Here's a detail a lot of travelers miss: CLEAR became an official TSA PreCheck enrollment provider back in 2024, and it's since expanded fast enough that getting PreCheck is now genuinely easier — and for a lot of people, close to free.

The bundle, in plain numbers

CLEAR sells a bundle: $219 total gets you a full 5-year TSA PreCheck membership plus your first year of CLEAR+. Here's why that number matters — CLEAR+ by itself already costs $219 a year. So if you were going to buy CLEAR+ anyway, this bundle effectively throws in 5 years of PreCheck at no extra cost. You're paying exactly what you'd have paid for CLEAR+ alone, and PreCheck just comes along for the ride.

Where you can actually enroll

As of June 30, 2026, CLEAR reports 280 retail enrollment locations, on top of 62 airport-based centers. That retail number includes more than 190 Staples stores — up from just 22 Staples locations at the end of 2024 — plus Office Max and Office Depot locations. No appointment is required: you start the application online, then finish it in person at a participating location with your documents.

If you already have PreCheck through a different provider (TSA also authorizes IDEMIA and Telos), you can still renew through CLEAR when your membership comes up — you're not locked into re-enrolling with whoever you originally signed up through.

The part that actually makes this free for a lot of readers

This is where it connects back to cards we've already covered in this series: several premium travel cards reimburse CLEAR+ or Global Entry/TSA PreCheck fees directly as a statement credit. If you're already holding one of those cards, this $219 bundle may not cost you anything out of pocket at all — you're just using a credit you're already paying for through the card's annual fee.

One thing worth being clear about: CLEAR and TSA PreCheck are still two separate programs, run separately, even when you buy them together in one bundle. CLEAR gets you to the front of the regular security line faster; PreCheck gets you into the shorter screening line (no shoes off, laptop stays in the bag). They stack, but they're not the same service.

As always: none of this matters if you're carrying a balance on the card paying for it. Pay every card off in full.

**Verify current details directly with CLEAR or TSA.gov before enrolling. Figures here reflect research current as of September 2026.