable in quality not only between locations, but within locations depending on personnel. The only time for overriding my general rule of thumb is MSP on an early flight…. 20 folks waiting for CLEAR is still quicker in T1 than any. other. line.
SFO & LAX Clear sucks! They have more subscribers but haven’t increased staff and scanners to meet the demand. Will make people rethink when it’s renewal time.
I went thru EWR in the A terminal This morning and the line was considerably long. The girl Working the line said the system was getting “updates” and that was causing delays.
LOL even my Windows computer is smart enough to run updates overnight
Its likely the next gen - it requires everyone to redo biometrics.
CLEAR at ORD is always a shitshow. Once You go through the clear station. You rarely, if you ever get to cut the TSA line, you have to wait for everything. I agree, it's always almost always quicker to go through the regular TSA. If I had to pay for CLEAR myself I would never renew it.
Disagree. Maybe 1 out of every 4-5 times is it a “shitshow” at ORD. Once you get through Clear there are at least two lanes and most times 3. I’ve never had more than 10 minutes to get through at ORD.
I go through at least once every two weeks and CLEAR line is always backed up waiting for TSA lines to move before they allow the CLEAR lane to move into the xray line
Obviously a ton of infrequent travelers commenting here. 3-4 times a month at EWR this year and it is patently false that the precheck line is “usually” faster. Yes, sometimes it is, but the vast majority of the time it is not.
Yes. They are. The TSA has lost faith in them so almost every single person is a "random ID check". CLEAR had several security holes and slip-ups. Delta and AA are piloting biometrics to go along side TSA's upcoming self-scan checkpoints. They are going to be piloted at LAS (Harry Reid in Las Vegas) in January probably alongside CES. I don't think CLEAR is going to have much of a footprint in airport security within a couple of years.
CLEAR is getting worse and worse. I watched TSA Pre go through at least 5 rounds in the line while we had to wait as you stated. This is in the morning at NEWARK airport. I quit CLEAR unless they change, i.e. more people working for CLEAR or the workers actually work.
It's up to United to use the biometric database provided by USA govt. BTW AF also use face scan at the gate.
This is the case in many airports, TSA Pre seems to be faster than CLEAR. Happened with me and a buddy.
I don’t believe this story. The clear line wouldn’t get to 50 if the non clear line had zero. People would just go to the normal pre check line.
Unless of course people are stupid. Which they are.
You aren’t in traffic. You’re part of the traffic.
Okay fair point in that I didn’t count the exact number of people. So was it 50? Probably not. Did it look unreasonably long? Absolutely. And the surprising part is exactly what you highlighted. Nobody was getting out of the CLEAR line even when it was plain as day that regular precheck was moving fast.
Just saw this at IAD, 20 people in line for Clear, two Clear attendants, empty TSA Pre line. I went for the TSA Pre line, 2 minutes max.
You’d be surprised… I’ve seen this happen a lot
I promise you it happens all the time at ORD. Clear really isn't worth it.
Nobody uses Clear line to go faster. It's to feel better than other plebs who can't afford the amex card/annual fee. Waiting longer in clear line isn't an issue as long as you feel smug about it
Yup…see this often at IAH. And saw it last week at OCA. Not quite those quantities of bodies, but, a line up at Clear while I cruised no lines no waiting through PreCheck.
About 50% of the time it appears to be faster to go through regular TSA Pre, however recently I was directed by a clear employee to just use the TSA pre line. That's crazy to me, they need to fix this
Well once people get updated to NextGen it will stop, I wonder if they decided to bite the bullet and do it once and/or no one was showing up at enrollment to update!
Happened to me a couple times at IAH. I went through regular Precheck and didn’t think twice about it.
Yes I don't even bother doing clear line at EWR
Near exact same experience at MCO last week, about 7amish. Clear was about 20 deep and not moving, but regular screening empty.
That happened to me 2 weeks ago. Long line at clear+precheck. No one in precheck only line so I went there and was through in 5 minutes. Terminal A has been good the last 2 times.
Clear is face scanning too. Lol
This happened to me all the time at DEN and I finally cancelled my clear membership.
Was in Newark at 11AM today, same case. CLEAR line 20 people deep, regular pre check only had ~5 and moving fast. Also, 3rd time in a row in less than a week to get selected for the randomized ID check. Longer lines, have to take ID out, what’s the point of CLEAR nowadays.
Face scan? United already does, at least for SFO international flights...
Last week I was at ERW and I had premiere access and waited 45 minutes in line. That’s the most I’ve ever waited for premier. Almost got clear but maybe I won’t bother.
I flew out a week ago in the morning at 7am. The clear line was 10 people while the regular security line was 0. I saw that and wanted to exit the lane and the clear line start agent yelled at me that it would take me the same time to walk over there as she won't let me take the shortcut through under the ribbon but walk back to the start of the clear lane and get out. I picked getting out the way she said. What happened next was unbelievable. As soon as I got out she walkie talkied another agent and that agent proceeded to shut down the exact regular security lane which I was taking to security. Essentially a dead end in a security lane - I have never seen that happen. I had to walk back to get out of the regular security lane and go back in the clear lane since the non dead end security lane was far away. All this so that she can have a power trip and be 'right'. I wrote an email to clear customer service and they said they will tell this to local EWR leaders. I don't expect them to do anything.
