Industry dismayed over security tax hike
Passengers face higher airfares and airlines will struggle following the decision to increase security taxes, the industry has warned.
The warning follows the decision to more than double Transportation Security Administration security fees for flight passengers.
It means the tax increases from $2.50 in security tax per leg, to $5.60 per leg or $11.20 for a roundtrip.
The tax on a multi-leg trip remains $10 for a roundtrip.
Airlines 4 American claims doubling the TSA passenger security tax would cost passengers more than $730 million annually.
The group’s spokeswoman, Katie Connell, told ABC News: "We recognize the difficult decisions that led to a bipartisan effort to restore certainty to the budget process.
"As we have said consistently, airlines and our customers are already overtaxed, and we are disappointed that fees on air travel were increased, and believe those higher taxes will impact demand, jobs and our economy."
U.S. Travel Association president and CEO Roger Dow said: "A proper user fee must ultimately benefit the user, and it remains to be seen whether the air passenger experience will improve under the fee measures in the congressional budget blueprint.
"It is concerning that the move appears primarily aimed at getting a big chunk of Transportation Security Administration funding off the strapped federal ledger, when there is agreement across the ideological spectrum that national security is fundamentally the responsibility of the federal government."
Global Business Travelers Association executive director and COO Michael W. McCormick, accused the authorities of taking a "short-sighted approach" and warned business travelers would "stay home".
Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
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