Transportation Security Administration fees, which are added to the price of airline tickets, are set to rise again next month. According to USA Today, travel advocates are arguing that the agency is changing the definition of a flight.
Congress agreed in December to raise TSA fees as part of a budget deal. The agreement was to raise fees starting in July from $2.50 for a non-stop flight, or $5 for a trip needing a connecting flight, to a flat $5.60 each way.
But the agency proposes to change the definition of a round-trip flight, charging a separate $5.60 fee for each leg of a flight in which a connection between domestic flights is more than four hours, or between domestic flights in Alaska or Hawaii and international destinations with layovers of more than 12 hours.
In December, Congress estimated the fee hike would generate $12.6 billion over the next decade to reduce the deficit, the paper noted. At the time, industry pros criticized the fee hike for covering general government expenses rather than aviation priorities.
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U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow issued the following statement on the fee hike:
"Clearly there needs to be adequate funding for aviation security, but the last adjustment to the fee that funds TSA activities was very disappointing.
"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.
"Not only did the fee increase, but now, if passengers have layovers of longer than four hours, they are charged the entire fee again.
"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."