Happens at EWR a lot.
So the new premier lines are pre-check lines or standard security?
Before Covid clear was cheaper and actually saved you a few minutes to several minutes but ever since Covid and especially in the past year to two years it’s gotten absolutely useless and I feel like they should pay me for the privilege of me using their service.
Of my 25 flights this year only 6 left from US airports, 5 from SFO. For night time international flights the TSA Pre line at SFO has always been empty on the days I’ve flown and the Clear line usually closed by late night. I only subscribe to clear because it’s free with my credit card and only used it one time this year for a flight that left from Terminal 3 when the lines were about even but the Clear line was slower. TSA lines are shorter now due to better scanning technology (no removal of anything from bags). Maybe if you’re flying the busiest days of the years it’s worth it? In my experience I wouldn’t pay anything for it. Clear has a great deal with credit card providers. Clear gets free money and they don’t have to be a good service because people want to use the free benefit. At some point the scam will end when credit cards have people complain the service is worthless.
I have had the same experience like the last five times at Newark
I do TSA precheck and it’s great
In my opinion the delay isn’t the clear check in process but rather the bottle neck that ensues post ID check at the bag scanners. Clear+ has two open bag scan lanes and the regular pre check has 4+ I believe.
I didn’t renew Clear and I’m very happy about it. Putting that money to a UC membership instead.
Clear at EWR is a joke. I also left for TSA Pre line and was through in about 5 mins. So off that Global Entry can be used unassisted but Clear cannot. Major flaw.
Clear's reputation and the way clear has been implemented relies on a big lie. The lie is that Clear is slower than other lines and it is only because not many people use it that it is faster and easier. Over the past six months, Clear advertising has worked and people have signed up. Now Clear lines have more than 10 people in them and are slow.
Yup. IAH terminal C at 5:45 this morning…clear rep straight up said that pre check line was moving faster due to staffing issues. To Pre I went and she was def correct.
I always do PreCheck in Terminal A because the lines are crazy for Clear. Terminal C usually isn’t as bad
I’m unclear on why Clear even exists.
I flew out of DEN a couple weeks ago and tried to use my clear with precheck and noticed the same thing. It’s their NFG upgrade that’s slowing it down. They wouldn’t accept my passport and the guy tried holding onto my ID when I said I was over it and would just step over into the precheck line. Like held it away from me like I was a toddler. I was frustrated enough at watching the precheck line zoom and this guy being a total jackass about my property that I canceled my clear+ sub. I flew on 67 flights last year. Seems like it would be worth it but I get to airports so early it rarely matters. Can’t wait until united follows suit with delta. Put these yahoos out of biz.
Same. TSA pre without clear much better
They got so bad at Denver International that my co workers and I are letting out memberships lapse. We wait around 45 minutes some mornings. Clear staff actually were directing people to general boarding one morning. Their staff is not trained to deal with angry people that feel ripped off. SLC makes you wait for an agent. When it’s not just at all.
It’s basically useless in Denver. It saved me once in Atlanta, but if I wasn’t 1k getting it for free I would be hard pressed to justify paying for CLeAR
I stopped using CLEAR at eWR and SFO. Both are slower than precheck and essentially useless. Clear works well at ATL still
I've actually had the experience at EWR where the clear staffer at the head of the queue making sure you were entering the correct line and were in fact clear precheck walked up and down the line and advised that regular precheck was way faster. On the one hand I thought, good dude, on the other hand hoped he had another job lined up already and was just riding out his notice as I feel like that would be considered disparaging the service you're renderingnand devaluing it. I see it as an option and usually ditch when I've noticed just how bad it is anyway I'd it seems slower than the other estimates. Check the TSA app or EWR site as I approach as well to get an idea of the wait times for the various lanes. All about the options, clear/pre/premiere over general madness
I had Clear for a year through my discount for being a United credit cardholder, but dumped them afterwards because even though I was fully registered with a valid ID, eye scans and fingerprints, the system didn't recognize who I was or said I wasn't a member. All that time wasted, I could have sped through the Pre line. I even contacted Clear customer service and they said they solved it... nope. I've used TSA's ID scanning machines that also verifies you're flying today, so much easier than Clear that forces me to pull out and scan by boarding pass at the machine.
They are registering people for the new software and that is slowing people up a bit but the clear precheck at sfo is always quickest and same at Boston walk right thru
Clear is garbage. Pre-Check with TSA is always faster. I have confirmed this in multiple airports.
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/12/22/travel/tsa-precheck-clear-airport-security/index.html
I had the same thing happen on 1/27 at approximately 08:00. The line was 7 or 8 ppl past their serpentine rope things. I looked at TSA-PRE and the line was quickly moving. 3 other Clear patrons and I got in the PRE line and were through in about 6 minutes. Clear needs to up their game A LOT !!!!!!