Photo Credit: One Mile At A Time

TSA Announces Change In How Travelers Can Apply For Speedier Security Screenings

With summer travel on the horizon, travelers may want to make their airline travel more convenient and quicker.

For travelers who are interested in applying for TSA PreCheck, there will soon be more options. PreCheck is a TSA program that allows passengers to enter a different security line at airports and pass through airport security without the hassle of having to take off shoes or remove laptops and liquids from bags.

Presently, travelers can go through the process and only enroll through TSA. However, the agency recently announced plans to partner with two companies, CLEAR and Telos, which will be added partners in the PreCheck enrollment process in a few months.


Travelers may already be familiar with CLEAR, which verifies traveler’s identities with their fingerprints or eyes through kiosks. The partnership between PreCheck and CLEAR will help get people through security checkpoints as quick as possible and the new enrollment process will make the programs even more convenient.

One application will allow people to apply for either or. Travelers will not need to get both since they are still two separate programs. The TSA is a government run program, and CLEAR is a privately owned and operated company. CLEAR/s kiosks can be found in some airports across the states are separate from TSA PreCheck.

With both TSA PreCheck and CLEAR, passengers are not skipping security screenings with either program. Both are used to expedite the security screening time.

If you are approved through the CLEAR process, travelers are first processed through your biometric screening in the kiosk, then they move to the general security line ahead of everyone else waiting. If a passenger has been approved through TSA PreCheck, travelers have an entire separate line they go through.

The cost of TSA PreCheck is $78 that is covered for five years. The cost of CLEAR is $189 and is an annual charge.

According to TSA’s website, once the new enrollment providers are fully operational, they will be allowed to set their own prices for TSA PreCheck, but noted the fee that is given to TSA will be consistent across all providers.

Click here to learn more about TSA PreCheck. Click here to learn more about CLEAR.