Security fees are higher than ever and long security lines are worse than ever.
Today, passengers are paying more money in fees and more money in lost time all because the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is not properly doing its job. Passengers are faced with an inefficient phalanx of bling and badges at security checkpoints.
“TSA funding was increased dramatically just over only a year or so ago,” says Charlie Leocha, Chairman of Travelers United, the country’s largest consumer travel organization. “The real problem is gross mismanagement leading to long security lines. How does an organization that once boasted maximum wait times of around 20 minutes only six months ago end up, today, taking hours to clear passengers through security?”
“A three percent increase in passengers has resulted in a 300 percent or more increase in wait times,” Leocha notes. “This crisis of long security lines makes no sense.”
During the debate on the Bipartisan Budget Act (BBA) of 2013, airlines, consumers and pilots worked together to stop the diversion of $13 billion of passenger 9/11 fee revenue to pay for deficit reduction. Despite their efforts, that coalition lost the debate and Congress diverted half of the security fee increase to other funding areas at their discretion. However, TSA’s funding from passengers jumped almost 50 percent as security fees went from $2.50 per flight segment with a $5 limit to $5.60 for all flights, with any connection longer than four hours counting as a separate flight.
Because of these recent fee increases, TSA is getting more money directly from passengers than ever before. The traveling public is getting less.
If the powers that be believe that money is the answer to long security lines, Congress should return $13 billion in Transportation Security Administration fees that were diverted since 2013 to offset the deficit. Those fees have been paid by airline passengers for airport security and should be spent there.
According to TSA’s own figures, the aviation security budget grew seven percent from 2006 to 2015, yet the number of passengers screened declined five percent during the same time period. The money and manpower of TSA are not currently being allocated where needed.
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
