Is Clear Price It? Execs and Cons of the Journey Program

If you’ve flown lately, you’ve doubtless seen signage for Clear+, a personal, fee-based biometric identification service that payments itself as a quicker various to the usual safety line. 

“I remember the first time I saw it in Denver,” says John E. DiScala, creator of the journey ideas and offers web site Johnny Jet. “I’m standing in the long security line, and there was another line in between that was completely empty, and I see a couple [of] business travelers just roll up. I’m like, ‘What is that? I need to get that.’  ”

That was nearly a decade in the past, a couple of years after Clear+ and an identical, government-run program, TSA PreCheck, started establishing themselves with member-dedicated traces in American airports. The presence of every has grown steadily since.

Anything that guarantees to shave off minutes and even hours of airport safety wait time sounds engaging as boarding looms. The attraction of shifting by way of safety quicker applies to adults 55 and older, an estimated 46 p.c of whom flew in 2024, in accordance with Airlines for America’s Air Travelers in America survey. Those vacationers usually tend to expertise mobility points in addition to ache or discomfort when standing for lengthy intervals of time. The unpredictability of traces creates extra nervousness across the already demanding flying course of.

But there’s extra to Clear+ than getting a front-of-the-line move. Here’s what you must learn about program prices, availability, alternate options and extra so you’ll be able to finest consider whether or not Clear+ is price it for you.

What is Clear+ and the way does it work?

Clear is an identification verification firm that shops its members’ info to substantiate their identification rapidly.

At airports, Clear members choose in to its biometric-based ID service, Clear+, to entry a devoted lane with a kiosk that verifies their identification by way of a watch, face or fingerprint scan.

“It allows you, in many cases, to keep your ID in your wallet, in your purse, on your person, so you don’t actually have to take it out,” says Nick Ewen, senior editorial director at the Points Guy, who has been a member for about 4 years.

Afterward, a Clear agent escorts members previous the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) ID verification checkpoint to the bodily screening line, the place they undergo safety screening as common. According to Clear, most vacationers have their identification verified and are handed off to safety screening in beneath 1½ minutes.

Clear is rolling out digital gates (eGates), mainly a self-service Clear+ lane that sometimes takes fewer than 5 seconds to make use of, says Kyle McLaughlin, govt vp of aviation and journey at Clear. However, eGate customers should nonetheless endure a bodily safety screening.