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How to Make Sense of All Those Airport Line-Cutting Options
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Our travel columnist’s guide to sorting out the differences between TSA PreCheck, Global Entry and Clear.
If airport security and passport lines got you down this summer, now’s the time to look into those fast passes your frequent-flying friends smugly tout.
Programs like TSA PreCheck, Clear and Global Entry, which basically let you cut the line. You might not even have to pay for them given certain credit-card perks.
The best part, unless you’re wary of facial recognition: All three services are speedier than ever at many major airports thanks to new technology.
So if you’ve been on the fence about which membership is right given the maze of checkpoint lanes, consider this your refresher course.
Full disclosure: I have all three and couldn’t live without them. That said, I’m not your average traveler, with 45 flights logged so far this year. And my pricey travel credit cards cover the charges.
TSA PreCheck
PreCheck is the government program available at more than 200 U.S. airports, with over 85 U.S. and international airlines participating.
You get a dedicated security lane (keep an eye out for operating hours, though) and can keep your laptop and liquids in your bag. Now, you’re probably thinking, wait a minute, I can already do that at more and more airports with those new CT bag scanners and don’t have PreCheck.
True, but they’re not everywhere. So if snaking standard TSA lanes and unpacking at the checkpoint is a pain point, this is your most affordable program.
An even bigger selling point if you also have a passport: the introduction of TSA PreCheck Touchless ID. Instead of showing your ID to a TSA agent, you look into a camera and are sent through.
It can be the speediest option at the airport, on par or better than Clear, in part because travelers are still learning about it. I zoomed through the touchless lane at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport a few weeks ago. And a colleague breezed through new biometric gates in a touchless lane in Newark this week.
Touchless ID is currently available on six U.S. airlines at 65 U.S. airports. Note that you have to opt into it through the participating airlines by providing passport information or, new this summer, through the digital ID option in Google Wallet (not Apple Wallet). The airlines: American, Delta, United, Southwest, Alaska and Hawaiian.
Before you head to the airport, make sure it says Touchless ID on your boarding pass. I’ve seen many travelers turned away, either because it wasn’t on their boarding pass or they hadn’t signed up and thought it was the regular TSA PreCheck lane.
Price: $85 for five years. Travelers can enroll online with proper documents and set up an in person appointment to take fingerprints and a photo. There are more than 1,300 enrollment locations. Children 17 and younger can join an adult in line for free, subject to certain rules.
Credit-card perks: Some premium cards or frequent-flier programs will reimburse you for the membership fee.
Discounts: There are several programs for military members.
Fee-free alternative: See if your airport has a free reservations system for the standard TSA line. The options have dwindled but some major airports, including Orlando, Phoenix and Seattle, still offer it.
Global Entry
Global Entry, from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, is a fast pass back into the U.S. If you’ve landed after a long international flight to a clogged passport-control line, this is for you. And it’s gotten speedier with biometrics. I got through in Seattle last month in seconds, never showing any documents or even stopping at a kiosk.
The best part: Global Entry also comes with TSA PreCheck. So if you’re considering TSA PreCheck and fly international even once or twice a year it’s worth it to pay a little more to get the benefits of both. (This is how I get PreCheck).
Price: $120 for five years. You must have a passport and, unlike TSA PreCheck, travelers must schedule an in-person interview after getting conditionally approved. You can do that at an enrollment center or the airport upon arrival. There had been serious application delays as recently as 2023. But U.S. Customs now says 80% of applications are approved within two weeks.
Children can’t join you in line unless you sign them up for a free membership if you are a member or are applying.
Discounts: Many premium credit cards will rebate the fee. Check your perks.
Fee-free alternative: Download the U.S. Customs’ Mobile Passport Control app.
Clear
Clear is a private service that lets prescreened passengers jump to the front of the standard or PreCheck line.
You’ve no doubt seen the employees in the blue-and-white checkered shirts and may have been hustled to sample the service when security lines are out of control.
The company had been under pressure to retain members in the face of TSA improvements like keeping your shoes on and regular reports of longer lines than PreCheck ones.
But it regained its edge during the government shutdown earlier this year, and its new biometric gates, which eliminate some steps for members, are a hit. I practically high-five the Clear representative who checks my boarding pass every time I breeze through.
Clear is in 62 airports and says the biometric gates are available in 80% of them.
That said, TSA Touchless ID also zooms travelers through the checkpoint. So this add-on is probably best for frequent-fliers who want the broadest coverage. I’m keeping Clear because you can use it no matter the airline you are flying, the e-gates are fantastic and my card covers the fee.
Price: $219 annually
Discounts: Check your credit-card perks and deals through your frequent-flier programs.
Write to Dawn Gilbertson at dawn.gilbertson@wsj.com
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