How to claim a 3-month extension for your Clear membership
Editor's note: The team at The Points Guy loves to travel, but now is not the time for unnecessary trips. Health officials note that the fastest way to return to normalcy is to stop coming in contact with others. That includes ceasing travel. We are publishing travel deals because we should all use this time to think about and plan our next adventures. TPG doesn't advise booking travel until the late spring or early summer – and even then, be mindful of cancellation policies.
Expedited airport-security program Clear is offering a three-month extension for current members, as well as for any family members who are on the primary member's family plan. However, the membership extension isn't automatic; you'll have to contact Clear to request yours. According to Clear, the most efficient way of requesting an extension is through my.clearme.com.
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Based on TPG staffers' experiences, here are the quickest ways to request your extension, listed in order of convenience.
Online chat
TPG's Scott Mayerowitz, executive editorial director, received his three-month extension within 40 seconds of contacting Clear via the company's online-chat feature.
Although Scott received his extension notification in record time, several other staffers — including The Points Guy himself, Brian Kelly — couldn't find the chat functionality on the website. I called a customer service representative, who also couldn't find the chat box despite eight minutes of searching while on the phone with me.
If you are lucky enough to have the chat box on the website you're viewing, it's located in the bottom right corner of the page.
TPG readers have helpfully told us that the chat box may be based on agent availability, and also only appears for members who are logged in to their accounts.
Text
If you can't access Clear's online chat, you can still activate your three-month extension by texting Clear's customer service hotline at (855) 253-2763 and requesting a three-month extension for your membership. For quicker resolution, include your date of birth as well as the email address on file with Clear. Provided both of those data points are accurate and your membership is current, you will receive a confirmation via text and a follow-up email confirming the change.
Several TPG staffers opted for this route and reported resolution times of between 18 to 30 minutes.
Note that your confirmation email will say that your membership has been paused for three months, but Clear customer service confirmed that the membership is, in fact, extended, not paused.
Email is another good way to reach Clear. The automated response from Clear states that current wait times range between one to two business days. Based on the rest of Clear's customer service responsiveness, you may get a response more quickly than that.
I emailed the team to request an extension for the family members who are on my plan, so I will report back on how long the process takes once my response has been received.
Phone
You can also connect by phone. Clear's customer service department is staffed from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. (EDT) on weekdays, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (EDT) on weekends. It took me 90 seconds to get through to a person on a Tuesday evening after two entries on the dial pad to get through the automated phone tree.
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