Amex Extends CLEAR Benefit On Several Premium Cards
American Express has an agreement with CLEAR that brings customers to the service that helps expedite airport security, and offers cardmembers a statement credit covering their fees (in whole or in part).
It wasn’t surprising to see these two brands come together, since American Express close partner Delta owns a stake in CLEAR. Amex announced a partnership with CLEAR in 2019 and included a CLEAR credit as part of its 2019 refresh of its Green product. Then they brought the benefit to Platinum in July 2021.
Like most merchant-funded offers, these deals are temporary.
- Brands build a customer base by partnering with the bank
- Eventually they may determine they’ve achieved all they can through the partnership
- And may be giving discounts, through the bank, that are more costly than whatever attrition they’ll experience.
The benefit would have expired this year, but the good news is that American Express has exercised the first of its two one-year extensions contained in their existing agreement. That means eligible American Express Card Members who enroll in CLEAR and pay using their American Express card will continue to receive up to $189 in annual statement credits for their membership purchases.
That includes consumer, small business, and corporate Platinum cards as well as the consumer Green and Hilton Aspire products.
Personally I find CLEAR to be a great tool, for selective use out of my toolkit. Sometimes it’s faster to just use PreCheck. But I want the option to take the shortest path through security on any given trip.
Whether or not the benefit extends into 2026 is up to American Express, as I understand it, and after that it would be a matter of negotiating a new agreement.
Information about American Express products in this post was collected independently and neither provided nor reviewed by their issuer.
