CLEAR® Plus bills itself as the ultimate travel time-saver … but with long lines to get through security at many busy airports across the country, CLEAR may not be worth the cost for every traveler. And now that cost is getting even steeper.
With little warning, CLEAR raised its annual fee from $189 to $199 a year effective Aug. 1. It's the second price increase in just over two years – annual fees last went up in May 2022.
It gets worse for traveling families. CLEAR offers a little-known Family Plan, allowing you to add adult friends and family members to your membership at a discounted rate. But that cost jumped from $70 apiece to $99 just last fall … and now, it increased again to $119 per adult. Children under 18 can still join members in the CLEAR® Plus lane for free.
Fortunately, there are still plenty of ways for flyers with Alaska Airlines, Delta, Hawaiian, and United to save. Unfortunately, those savings also won't go quite as far as they used to:
- Anyone with a (free) frequent flyer account with all four airlines can sign up for CLEAR® Plus for $189 a year – up from the previous $179 rate
- Travelers with status or a co-branded credit card from Delta, Hawaiian, or United can knock that down to $159 a year – previously, it cost them $149 annually
- Flyers with top-tier Delta Diamond, Hawaiian Pualani Platinum (plus have flown 75,000), or United 1K status can still get CLEAR® Plus for free.
If there's one saving grace for the countless American Express members getting complimentary CLEAR® Plus with cards like *amex platinum*, you're still covered. American Express upped the annual credits on its flagship cards as well as the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card to cover the higher, $199 amount.
But for the rest of us, paying $200 a year for an inconsistent experience at airport could be a tough sell … especially compared to the $78 price tag to get TSA PreCheck for five full years.
Once a darling of the travel world that promised to cut you to the front of the line and get you through airport security in minutes, CLEAR's track record is shaky at best as it's expanded rapidly to more airports and increased in price, too. Whether you get through CLEAR lanes in moments or get stuck in a long line as passengers with PreCheck alone pass you by has started to feel like a coin flip.
It can be particularly bad in airports like Atlanta (ATL) and Denver (DEN), where bloated rolls of flyers with Delta or United status get discounts on CLEAR Plus or have top-dollar Amex travel cards in their wallet that cover the cost of enrollment altogether. Worse yet, CLEAR members have been increasingly subjected to random ID checks over the last year or so. And while a changeover to faster technology powered by facial recognition should improve CLEAR® Plus performance, that hasn't happened yet.
Read more: What Went Wrong with CLEAR (& When Will It Get Better)?
Bottom Line
CLEAR® Plus can be worth the money for some and practically worthless for others. Either way, you'll pay more for it starting today.
The company raised prices for an annual CLEAR® Plus membership to $199 a year while increasing the cost of adding friends and family to your plan for the second time in less than a year. Even loyal Delta and United flyers' discounts won't go as far.
If there's one silver lining, travelers getting CLEAR® Plus for free with cards like *amex platinum* can continue to do so, as the annual credits on those cards have increased to cover the higher cost.