If you’re looking to save some money on your next flight, you need to book your ticket quickly. As reported by The Wall Street Journal, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) passenger screening fee (also known as the Sept. 11 security fee) will more than double to $5.60 per flight leg on July 21, with no cap.
The current fee is $2.50 per flight segment, with a $10 per-ticket cap. “So a trip with multiple stops that last longer than four hours could see a whopping TSA fee multiplying with each additional leg of the itinerary,” according to The Wall Street Journal.
What’s more, it appears that more fee hikes are on the horizon for airline passengers. In addition to the TSA fee increase, airports want to boost their facility fee from its current limit of $4.50 per boarding to $8 per boarding. Plus, Customs and Border Protection is pushing for a $2 boost in its immigration fee on international tickets (from $7 to $9).
According to The Wall Street Journal: “It seems like a little bit of an onslaught right now,” said Sharon Pinkerton, senior vice president for legislative and regulatory policy at Airlines for America, the airline industry’s Washington, D.C., lobbying group. “Policymakers see air passengers as an ATM.”
According to The New York Times, the TSA fee increase will raise an additional $16.91 billion over the next decade. About 65 percent of the collected fees will fund security screenings. The remaining funds will go to the general fund.
