Passengers Should Pay More for Airport Security -- and for Air Travel in General

Let's pivot back to lower carbon options like trains and transoceanic ships

Oct 29, 2021

Airlines collect and turn over to the federal government a so-called “9/11 Security Fee” for each passenger they carry.

According to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), “(t)he fee is currently $5.60 per one-way trip in air transportation that originates at an airport in the U.S., except that the fee imposed per round trip shall not exceed $11.20.” (1)

A chart provided by TSA sets out the cost versus revenue issue rather starkly. For fiscal year 2021 (FY21), “Aviation Security Expenditures” were projected as $7.495 billion. “Offsetting Collections” were pegged at $821 million.

The chart is here: https://www.tsa.gov/sites/default/files/securityfees_fy21.jpg (2)

If my math is correct, collections were about 11% of expenditures. Eleven percent.

On that basis, then, taxpayers are subsidizing airlines and passengers to the tune of 89% for security fees (only). I daresay that passengers should pick up a whole lot more.

Looking at the bigger picture, I believe that taxpayers should not have to subsidize airline travel much, if at all. (Snide aside: whatever happened to capitalism?)

Given climate change in particular, fares should be more reflective of actual costs. They should be marked to market (sky high, both literally and figuratively) in order to pivot people back to lower carbon options like trains and even transoceanic ships.

Yes, back to trains and ships. Those were, of course, the principal methods of long distance public transportation during the first half or so of the twentieth century.

I’ll discuss at another time the high costs incurred by taxpayers for things like air traffic control and the airports themselves.

Sources:

(1) https://www.tsa.gov/for-industry/security-fees

(2) https://www.tsa.gov/sites/default/files/securityfees_fy21.jpg

Background:

https://www.cbo.gov/budget-options/2018/54776

https://appropriations.house.gov/news/press-releases/appropriations-committee-releases-fiscal-year- 2022-homeland-security-funding

https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/dhs_bib_-_web_version_-_final_508.pdf (beginning at page 40)

#TSA

#TransportationSecurityAdministration

#airlines

#tickets