One of the latest to pounce on the Bush administration’s plan to raise security fees on airline tickets to $5.50 was US Sen. Frank Lautenberg.
His complaint: an effort was being made to balance the budget “on the backs of the traveling public and small business people.”
Since the White House announced its plan to raise security on tickets from $2.50 to $5.50 for direct one way flights, there’s been a groundswell of protests.
US airlines were far from the only interest group objecting strenuously to the proposed tax.
Travel Industry Association of America President & CEO Roger Dow, for example, spoke at a press conference hosted by the Air Transport Association in Washington, D.C. to oppose the proposed fee.
“A doubling of the airline security tax will only discourage travelers from flying for business or pleasure,” Dow told the media. “This will also harm hotels, attractions, resorts, car rental firms and other travel industry companies and destinations that depend on these travelers for their economic livelihood.”
He said the proposed fee hike would mean a $1.5 billion tax increase for airline travelers.
“The pricing environment will not allow the airlines to pass these increases onto the passengers,” Business Travel Coalition chairman Kevin Mitchell said.
Homeland Security Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse, however, said the fee increase offsets $400 million in federal security costs the administration is not asking airlines to reimburse.
Report by David Wilkening
