Airline tickets will be more expensive next month than they are today thanks to an increase in the passenger fee that funds the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
As part of budget negotiations last December, Congress agreed to raise TSA fees to a flat rate of $5.60 added to each leg of a trip, up from $2.50 for a nonstop flight or $5 for a flight with a layover. Additionally, TSA wants to double dip: It plans to charge the $5.60 fee for each leg of a flight when there is a connection of more than four hours.
"As required by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013, TSA has published an interim final rule to the Federal Register to restructure the September 11th Security Fee," TSA explained. "In accordance with federal law, the revenue generated from the security fee will be deposited in the general fund of the Treasury. The revenue is to be used to offset TSA costs for providing civil aviation security services, after stipulated amounts are applied to reduction of the federal deficit."
TSA submitted its interim final rule to the Federal Register today; the rule will take effect in 30 days.
The travel industry opposes the increase. "Clearly there needs to be adequate funding for aviation security, but the last adjustment to the fee that funds TSA activities was very disappointing," U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow said in a statement. "In the budget agreement for the current fiscal year, the fee was raised knowing that a significant portion would be used to fund unrelated projects by Congress, instead of using all of the new revenue to pay for improved security activities … The travel community can support user fees when they are designed to demonstrably benefit the users who pay them. Unfortunately, the recent adjustments to the TSA fee do not meet that standard."