AwardWallet receives compensation from advertising partners for links on the blog. Terms Apply to the offers listed on this page. Enrollment is required for select Amex benefits. The opinions expressed here are our own and have not been reviewed, provided, or approved by any bank advertiser. Here's our complete list of Advertisers.
Offers for the Centurion® Card from American Express, American Express® Green Card and Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card are not available through this site. Some offers may have expired. Please see our card marketplace for available offers
The best part about long lines is being able to skip them entirely. If you're a Delta SkyMiles member or have a co-branded Delta credit card, you can sign up for a CLEAR® Plus membership for less — which makes speeding through airport or stadium security lines more affordable.
Here's how to use your Delta SkyMiles membership or the Delta card in your wallet to score a discount on CLEAR.
Page Contents
What Is CLEAR?
CLEAR is a program designed to allow you to speed through the line at airport security at dozens of gateways nationwide. You can even use the service at select stadiums and arenas. Ideally, CLEAR can help you get to your seat, a lounge, or the airport concourse faster than regular security would otherwise allow.
To enjoy these perks, you'll need to sign up for a CLEAR Plus membership online. Then, you'll need to complete a retinal scan and fingerprint capture at an enrollment center. And that's it. You're cleared to utilize your expedited security membership.
What does it cost to sign up for CLEAR Plus?
A CLEAR Plus membership currently costs $199 per year. Adding family members to your plan costs $119 per person. But children under 18 in your household can join the primary member in the CLEAR Plus line free of charge.
If these rates look higher than you might remember, you're correct. CLEAR raised the cost of a Plus membership by $10 in August 2024 and hiked the cost of adding a family member by $20 in November 2023.
But thankfully, if you're a member of the free-to-join Delta SkyMiles program, have Medallion elite status, or carry a Delta American Express card, you can save on the sticker price of a CLEAR membership.
Clear Plus Discounts for Delta SkyMiles Members and Card Holders
CLEAR offers a trio of discounts for Delta travelers. The final price you'll pay for CLEAR Plus depends on what's in your wallet and your elite status. The savings break down like this:
- Delta SkyMiles member with no credit card or elite status: Get CLEAR Plus for $189 per year.
- Delta Platinum/Gold/Silver Medallion, or Delta Amex Card Member: Get CLEAR Plus for $159 per year.
- Delta Diamond Medallion or Delta 360 member: Get CLEAR Plus for free.
To unlock the discounted pricing, you'll need to enroll via this link and provide your Delta SkyMiles member number. If you already have a CLEAR account, you can link your Delta credentials using this link instead.
And if you were wondering, the $40 Card Member Delta CLEAR discount applies to all Delta cards — even the Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card, which has no annual fee (Rates & Fees).
Related: Which Delta Credit Card Is Right for You?
Alternative ways to save on a CLEAR Plus membership
CLEAR has partnerships with several airlines, with each program offering similar discounts. But unless you're a top-tier elite, you'll have to bear a substantial out-of-pocket cost. However, there's yet another way to save even more on a CLEAR Plus membership, which requires charging the membership fee to the right credit card.
Five American Express cards provide annual statement credits of up to $199 for CLEAR purchases charged to your card. This means you can drop the cost of your membership (or someone else's if you foot the bill) to $0:
- American Express® Green Card
- The Platinum Card® from American Express
- The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
- Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card
- Centurion® Card from American Express
Enrollment is required for select Amex benefits.
These cards offer a statement credit that covers the full cost of a primary member. If you want to add family members, make sure to link your Delta account and pay for your membership fees using one of the above cards. That way, you can effectively apply the Delta discount to the family member fee.
Say you have Delta elite status and one of the cards above, and you want to add one family member to your CLEAR account. You can pay just $79 out-of-pocket for both memberships by utilizing the Delta discount ($159), adding a family member ($119), and getting a $199 statement credit.
Related: All Current CLEAR Enrollment Promotions
Final Thoughts
Depending on how frequently you travel and how much you value the time spent waiting in long airport or venue lines, signing up for a CLEAR Plus membership might be worth the cost. At a minimum, you can save $10 on the price of membership by signing up for the Delta SkyMiles program — or get it for free if you hold top-tier Medallion status.
But if neither of these discounts work for you, rest assured, there are plenty of additional ways to score a membership for free or collect perks such as gift cards or airline miles just for signing up.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Delta SkyMiles® Blue American Express Card (Rates & Fees)
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
I signed onto clear two weeks ago and was told to sign up for Delta skymiles amex card to get it for $119.00 instead of $179.00
What do I do to get my discount ? Clear has not charged me yet , I get the first month free .
Per CLEAR: “Already have CLEAR? Click HERE to add your Delta SkyMiles® number to your existing membership. Your pricing will change for your upcoming renewal rate. If your CLEAR account was created or renewed less than 60 days ago, you’ll receive a refund for the difference of what you paid. Refunds normally take 3-5 business days.”
The website to add your SkyMiles number is: https://my.clearme.com/CommunityLogin?startURL=%2FCommunityAddSkymiles
Just signed up for Clear. Should have been free since I have Diamond Status with Delta but I have a $179 charge on my AmEx. Called customer service 1 hour ago and still have not received a call back. Ready to drop it already.
If you have diamond status link your clear account with your medallion account and your fee will be dropped.
