The trade organization that
represents U.S. airlines is asking Congress to undo 2013 legislation that will
divert $12.63 billion in TSA fees over 10 years to pay down the budget deficit.
The request by Airlines for America
(A4A) came Thursday, following a call from assistant Senate minority leader
Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) for airlines to suspend bag fees over the summer in
order to reduce security lines.
“That decision has come home to
roost,” A4A CEO Nicholas Calio said in a statement Thursday. “If Congress
wanted to take constructive and well-justified action, it would immediately
pass legislation putting that money, paid by airline passengers, where it
belongs.”
Under what is known as the
September 11 Security Fee, passengers pay $5.60 per one-way ticket to the
airlines, which the carriers then remit the money to TSA. By the end of the
current fiscal year, $2.83 billion of those funds are scheduled to have been
diverted, according to the trade organization Airports Council International.
Calio pressed his point in a
letter to Durbin.
Faced with soaring security wait
times at many U.S. airports, Congress approved a $34 million funding shift
earlier this month that will allow TSA to hire 800 new screeners and to cover
more overtime hours among current staff.
Still, many believe that lines,
which are often being reported at an hour or longer, will grow even more
cumbersome with the onset of the summer travel season.
On Wednesday, Durbin announced
that he had received assurance that TSA would add 58 new security officers and
four additional bomb-sniffing dogs at Chicago O’Hare, where long lines have been
common. But he also used the statement to press his case against baggage fees.
“Airlines must encourage more
travelers to check bags instead of hauling them through the main security
lines, and I’ll be calling on them to waive their checked baggage fees during
these peak travel months,” Durbin said.
His move came a week after
senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.), who are
frequent critics of the airlines, made a similar request of U.S. carriers.
In its statement Thursday, A4A
argued that baggage fees have been an industry standard since 2008, while the
long security lines are a much more recent phenomenon. The trade group also
noted that lines have been excessive at Chicago Midway, which is dominated by
Southwest, an airline that doesn’t charge baggage fees.
“Not only does the data not
support a causal relationship between recent lines and baggage fees, it would
be illegal for airlines to jointly agree on any pricing policy, including bag
fees,” A4A said.