CLEAR is a technology company that helps with expediting clearing security at select US airports. The company stores the biometric data of members, allowing them to (typically) skip the ID check, and get straight into the security line. Combined with TSA PreCheck, this is the best setup you can have for clearing security in the US.
For those who add others to their CLEAR account through the family membership option, we’ve just seen a price hike, which is the second such price increase we’ve seen this year (thanks to Darren for flagging this). Ouch.
In this post:
CLEAR now charges $99 to add others to account
An individual CLEAR Plus membership ordinarily costs $189 per year. One of the ways to get most value with CLEAR has been through a family membership. The idea is that you pay $189 per year for the primary member, and then you can add up to three adults to your account for a discounted rate.
CLEAR has been explicit that you don’t need to add actual family members, but rather that you can add “chosen family, or friends that feel like family.” Of course if you’re trying to get the cheapest per person cost for CLEAR, then taking advantage of this family pricing has made sense.
Unfortunately — and perhaps not surprisingly — that cost keeps going up:
- Up until early 2023, the cost to add a person to a family plan was $60
- In early 2023, the cost to add someone to a family plan was increased to $70
- Now in late 2023, the cost to add someone to a family plan has increased to $99
So we’ve now seen an overnight 41% increase in the cost of adding a family member to an account, and a 65% increase compared to the beginning of the year.
I don’t think anyone faults CLEAR for adjusting its pricing, but it’s a bit annoying to see a price increase twice in a year, and it’s also not cool how CLEAR isn’t providing any notice about this to members (at least as far as I can tell), despite CLEAR generally having an auto-renew feature.
I’m not surprised to see pricing increases
While one can buy a membership directly with CLEAR, in reality, a lot of people get a membership through other means. For example, CLEAR has a partnership with American Express, Delta, and United. I imagine many people are getting a CLEAR membership through an Amex card, given that some cards offer credits.
Since cards with this benefit offer up to a $189 annual CLEAR credit, it’s not hard to figure out how those credits were often being used. For those of us with multiple Amex cards, we could use one card to get a primary membership, and with the $60 family pricing we saw in early 2023, we could add three additional people with a second credit.
I imagine this new pricing is largely intended to prevent people from getting that much value. Now a $189 credit won’t even get you two additional family members, as you’d already have to pay a bit out of pocket for that second person.
Ultimately it’s logical enough that there shouldn’t be such a big discount for adding people, since each person is getting the same perks with CLEAR. Perhaps the more fundamental question is whether CLEAR is worth actually paying $189 out of pocket for. Based on my experience, it isn’t…
Bottom line
CLEAR has increased the cost of adding additional people to an account. A primary membership continues to cost $189, and now an additional membership costs $99. Previously the cost was $70, and earlier this year the cost was $60. So that represents quite the price increase over time.
What do you make of this CLEAR Plus family membership pricing increase?
Having the world’s busiest airport as my main airport, clear use to beneficial, but lately the digital ID line and regular tsa precheck seem to be just as efficient or better than a clear/precheck combo. $60 to $100 may not be worth it.
So, yesterday, I was heading to SFO A gates. I was in Clear + Pre, my GF was in regular line. She beat me through TSA by at least 5 minutes.
I'm really not sure Clear's implementation lines up with their value story anymore. This is just one data point (it's rare we get to test this very often), but I've seen a shorter line on TSA than Clear multiple times in the last 2 months.
Clear won't last long with continual price increases.
I flew from SEA the other day. General security lines were empty and yet I walked to the PreCheck checkpoint where the lines were terrible. Clear got me through those lines but there's no way I'd pay for clear when all I'd have to do is take my shoes off...
I use TSA Precheck line 90% of the time. Clear is always slower. Random ID checks aren’t random any more, so what’s the point? The regular line is faster. Without the credits I’ll cancel my membership (the credits are what caused their downward trajectory - the same as the lounge problem). It was worth it before.
I fly IAD - LGA often - more than 60 flights this year. Clear takes longer at IAD and is n/a at LGA terminal B. Atlanta? Useless? Chicago? Useless.
Clear has essentially priced themselves out of the market. Adios Clear!
Irritating to say the least. I’m finding more and more that the TSA Pre lines are moving faster than the overcrowded Clear lines, and the ‘random’ ID checks are everyone, so not so random. I’m finding less and less value.
I have had Clear for 3 years. Only once did it saved me from missing my flight. I've only used Clear about 10 times and 8 of those times, they still checked my ID. I also have 3 family members with my Clear account and none of them have ever needed to use Clear because pre-check was just fine. I will be canceling everyone's Clear account this year.
I am not going to renew my membership. The last 3 times through BNA it was notably faster going through Pre-Check. As I headed for my gate I could see the passenger I would have been behind in the Clear line still waiting for an open kiosk.
If I thought it would save me time and hassle, I’d get it but frankly since the end of the pandemic I haven’t spent more than 10 minutes in PreCheck lines anywhere. And half my airports do not offer the service.
Having two Am Ex cards with the Clear benefit and my wife and I on the same Clear account, I am going to look into separating our accounts and list my second Am Ex card as the payment for her account.
Let's see if that is easy enough to do.
I had the same situation. It wasn’t hard to split my wife and I into two separate accounts. I used the chat feature on the website and then I just logged into her account and entered the other credit card. We each get the $189 credit.
Clear became a hit or miss depending on the airport and time of the day. Sometimes it is life saver, sometimes it is a pain. Add to the annoyance of these “random id check” which is not random in my opinion. When you get “randomly” selected to show iD 8 out of 10 times that is no longer random. This week I received an email to a free upgrade to Clear NextGen. Apparently it is...
Clear became a hit or miss depending on the airport and time of the day. Sometimes it is life saver, sometimes it is a pain. Add to the annoyance of these “random id check” which is not random in my opinion. When you get “randomly” selected to show iD 8 out of 10 times that is no longer random. This week I received an email to a free upgrade to Clear NextGen. Apparently it is a more secure form of identification. Will give it a try. As long as Clear is free for me through my Diamond status with Delta I will keep it.
In 2.5 years of having Clear, I think it’s only saved me a measurable amount of time over PreCheck once. There have even been times where I skipped Clear because the line was much longer than the regular Pre line. The other day at LGA, I raced my husband, who has Pre but not Clear. I ended up making it through less than 30 seconds ahead of him.
Maybe once Clear transitions from biometrics to facial recognition, the line will move faster
Same thing. In most conditions, I find myself starting to skip Clear and going straight to TSA Pre-Check. Because it's a card benefit, sure, I'll keep it. And, if TSA Pre-Check has a back-up, sure, I'll use Clear. But, if it were not a card benefit, would I pay for it? No.
How can you use a second credit in the past the family members ? Clear doesn’t let you use two credit cards for one transaction
@ John -- If you have two cards with credits, you could use one card's credit for the primary membership, and a second card's credit for multiple family members.
I remove my primary card, then add another card, then add a family member.
John- you have to jump through hoops to use 2 cards. I called a Clear CSR, and there is only one way to do this. A day or two before the automatic renewal date, decouple your family members from your account, so that you, only, are charged the annual fee. The fee is charged just after midnight on the renewal date. Later that day, swap out your linked payment card to a different AMEX card,...
John- you have to jump through hoops to use 2 cards. I called a Clear CSR, and there is only one way to do this. A day or two before the automatic renewal date, decouple your family members from your account, so that you, only, are charged the annual fee. The fee is charged just after midnight on the renewal date. Later that day, swap out your linked payment card to a different AMEX card, then re-link your family members, and they will be charged the additional fee on the new card
Thank you! will do that upon renewal since I have the aspire and Amex plat.