Originally Posted by
Eujeanie
Doing some serious number crunching and I might change my mind.
Big question is about CLEAR. Never had it. Turns out the 2 airports we fly out of are EUG and PDX, neither of which offer clear (EUG is a non-issue, tiny airport).
Would you say having CLEAR is worth it for only half the time (just our return flights, provided they are from an airport that offers it).
And with this $189 rebate from the Aspire, can you still add family members for $60 each?
And about the airline reimbursement - has that changed so that you can get reimbursed for buying tickets? It used to be just incidental expenses on our airline of choice - Alaska. If that's a change to purchasing tickets maybe the Aspire is still worthwhile.
With respect to Clear, that wouldn't even factor into my calculus. PDX is likely to never implement Clear, their management is hostile to it (that whole Portland "it should be an egalitarian world" complex). Also, can you really confirm that you'd have Clear access on "half" your flights? At the end of the day, Clear is really not in very many airports at all. And some of the airports it is offered in, it's only in a specific terminal (which might not be the airline you are flying). The list of airports that have Clear is found here:
https://www.clearme.com/where-to-use-clear
I'd review that and determine if you fly back from enough of those places to make it worthwhile. But remember, some airports listed you won't be able to use if you are flying the wrong airline. For example, AA is somewhat hostile to Clear and does not allow it in terminals they control. So you will see DFW on the list of airports that have Clear, but it's only available in Terminal E, which is not a terminal that AA flies out of thus making it inconvenient/impossible for AA fliers at DFW to utilize. There are several other examples like this.
Finally, adding family members is now $70 not $60.
I do have Clear, because my wife and I both have Amex Platinum cards and thus the full cost is covered. However, i would not pay out of pocket for Clear given how few places have it and it has never come into my calculus of whether to get or keep a card.
I don't mean to offend, but you might be over thinking this a bit. Either you stay at Hilton's enough that the benefits of the card are worth it or they are not, but there is no way in the world that Clear provides enough value to be the decider in IMHO.
Regards