Randyk47

Just took Mrs. K to the airport for her third trip to DC in the last four weeks. Once again the CLEAR lane was shut down without a sign of CLEAR personnel in the area. Has CLEAR run into trouble again or is this just a local problem? Can't say I've been running by the airport just to check but we're now talking the better part of a month that CLEAR hasn't been running for the early morning flights. We're both GE enrolled so have PreCheck so it's not an ussue for us but I'd be a bit miffed if I was paying for CLEAR and they weren't open.

UPDATE: Texted with a friend locally who is a CLEAR member. Turns out CLEAR only operates Monday through Friday locally. Not much use for business or vacation travelers who have to fly on Saturday or Sunday.

immaculate

I'm here researching Clear myself for a [likely] future purchase. Here's how I understand it:

There are two points where you will interact with TSA at the airport - the first is an identity check and the second is the baggage check/body scanner/metal detector. Clear is in place to address the former. To answer question #2 - biometric information is collected so that you can bypass the identity verification part of the TSA experience (the first line that leads up to the guy who takes your boarding pass and your ID and stares at it and scribbles nonsense on your boarding pass before waving you on to the xray machines). The information ISN'T collected for the purposes of a background check/security clearance - it's simply to verify your identity so you don't have to wait in line to meet TSA greeter #1. That said, here's why I believe Clear will be beneficial to me:

My home airport is SNA, which does NOT have Clear. Fortunately, SNA is a small airport and it doesn't take me long to get from curbside to the lounge most days. My work airport, however, is SFO and I fly United. At SFO, the Premier/elite and Pre-Check lines are insane. Example: as 1K, I was 19th on the waitlist for an upgrade today. 19th! That said, both the Pre-check line and the elite line are absurdly long. I've never even looked at what the "general" (no status, no pre-check) line looks like. The Clear line has been nearly empty every single time I've seen it. If signing up for Clear gets me a line pass to the front of the Pre-check line, I'm all for it. And no, there is no DYKWIA trick to get to the front of the general queue. Buying an "upgrade" does not entitle you to cut to the front of the line - many of the other folks in the Premier/elite line are also carrying domestic First/International Business/Global First boarding passes. And the Pre-check line doesn't consider status/fare class/etc.

mbstone - it sounds like what you need is Pre-check if keeping your shoes on is your main concern (question #1). I haven't taken my shoes off or my laptop out stateside for the last 6 years or so courtesy of Pre-check (which I got from Global Entry). I may feel different about it once I try Clear for myself, but I'm personally looking forward to stacking it with Pre-check to shorten my airport check-in time even more.

Hope this helps

Edit to add: Clear operates every day at SFO 5am - varying hours, which is awesome for me

csyoung49

I'm going to echo this with my personal SFO stories in the International Terminal. The lines for International can be deep/long and painfully slow with some people probably waiting 30-45 minutes. I walked through with Clear to the front of the line, did the usual security stuff with the shoes and laptop (my pre-check/global entry is still in process), and got through in about 3 minutes. Worth it.

Starman

Did any/all other CLEAR members get a recent email saying that the card is no longer required, but instead use "your preferred biometric?" In my case there's an imbedded cartoon and caption that shows and states "left thumb", but I've always been asked at CLEAR for my right index finger. What are they trying to say?

dnLwire

That's correct. You don't need to carry your your ClearMe ID card anymore. You can just scan your finger print now. It's been like that since Mothers Day weekend.

ssh

Just noticed that my CLEAR membership is up for renewal in a couple of months, and wondered if there are any program or CC partnerships that include it. I bought so many years of CLEAR when I first joined that I've not paid attention much since. Any clues?

phltraveler

I had CLEAR for a little while back when Clear was offering 6 months free with Visa Signature. At the time, I already had Precheck and I was going through IAH terminal A often (non-United Carriers). Usually the PreCheck line wasn't that long - I think it allowed me to skip a fifteen minute precheck line once. At HPN the hours are typically limited (5-10AM on weekdays only, no weekends).

Now you don't need the separate smart card (not sure why it was needed with boarding pass/biometric). They offer me a free trip via email once in a while and every once in a while three months.

Getting offered $100/yr for Clear as a promo rate when Precheck is $85 (from TSA, or $100 Global Entry/$50 for Nexus for 5 years, with other benefits for the latter two) is very weak especially considering the wait in Pre lines is very long.

I took a quick look now and I don't see any current offers for Credit cards to either pay for Clear or give new members more months free than publicly available trials.

sunpass

It doesn't seem like there are many subscribers to it, likely balking at the $179 annual membership fee. Do you think membership levels will suddenly grow with Delta's investment in it?

Boraxo

Every year I reconsider the cost, which is discounted if you have a Signature visa (or a corporate discount) but still runs near $175 with spouse.

On the plus side Clear is now available at my local baseball stadium, which in some ways is even more valuable than the airport service.

On the minus side, Clear has completely disappeared from the UA checkpoint at IAH Terminal C, and similarly never seems to be open at Terminal E for early morning transfers.

Now that PreCheck appears to be fairly predictable for me (wasn't always the case) it may finally be time to jettison Clear.

sunpass

Apparently, the Clear promotion with Visa Signature cards ended in February. That was according to a person who called Clear to ask about that discount.

HOUdat

I am in IAH often enough that $15 a month is absolutely worth it to me. Up to two weeks ago, I could go from sliding glass doors to walking to the lounge in less than five minutes.

pseudoswede

I have a hyphenated middle name. For the sake of this post, let's say the name on my birth certificate is...

First name: Pseudo
Middle name: Saab-Volvo
Last name: Swede

My passport is listed as such, too.

When I registered with Clear, I used my driver's license. It reads: Pseudo Saab Volvo Swede (no hyphen).

My boarding passes look like... SWEDE\PSEUDOSAABVOLVOMR

When I use the Clear Kiosk, it says there is a name mis-match. The Clear system says my name is...

First name: Pseudo
Middle name: Saab
Last name: Volvo Swede

Naturally, it says the boarding pass is...

First name: Pseudo
Middle name: Saab Volvo
Last name: Swede

The Clear employee will simply override the mismatch after seeing my driver's license, but it's an added annoyance.

I asked Clear customer support how I need to correct this, and they said I can go to a Clear enrollment center, and they can fix it. When I went to an enrollment center, they said it's an airline issue.

Does anyone know how I can get this fixed?

pseudoswede

Update

I went to the enrollment center again yesterday, and the Clear employee re-scanned my driver's license using various methods. Eventually, the kiosk simply displayed my name as Pseudo Swede. We went with that.

Unfortunately, since this was an account update, it requires 24 hours processing time. Instead, I was escorted through the premium class line (which was empty).

eponymous_coward

They have CLEAR at LAS. I use Precheck- my last time through LAS took all of 5 minutes to go through TSA. I have no idea why anyone who would get Precheck would want CLEAR; as far as I can tell it doesn't do anything Precheck doesn't do.

Kieron

The PreCheck lines at DEN and SJC go alongside their CLEAR lines, and in all the times I've been through those airports, I think I've seen passengers using CLEAR once. $180 per year?!