Security fee on airline tickets set to rise

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Airline passengers are about to pay more for security screening.

Following orders from Congress, the Transportation Security Administration is poised to raise the fee to $5.60 each way. That's up from $2.50 each way for a nonstop flight and $5 for a trip including connections.

Trips with long stopovers - more than four hours on most domestic travel - will have bigger increases because each leg will trigger a new fee.

The proposed changes will be published Friday in the Federal Register and take effect 30 days later.

Congress approved higher TSA fees as part of a December budget deal. Despite protests against the TSA's proposal, Congress dictated that the security fee rise to $5.60.

There is a 60-day public comment period, but it would likely take another act of Congress to change TSA's rules.

A spokeswoman for industry trade group Airlines for America says the changes will hurt people in smaller cities who must take more one-way flights to get where they're going.