I see this stuff all the time at LaGuardia. I have pre check and the clear ppl get to cut the line which I think is unfair and wrong. Those of us with precheck should not be given a choice- pay extra for pre check (which for me is only $79/year) or wait while they continue to allow a company to offer people the opportunity to cut the line. I would be more likely to utilize it if it were in all the airports and if it didn’t come at a cost to those with pre check. It just feels like the right person made the right insider deal with the right greased palms to get into the airports and as usual, the people who started the company and those who made it possible for them to annoy pre check customers by getting them an advantage for paying extra are making out heavily.
I would be inclined to use it if it didn’t cause undue waits to pre check ppl and if the people who are labeled ambassadors didn’t act like they’re sneering at the pre check people, which they do constantly at least at LaGuardia. They behave very rudely and van whenever they hear a comment about clear they jump down your throat. It’s enough to put me off the entire thing.
CLEAR symbolizes everything that’s wrong with America- the attitudes, the privilege for paying a fee and the almost assuredly (in my opinion) that they got into the airports – let’s face it, getting a new company into the airports doing something nobody needed and few really want was just a way to grab cash and someone in government in all likelihood profited handsomely for getting them the green light.
I’m personally a big fan of some competition for Pre-check, but always happy to see lively discussion. Please keep it friendly, everyone.
A Gold Medallion member for years, I have paid CLEAR on my Delta AmEx Reserve card
$50.00 on July 1, 2018 presumably for my husband
$179.00 on Jan 28, 2019
$179.00 on May17, 2019
and now another $50.00 for my husband in 30 days. My password is not being accepted. CLEAR’s automated phone service is a joke.
CLEAR in Atlanta is a waste, but is okay in Vegas.
I feel totally violated, with $408.00 in charges when it should have been $129.00. And now CLEAR wants to bill me yet again? I am making a complaint to Delta, to AmEx, to the BBB and to my family and friends.
How can I add my Delta Sky Miles to my Clear account so I can get a discount upon renewal?
Get in touch with CLEAR and give them your SkyMiles account number. They work out the discount and apply it to your renewal.
Is there a free pre-check customers can utilize other than the paid clear service?
If you have elite status, you may be eligible for Global Entry or TSA Precheck. If not, there are lots of rewards cards that offer a credit that will cover the $100 application fee. https://awardwallet.com/blog/tsa-precheck/
only used it once so far, at Delta-JFK.
I found CLEAR to be a great timesaver.
got bumped right to the TSA podium, the agent stopped what he/she was doing, looked at my boarding pass, and directed me straight to the precheck security line.
I never looked back at the disgruntled passengers on the security line behind me. #such arrogance&privilege!
I’m sure as more and more people get over the ORWELLIAN aspect of retina scanning and fingerprinting, CLEAR will be as commonplace as TSA PreCheck is now.
THINK I CANCELLED MY AMEX DELTA CARD, BUT STILL HAVE MILES IN BOTH MINE AND MY WIFES SKYMILES ACCOUNT. HOW DO I GO ABOUT GETTING DISCOUNT $99 FEE FOR CLEAR AIRPORT CARD
Sign up here – https://www.clearme.com/partner/delta
Thanks so much for that link!
Can somebody tell me if I get a reduced Clear membership if I have an American Express Platinum Card, and no, it’s not a Delta-branded card. However I do fly Delta.
Hey Stuart, it looks like the CLEAR discount is only available for Delta-cobranded card members, so the Amex Platinum won’t help with that. Looks like elite status with Delta or picking up a Delta branded Amex are the only options for discounted CLEAR.
Same with JetBlue in JFK. They do not staff the TSA precheck line in their terminal (5?) after 7pm or so. The security line can be quite long. This is not Clear’s fault, they are simply a private solution to this problem. More and more people have gotten wise and purchased TSA Precheck and sometimes that line can be just as long in airports with many business travelers.
Or another bad scenario – airports like San Jose (California), where there are flight noise ordinances before 6am. Flights get backed up and several leave in the first half hour. The security line at 6am on weekends/ major holidays can be worse than those at JFK on a weekend, and even the TSA precheck line gets you nowhere.
I had the same issue a couple of weeks ago. Clear could escort people to the front of the line but since TSA had closed the precheck line their customers were not treated any differently after the ID Check.
While annoyed TSA/Delta provides suboptimal service at Terminal 2 I don’t think it is a conspiracy with CLEAR.
As someone with global entry and thus TSApre✔️And delta SKY I don’t really see the point of CLEAR anyway.
-gm
How can you fault the airline for a staffing issue caused by TSA? Rethink your complaint, please.
Got to JFK terminal 2 a little after 7pm
Was told TSA Pre line was closed but I could sign up for CLEAR and that would expedite my way through security.
What kind of offensive marketing is this ?
How can this be legal in any way ?
TSA Pre needs to do something about this.
They are literally forcing travelers to buy CLEAR just to take advantage of our existing TSA Pre.
Unacceptably unfair. Incredibly frustrating !!!
Attorney General should take some action and shut down this kind of grossly unethical behavior by CLEAR and whoever is going along with it
Thank you.
I understand why that would be frustrating, but I wonder if you think that Clear somehow controls the TSA’s staffing schedule.
TSA didn’t staff the line. I don’t think Clear has any control on that.
Obviously, Clear is taking advantage of the gap created by TSA. Similar to what charter school system does where public school system is failing. At the end of the day they are business models. You pay money for the convenience. You’ve done that with TSA Pre.