TRAVELYour Credit Card Is Already Paying for TSA PreCheck and Clear4 min read

Airport Lines Have Become Genuinely Brutal

Three hours. That’s how long some travelers have been standing in standard security lines at major U.S. airports since the partial government shutdown started throttling TSA operations. Three hours before you even reach your gate, before a delayed flight, before the middle seat.

There are three programs designed to fix this: TSA PreCheck, Clear, and Global Entry. Together they cover nearly every bottleneck in the airport experience, from domestic security to international customs. And for a significant number of travelers, at least one of these memberships is already covered by a credit card sitting in their wallet.

What TSA PreCheck Actually Does

PreCheck assigns you a Known Traveler Number. Add it to your airline frequent flyer profiles and a logo shows up on your boarding pass, unlocking a dedicated security lane. Shoes stay on. Belt stays on. Laptop stays in the bag. The liquids pouch stays buried. The TSA’s own numbers show that more than 90% of PreCheck members clear security in under ten minutes.

A five-year membership costs $85 through Telos, though renewal drops to $58.75 in person or $69.95 online. IDEMIA sometimes offers lower rates. The shutdown hasn’t slowed applications down noticeably — one traveler applied through IDEMIA and had her eligibility confirmation five hours later.