Submitted by thebusiness7 t3_10gjvgt in jerseycity

I’m wondering if CLEAR membership is worth it if I’m mainly using it at the mentioned airports. I’ve seen the CLEAR line at EWR unstaffed on a few occasions, and I was wondering how often that happens or if it’s just for early flights.

Edit: also, what’s been your average time to pass through TSA when you have CLEAR at EWR? I’m estimating like 15 mins max since it’s a shortened line?

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mooseLimbsCatLicks t1_j535b6u wrote

It’s worth it especially if the airport is busy. If it’s not you don’t save that much time. But even just bypassing that huge line once is worth it in my opinion.

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ceeyell t1_j53619a wrote

I love CLEAR. I've never waited more than 5ish minutes to get through security when using it at local airports (most recently at EWR in October).

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leboeufie t1_j5374gn wrote

Yep, worth it, especially if you also have TSA Pre-check. Just choose the shortest line when approaching security.

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NCreature t1_j53jwjs wrote

It's worth it at busy airports like EWR, ATL (especially Atlanta where even the Precheck line is super long) and LAX. The only issue I've run into is that at FLL the TSA Precheck line isn't open late a lot of times.

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Useful-Depth671 t1_j53qksl wrote

I once spent 45 minutes in the precheck line at EWR so I enrolled in CLEAR for my next flight. I can only speak for the CLEAR/Precheck combo - I would say average time to get through is 7 minutes. Not sure about the timing for those with CLEAR but no Precheck.

That said, CLEAR is progressively getting more popular and on a few occasions in the last month, it seemed to be faster to just go through Precheck (or Premier Access if you have that option). Specifically on Christmas Eve, the CLEAR line was down to the AirTrain hallway.

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bodhipooh t1_j54pvmk wrote

I have CLEAR and have only ever used it once. It’s free to me, so I keep it active, but I really don’t care all that much for the product. I find that TSA Pre Check is perfect for my needs and the airports I frequent. I seldom wait more than five minutes to reach the TSA agent, though I know some people (my partner being one) have been faced with situations where not having CLEAR would have meant missing a flight due to unexpected crazy lines because of TSA dealing with staff shortages.

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wasting_-my-_time t1_j54vcgn wrote

10 - 20 minutes. Clear + tsa pre-check. It depends a little on how crowded the airport is. I've never had it take more than 20 minutes and rarely less than 10. United will also pay the clear fee for 1k members.

It's worth it.

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GoHuskies1984 t1_j54yw4w wrote

Whenever I use pre check the only delays are waiting for the CLEAR folks to cut the pre check line.

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iSkyscraper t1_j559e94 wrote

Nope. Just get Precheck, CLEAR really only works at certain airports with single mega lines where the ID check is out of control, like Orlando or Atlanta.

It's also a Delta product so often only found at airports with a large Delta presence.

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boogieeeeee t1_j565b63 wrote

Precheck + Clear = best combo.

Everytime I am at the airport, I breeze right through security. It also helps that my credit card reimbursed me for the membership cost for both TSA Precheck & Clear.

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Rube777 t1_j56cbx4 wrote

Is it still $179 a year? I had the free trial of it a while back and decided not to renew. The occasions I had to use it, the regular TSA lines weren’t that long (this was mostly at JFK). If you fly a lot and have the money I guess it might be worth it. Ymmv

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OBAFGKM17 t1_j56im4k wrote

Clear also ran that idiotic “give your friends the gift of Clear” promo over the holiday season where members could gift Clear access to their friends and family for 1 trip, it led to a bunch of inexperienced travelers bogging down the lines from Thanksgiving—New Years, I ended up just going through the normal Pre Check line to save time.

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tommyinnyc t1_j57og0l wrote

If you can make united silver cost comes down to $109. Plus $60 for any three friends so you could even resell that. Plus some credit cards cover $180 per year so you can end up making money.

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