I have Pre-Check for free with my card but am curious for those who also have Clear, which do you prefer? Worth spending the annual fee? I usually fly 2-3 times per month for work.

I have a credit card that pays the bulk of the membership, but it's a toss up most times on whether Clear is any faster than TSA Pre. I don't think I would pay for it out of pocket.

I wouldn't.

My wife has clear, and I have pre-check. I'd say she beats me through security 75% of the time and probably only averages maybe 1-2 minutes faster when she does.
Not really worth it to me.

Ok that was what I thought, just wanted to check if I was missing something game changing.

I would say its only worth it if your credit card offers to cover the CLEAR fee. Maybe check to see if your card offers it?

I would say its a game changer for me when traveling. Ive never had to wait in line at any airport.

I think it varies by airport, tbh.

I never got clear b/c when I was traveling a lot for work, many of the airports i flew into were smaller and didn't even have clear.

Clear is completely worthless / non-functional 90% of the time. The other 10% might save you 5-15 min.

Clear works better at some airports than others.

Minneapolis for instance.

AggieOO said:

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I think it varies by airport, tbh.

I never got clear b/c when I was traveling a lot for work, many of the airports i flew into were smaller and didn't even have clear.

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This. If you fly a lot out of DFW it's pointless. Clear is owned by Delta and United. If it's an AA hub it probably won't have Clear.

I fly a lot... and it does depend on the airport, but usually it isn't much of a time save (from my observations.... I don't have clear).

All clear does is the facial ID thing.
You then still have to get in a queue to have your stuff scanned.
You also have to wait for the TSA to let the clear person scan their reader thing for you to proceed. So often the line will go:
1 precheck, 1 clear, 1 precheck, 1 standard, 1 clear, 1 precheck, etc.

Unless you have a CC paying for it, I wouldn't bother.

2 recent data points from IAH.

Traveled out of C (early AM) last Monday and Clear was a bit faster than PreCheck

Traveled out of C (early AM) yesterday and Clear had a long line, while PreCheck had none, so I took PreCheck. Always funny to see the folks waiting in Clear for no reason. Guess they really hate taking out their ID's.

If you live in Dallas, you'd only get Clear if you fly Southwest or non-American Airlines flights. Terminal E, which has all the other airlines, is the only Clear location in DFW.

Now Clear wants members to pay $100 to skip to the front of the Clear line.

Getting silly

California is planning to outlaw CLEAR as not fair to those not able to afford it. Seriously.

mike073 said:

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California is planning to outlaw CLEAR as not fair to those not able to afford it. Seriously.

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It kills me to say CA has it right on this...they are going to force CLEAR to have their own dedicated security stations. No more line-cutting. I'm ok with that.

Clear has always seemed shady to me. It's like a concierge but they're also constantly selling it whenever i see one of their reps...don't see the point

Agreed. It's annoying as hell just watching them operate. And I say this as someone who travels nearly every week and has no issues 99% of the time with "regular" PreCheck, which has actually gotten really good over time via enhancements with facial recognition / no boarding pass scan, etc.

Clear just seems like an extortion attempt, their employees are arrogant, and the suckers who pay for the service act like they're some kind of royalty as they get herded in front of all three people who are waiting for the PreCheck agent.

What pisses me off the most is that the real estate devoted to the Clear kiosks and chute could be utilized much more efficiently as another PreCheck lane in many airports, speeding up service for all.

Clear employees are exactly like tsa employees but more uppity.

I'm sure the govt kickbacks are… impressive.

I was in Atlanta for several years and clear was way faster than precheck. With CHS it is hit or miss. A lot of the flights I get here depart before 6am so it isn't open yet.

I fly quite a bit and Clear used to be much faster. I feel as if the facial recognition software has slowed the lane down. That being said, it is absolutely worth it if you fly in/out of airports with a lot of families, tourists, and amateur travelers like Orlando, Vegas or Denver. I have to fly to Orlando a few times a year for work and while the Clesr lane isn't super organized there, I feel like just those trips make my ROI for the year on my Clear membership.

to give them credit, the newer machines are quite a bit faster than the old ones. Seems like they're trying to improve the service.

I just think all these little "extras" they're tacking on are silly.

We flew out of Orlando and the Clear ambassador continually stopping the PreCheck flow to bring their person to our TSA agent was annoying as hell. That being said, their line was long as hell so PreCheck was still faster.

Agree with the above about seeming like an extortion attempt. Also the way they do it and PreCheck together seems inefficient as hell. Just do away with one if they are going to have to bottleneck at TSA together anyway.

Nothing like paying extra to buy back the freedoms that we used to have.
Remember when hunters put the rifle in the overhead bin and we were all safe?

Deerdude said:

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Nothing like paying extra to buy back the freedoms that we used to have.
Remember when hunters put the rifle in the overhead bin and we were all safe?

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If you use your AMEX Platinum precheck, clear and global entry are covered.

Clear is handy to have. Me and a coworker walked into GSP a few year ago and I'm pretty sure even with Pre would have missed our flight or been running to the gate. If you are true road warrior for work trips probably good to have as it varies so much airport to airport.