Is CLEAR worth it at the airport?

CLEAR lets you skip the ID-check line and go straight to physical screening. It costs $189/year (vs. $78/5 years for PreCheck). Whether it's worth it depends on how often you fly through airports where CLEAR is available and how long the ID-verification line is at those airports.

CLEAR is available at about 50+ airports and some stadiums. At airports like LAX, EWR, and SFO where the line to show your ID can be 15-20 minutes even with PreCheck, CLEAR genuinely helps — it gets you past that bottleneck. But at airports with short ID lines, CLEAR saves you almost nothing.

The ideal combo is CLEAR + PreCheck: CLEAR skips the ID line, PreCheck gives you the expedited screening (keep shoes on, laptop in bag). Without PreCheck, CLEAR just moves you to the front of the standard screening line, where you still have to remove shoes, laptops, and liquids. For frequent flyers at busy hubs, the combo is genuinely time-saving. For 2-4 trips a year from smaller airports, it's probably not worth $189.