Airlines, Customs, and Immigration Fee Hikes on the Agenda for U.S. Travel
by Daniel McCarthy /
President Trump released his proposed budget this week, a plan that included raising Transportation Security Administration fees for one-way tickets starting this spring.
The proposal calls for TSA fees, which mostly go toward airport operations, to go up $1, from $5.50 to $6.50, starting on Oct. 1. The proposed budget would then raise the fees again to $8.25 starting in 2020.
The hike would bring in $2 billion extra from passengers per year, according to airline estimates.
It is the second time in two years that President Trump has pushed for TSA fees to increase. Last year’s proposal was not passed by Congress.
Also part of the budget are proposed hikes to the customs inspection fee (from $5.65 to $7.75) and the immigration fee (from $7 to $9). The last time the customs fee was increased was in 2007, while the immigration fee was increased in 2001.
The budget also calls for more money, up to $71 million, to be invested in new equipment to support TSA screening at airports around the country.
Airlines and airports react
Airlines for America — an advocate group that includes Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, JetBlue, Southwest, and United —released a statement this week against the fee hike proposal.
According to the group, the fees would “add to the cost of flying for millions of Americans, curtail job growth, and limit the options small and medium communities currently enjoy,” the CEO of the group Nicholas Calio said in a statement.
Airports around the country, on the other hand, supported the plan, explaining that it would allow them to renovate aging infrastructure.
The CEO of the American Association of Airport Executives, a group that represents airport management personnel at nearly 850 airports in the U.S., told USA Today that the extra funds would give airports around the country a chance to improve infrastructure.
“Lifting the outdated federal cap on airport user fees would allow airports to utilize local dollars for investment immediately and to leverage those resources through bonds to further multiply their benefit into the future,” he said.
Some of the major, current renovation projects have been funded by airlines themselves. The renovation of New York’s LaGuardia Airport, which will reportedly cost $4 billion, will be largely paid for by Delta Air Lines.
Also in the proposed budget is the sale of some federally owned airports, including Washington’s National and Dulles International.