The airline industry is fighting back against U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s proposal to waive baggage fees to reduce airport wait times during the busy summer travel season, arguing that government, not airlines, is the problem.
In a statement today, trade group Airlines for America said Blumenthal should focus on real solutions to address wait times, such as returning billions of dollars in security fees that were diverted to cover deficit spending.
In a letter to U.S. Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Blumenthal, Airlines for America president and CEO Nicholas E. Calio commended the duo for being passionate advocates of improving air service but they need to apply that passion toward sending legislation to the president’s desk that ensures TSA ticket taxes will be used to improve security, not to move the numbers on a budget deal.
Blumenthal did not immediately have a reply to the letter when his office was contacted Wednesday.
Calio said it’s ironic both senators voted to divert billions in aviation security fees and are now calling on airlines to offer free checked baggage to help address increasingly lengthy TSA wait times. That revenue diversion has come home to roost, to the dismay of travelers in Massachusetts, Connecticut and across the country, he claimed.
Calio said extended lines have not been caused by airlines’ baggage pricing, a model that has been in place since 2008, but rather caused by TSA and Congress cutting staff and reducing the number of people included in risk-based screening programs, all while the number of travelers was increasing.
