Originally Posted by
alchemista
it only really saves you that much time if you use that time somehow productive otherwise. do you adjust your plans to arrive to the airport 5-10 minutes later because of your Clear? Or is it just the annoyance of being in line for a few minutes?
There would be times when I really do need those 5 minutes, but it's not like every single time I'm really wasting them, just standing in line instead of sitting in a chair. If Clear or another program did more than just save you line wait time (like a walk-through crew-like lane as someone mentioned early in the thread), then there would be more value.
I won't speak for anyone else, but I definitely do.
As I'm sure others do, I have my home-to-gate and office-to-gate routines planned and timed quite well. My usual routine is to leave my house 90 mins before departure time (with obvious adjustments if it's rush hour or something), which generally has me walking up to the gate either just as boarding is beginning or very shortly thereafter. Before CLEAR, this was more like 2 hours, because even the Precheck lines could be unpredictable - but...sometimes I would arrive at the gate while boarding was already underway, and sometimes I'd get to spend 20-30 mins sitting around an airport lounge, maybe shooting off a couple emails or something.
But the BIG payoff is on the way home, where I don't have a known routine and I don't have as much control over my schedule. I tend to allow a little extra time to get to my non-home airports since I don't know traffic patterns or whatever as well, meaning I often get there earlier than I really need to be, and sometimes really early if a meeting ends early or the drive isn't as long as I'd thought or whatever. There absolutely have been times where that 5-10 mins CLEAR/Pre shaves off a security line means I get to the gate in time to hop on an earlier flight, vs. missing the cutoff and having to wait around for the next flight.
I will happily pay $99/year if it helps me even just one time that year get home an hour earlier.