V-Flyer

Hello - I have just received an email from Virgin stating
"Reserve your security slot
Upper Class passengers and Flying Club Gold members can pre-book a security slot free of charge and enjoy a smoother airport experience. Pre-book here."

The link then takes me to a Website about Clear Airport Solutions and gives me the option of enrolling in Pre TSA Checks or Clear+ Lanes???? My question is: I am flying LHR-MCO return, so I assume this means the return flight, ie not the long immigration queues on landing at MCO?? Bit confused, can anyone assist please?

Welcome to V:Flyer

Clear+ is an expedited airport security line system when departing flights from US airports. As you mentioned, It's nothing to do with immigration / arrivals. You would need Global entry to expedite the arrival / immigration process (which includes TSA-Pre).

Clear+ is similar to TSA-Pre and now available to UK passport holders.

Delta do offer their SkyMiles members a discount with Clear+. I wonder if VS will do the same?

More details and pricing for Clear+ can be found here

The standard Clear+ price is US$209 a year.

I've just signed up (even though I already have TSA-Pre) as Clear often get higher priority over TSA-Pre at security lanes so will see how it goes. You sign up online then complete enrolment at one of their airport locations. I'm flying through LAX in a week of so so will complete my enrolment there.

It was a bit of a faff to sign up and pay. It took several attempts to accept my UK credit card (even using ApplePay) but did eventually go though and my Clear account now shows the Clear+ membership.

Their app is also currently not available in the UK app stores though you don't actually need that us to Clear+ lanes at US airports.

Hi James,

Are you a US citizen/resident? I wanted to sign up to Clear but it states it’s limited to those people.

Thanks for any info!

No, UK here. It let me sign up without any issues. Like I mentioned though it took several attempts for the payment to go though. I tried ApplePay first but in the end I entered the card details manually. It was all a bit of a faff though and I’ve still not received any email confirmation, though my online account does show the Clear+ yearly membership and payment details though. You then complete the biometric collection bit at an airport where they operate.

I signed up at https://www.clearme.com/

Here’s the press release from August 15 mentioning Clear+ is now available to UK passport holders (and others).

Intrigued to hear what you think of the service. We’re only in the US five-ish times per year, but will often have internal flights. Even at ten-ish touch points, I’m not sure it’s worth $200 when we already have TSA pre. I did see they have a family discounted option too.

All that said, I have noticed the Clear line being empty while TSA Pre often looks chaotic. In fairness, even with a big looking line, we’ve been at the front within 5 minutes.

Indeed. I’ve often seen Clear pax pushed in front of the TSA-Pre lines and as you say they are often less crowded than TSA-Pre lanes so I thought I’ve try it for 12 months. I travel about the same amount here too.

The issue I sometimes get with TSA-Pre is that my KTN is sometimes not pulled across onto connecting flight boarding passes. I got stung by this coming home from TPA earlier this year. I flew TPA>ATL>LHR booked on one PNR via VS and whilst my TSA-Pre printed on the VS flight boarding pass, it was missing from the DL flight boarding pass and TSA where having none of it at TPA.

With the current exchange rate it’s cost me £156.01 for Clear+.

Thanks for letting me know! Im definitely gonna have a go! Does the start date apply from date of payment or date you visit enrolment in the US?

Sorry for questions galore but the answers are much appreciated!

Not sure if this helps you

I have just returned from Mco on Monday and there’s is a new MCO Reserve service available for free, to book a time slot for passport screening with 15 minutes window either side of the slot

This was booked with the upper class check in agent at the time but is limited to the early departures.

Available to book 7 days before your flight departing between 6.30AM AND 8.30 PM

We were through in minutes.

Alan

nicsbx wrote:Thanks for letting me know! Im definitely gonna have a go! Does the start date apply from date of payment or date you visit enrolment in the US?

Sorry for questions galore but the answers are much appreciated!

No worries! It looks to be from the date of sign-up as this is my account status:



You can also cancel the auto-renew online if required.

I'm connecting through LAX next Thursday (VS>DL so TBIT>T3), so will hopefully complete the enrolment somewhere there. If not at LAX I'll do it at HNL or at SEA on the way home.

I did ask the Clear AI bot and that said twice that its from the date of finalising enrolment. I hope that it updates to that when you do finalise it! Would you keep the forum updated on that if possible?

Of course I will

Yeah, it’s just for speeding up security before your US flight, not immigration when you land. For MCO-LHR, Clear+ could help at MCO outbound, but won’t do anything for the mess that is MCO arrivals.

I completed my Clear+ biometric data collection as LAX whilst connecting landside between T2 and T3.

The Clear agents use the same machines to collect your information; they scan your passport, take a mobile number and take a photo. Took less than 2minutes to complete and then you are good to go and use the Clear+ security lanes. You will need roaming enabled to receive the SMS verification code.

All very quick and straightforward.