WashingtonWire - 2005-03-07

Bipartisan Opposition Building Against Higher Ticket Tax

Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Senate are banding together to fight a proposal by President George W. Bush that would increase airport security taxes by $1.5 billion next year, boosting the maximum $10 per roundtrip ticket tax to $16. Senators, including Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), said the tax would hurt a commercial airline industry already flirting with bankruptcy. Other senators, including Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) and Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), complained the levy would unfairly burden passengers flying from rural states who are unable to take non-stop flights to their destinations. "I certainly am opposed to the new fees," Lott said at a hearing of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee last month. "I'm going to do everything I can to shoot them down." Bipartisan opposition in the Senate will make it difficult for Bush to win approval for his request, included in his budget proposal for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. Bush seeks to double the security tax to $5.50 per leg, up from $2.50. The Air Transport Association said it would be impossible for the hyper-competitive industry to pass on the increase to customers in the form of fare hikes. The trade group said it would widen air carrier losses. "This is a lethal tax," said James May, president and CEO of ATA. "It will kill jobs and further rob U.S. airlines of the revenue needed to restore their financial health and stability." Joshua Bolten, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, said Bush believes the airport security costs should be paid for by people who actually fly, rather than being absorbed into the budget overall. "We can either impose the cost of passenger and baggage screening on the people who are flying on the airplanes or we can impose the cost on everybody," Bolten told members of the House Budget Committee. "Where we have the opportunity to put the costs where the service is being used, in my judgment, the right policy is usually to put it there."



TSA Makes `Pledge to Travelers,' Bans Lighters

The Transportation Security Administration, reacting to bad publicity about allegedly inappropriately intimate pat-downs during the holiday travel season, has outlined a new statement of rights and expectations for passengers who go through screening at airports. The seven-point "Pledge to Travelers" asserts that screeners will treat passengers with "courtesy, dignity, and respect" even as employees "do everything we can to ensure that your flight is secure." More significantly, TSA said it will do a better job explaining the process in cases where additional screening is required and honor requests for private screenings performed by TSA employees that are of the same gender as the passenger. The "pledge" was released after some female passengers who traveled during the holidays complained of inappropriate touching when they were frisked during a secondary screening process. "Security and customer service are at the core of all screener duties," said Rear Admiral David Stone, USN (Ret.), assistant secretary of homeland security for TSA. "This pledge reflects our continued commitment to perform each day in a manner that demonstrates our understanding that we are servants of the American people."

Meanwhile, TSA, starting April 14, will no longer permit passengers to bring cigarette lighters on board aircraft, even in checked luggage.