Guide To Maximizing Amex CLEAR Plus Credits

Premium credit cards have all kinds of great benefits nowadays, especially for travel. American Express has a partnership with CLEAR, whereby select Amex cardmembers can enjoy annual credits with CLEAR. In this post I wanted to take a closer look at that.

Which Amex cards offer CLEAR credits, what is CLEAR, how do you enroll, and how do you get the best value?

Which Amex cards offer CLEAR credits?

Currently the following four American Express cards each offer up to a $189 annual CLEAR Plus credit (Enrollment required):

• The Platinum Card® from American Express (review)
• The Business Platinum Card® from American Express (review)
• The American Express^® Green Card (review)
• The Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card (review)

What are the restrictions associated with these CLEAR Plus credits?

• The credits are per calendar year (based on when the transaction appears on your card)
• The credits can be used across multiple transactions, if you’re in a situation where you’re being charged the maximum credit amount by CLEAR
• The credits apply to purchases directly with CLEAR
• Purchases by the primary cardmember and additional cardmembers are eligible, though additional cardmembers don’t get additional credits
• You can buy a CLEAR membership for anyone (including friends and family), as long as you pay with your card
• The statement credits will post within two to four weeks of an eligible purchase

The information and associated card details on this page for the American Express Green Card Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card has been collected independently by OMAAT and has not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

What is CLEAR airport security?

CLEAR is essentially a technology company that stores biometric data to expedite clearing security at airports, and at select stadiums and other venues.

The way CLEAR makes your life easier is by allowing you to bypass the ID check at airports. While you still have to go through security, you simply go up to a CLEAR checkpoint at an airport, then your fingerprints or eyes are scanned, and then you bypass the ID check (though in some cases, you may still be asked at random to show your ID).

It doesn’t matter whether you have TSA PreCheck or just “regular” security, as the CLEAR associate will direct you past the ID checker and into the appropriate line.

Where is CLEAR available?

CLEAR is currently available at 50+ airports, as well as at some stadiums and other venues. The list of eligible CLEAR locations is always changing, so you can check this link to see the up-to-date locations.

Note that not all terminals at eligible airports have CLEAR, and in some cases, CLEAR is only open for select hours. So you’ll want to check that before heading to the airport.

How do you sign up for CLEAR?

The process of signing up for CLEAR is super easy. You can initially register online, which should take just a couple of minutes. Your payment will already be processed when you register.

Then the next time you’re at an airport with CLEAR, you can simply see a company representative, and they’ll walk you through the registration process, which consists of them taking your biometric data. Unlike with Global Entry, there’s no “interview” required here. CLEAR is essentially just verifying your biometric data, so the company isn’t assessing how “risky” of a passenger you are.

How does CLEAR compare to TSA PreCheck?

CLEAR, TSA PreCheck, and Global Entry, are complements and not substitutes:

• CLEAR gets you expedited ID checking at eligible airports
• TSA PreCheck gets you expedited security screening at eligible airports, as you don’t have to take off your shoes, or take liquids or laptops out of your bags
• Global Entry gets you expedited immigration when entering the United States, allowing you to go straight to a kiosk and skip the main lines

When it comes to memberships:

• A Global Entry membership gets you Global Entry and TSA PreCheck, but not CLEAR
• A TSA PreCheck membership just gets you TSA PreCheck
• A CLEAR membership just gets you CLEAR

The ideal situation is to have a Global Entry membership and a CLEAR membership, as you’re then covered for all three programs.

How do you maximize value with CLEAR?

Ordinarily, a CLEAR membership costs $189 per year. Below I’ll cover some of the ways that you can in theory get a better deal on a membership. I’d say the catch is that the value is incremental when you have a $189 CLEAR credit, and CLEAR makes it hard to split payments.

Below I’ll cover some of the ways that you can get a discount or better deal on a CLEAR membership, though as you’ll see, there’s not necessarily that much more value to be had when you’re paying out of pocket. Personally, I have three cards with CLEAR credits, so that easily covers three full memberships.

With that out of the way…

CLEAR should cost no more than $179 per year

At the absolute most you should be paying $179 per year for CLEAR, before factoring in any potential Amex CLEAR credits. Why? Just for being a member of Delta SkyMiles or United MileagePlus you get a reduced CLEAR membership rate of $179 per year. Signing up for these programs is free and takes just a couple of minutes.

No status is required, but rather the discount is offered just for being a member of these programs:

• Follow this link to get the preferential Delta SkyMiles pricing
• Follow this link to get the preferential United MileagePlus pricing

Now, admittedly this distinction might not be all that important, since your card offers a $189 credit anyway, so you might not necessarily care if you’re billed $179 or $189.

Save even more with airline status or credit cards

You can save even more on a CLEAR membership if you have airline status or select co-brand credit cards:

• CLEAR is free for Delta SkyMiles Diamond Medallion members
• CLEAR costs $149 for Delta SkyMiles Platinum, Gold, and Silver Medallion members, as well as those with a co-branded Delta SkyMiles Credit Card
• CLEAR is free for United MileagePlus Premier 1K members
• CLEAR costs $149 for United MileagePlus Platinum, Gold, and Silver Premier members, as well as those with a co-branded United MileagePlus Credit Card

Amex credits can be applied toward any of these discounted CLEAR membership opportunities.

Get CLEAR for $70 with family plans

CLEAR memberships are individual, so you can’t bring friends or family along with you, aside from children under 18, who can tag along for free without registering.

The good news is that CLEAR also offers family plans. With CLEAR’s family plans, you can add up to three people to your account for $70 each per year. The people you add don’t even have to be immediate or biological family. As CLEAR describes it, you can even add “chosen family, or friends that feel like family.”

You might be thinking “great, so if I have two cards with CLEAR Plus credits, I can use one credit for my membership, and one credit to add two family members or friends. That’s possible in theory, but there’s a catch — CLEAR only lets you keep one credit card on file, and doesn’t let you split payments.

So if you’re enrolling for the first time, it’s easy enough — just have one card on file and sign-up for your own membership, and then change your card on file before adding others with a family plan. The issue is that when it comes time for renewal, all accounts renew at once, so one card would be charged. So you’ll want to plan accordingly.

Bottom line

Four American Express cards offer CLEAR Plus credits of up to $189, including the Amex Personal Platinum Card, Amex Business Platinum Card, Amex Green Card, and Hilton Aspire Card. This is a great perk, since a CLEAR membership will cost you nothing out of pocket this way.

Since many of us have multiple cards with CLEAR Plus credits, this is a great way to secure this perk not only for us, but for others, since you can use your card to pay for someone else’s membership.

If you have an Amex card with a CLEAR credit, what’s your strategy for maximizing value?

The information and associated card details on this page for the American Express Green Card Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card has been collected independently by OMAAT and has not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.