CLEAR® has formed close partnerships with both United Airlines and Delta, giving their loyal flyers discounts on the steep annual membership fee while building out more and more CLEAR Plus lanes to skip long security lines at both carriers' biggest airports. Now you can add another airline to that list.
CLEAR and Alaska announced a “strategic collaboration” on Wednesday, offering a slight discount to all travelers with an Alaska Mileage Plan account, which is free to join. But Alaska and CLEAR are sweetening the deal to sign up – and if you have status with the Seattle-based airline, it gets even better.
All Alaska Mileage Plan members can join CLEAR Plus for a discounted rate of $179 a year – down from the $189 sticker price – by signing up at clearme.com/alaska
All Alaska members who join CLEAR Plus before July 16 will get 1,000 bonus Alaska Mileage Plan miles
Flyers with Alaska MVP, MVP Gold, MVP Gold 75K, or MVP Gold 100K status w ill get 1,500 bonus miles when joining CLEAR Plus , regardless of when they sign up
Flyers with any level of elite status with Alaska will also get 1,250 bonus miles when they renew at $179 each year
Think of CLEAR Plus as a fast pass to skip to the front of the security screening line and get you on your way quicker. Once you’ve signed up and finalized your registration, you simply head to the CLEAR Plus lane at 50-plus participating airports , scan your fingerprints or eyes with the CLEAR pod’s biometric scanner to confirm your identity, and get whisked away to the front of the TSA line by a CLEAR ambassador.
It seems similar to TSA PreCheck but the two services are drastically different – and for some travelers, it could make sense to have both.
Read our full review of CLEAR … and if it's worth the cost!
The bonus miles through this new partnership with Alaska are a nice touch – especially for renewing each year – as that's not something other airlines have done. But the discounts for Alaska flyers don't go nearly as far as what you can get through either United or Delta.
Much like Alaska, all Delta SkyMiles and United MileagePlus members can get a $10 annual discount. But travelers with status or a co-branded credit card with either airline can drop the price to $149 a year. And with top Delta Diamond Medallion Status or United 1K status, it's completely free. There are no such additional discounts for Alaska flyers with status or an Alaska Airlines Visa® credit card in their wallets.
And there's also no word on whether CLEAR will expand its presence to additional Alaska hub airports like Portland (PDX) and Anchorage (ANC) – two major airports that don't yet have CLEAR available. That kind of targeted expansion has been a hallmark of CLEAR's partnerships with both United and Delta.
But while Alaska and CLEAR have formed a “strategic collaboration,” United and Delta both actually own a piece of CLEAR, giving them a greater say in the company's plans.
Regardless, CLEAR has expanded rapidly in the last few years, building out CLEAR Plus lanes at more than 50 U.S. airports and counting, including most of the nation's largest hubs and increasingly smaller airports. Here's the full list.
Airport Terminal(s)
Atlanta (ATL) North & South Domestic Terminals
Austin (AUS) Checkpoints 1 & 2
Baltimore (BWI) Checkpoints A,B,C, D & E
Birmingham (BHM) Main Terminal
Boise (BOI) Main Terminal
Boston (BOS) Terminal A
Chicago-Midway (MDW) Main Terminal
Chicago-O'Hare (ORD) Terminal 1 & 2
Cincinnati (CVG) Main Terminal
Cleveland (CLE)
Center & South Checkpoints
Columbus (CMH) Main Terminal
Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) Terminal E
Dallas-Love Field (DAL) Terminal 1
Denver (DEN) North & South Entrances
Detroit (DTW) North & McNamara Terminals
Fort Lauderdale (FLL) Terminals 1 & 2
Greenville-Spartanburg (GSP) Main Terminal
Houston-Intercontinental (IAH) Terminals A, B, C and E
Houston-Hobby (HOU) Main Terminal
Kansas City (MCI) Main Terminal
Las Vegas (LAS) Terminals 1 & 3
Long Beach (LGB) Main Terminal
Los Angeles (LAX) Terminals 1 - 7
Miami (MIA) Checkpoints E & H
Milwaukee (MKE) Main Terminal
Minneapolis−Saint Paul (MSP) Terminal 1
Nashville (BNA) Central Checkpoint
New Orleans (MSY) Concourse D
New York City-John F. Kennedy (JFK) Terminals 2 & 4
New York-LaGuardia (LGA) Terminals C & D
Newark (EWR) Terminal C
Oakland (OAK) Terminal 2
Oklahoma City (OKC) Main Terminal
Ontario (ONT) Terminal 2 & 4
Orlando (MCO) East & West Security
Palm Beach (PBI) Terminal A/B & C
Palm Springs (PSP) Main Terminal
Phoenix (PHX) Terminals 2, 3 & 4
Raleigh-Durham (RDU) Terminals 1 & 2
Sacramento (SMF) Terminal A & B
Salt Lake City (SLC) Terminals 1 & 2
San Antonio (SAT) Terminals A & B
San Diego (SAN) Terminal 2
San Francisco (SFO) Terminals 1-3, International Terminals A & G
San Jose (SJC) Terminal A & B
San Juan (SJU(+) Terminals A, B & C
Seattle-Tacoma (SEA) Checkpoints 1-5
St. Louis (STL) Terminal 2
Washington, D.C.-Dulles (IAD)
Main Terminal & East Security Checkpoint
Washington, D.C.-Reagan (DCA)
Terminals A, B & C
Westchester County (HPN) Main Terminal
Bottom Line
Alaska and CLEAR have teamed up, giving flyers a discount on the steep annual membership fee as well as bonus miles for signing up. If you've got elite status with Alaska, you'll even get some bonus miles every year you renew CLEAR Plus.
But this partnership doesn't go nearly as far as the discounts flyers with Delta and United can get.
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