The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) ushered in the first big holiday of the summer season with a gloomy warning for airline passengers across the country:
Expect screening times of an hour or more. A decision to shift TSA resources from
Honolulu to the West Coast made the Memorial Day forecast here in Hawaii equally grim.
TSA Hawaii and local airlines responded by collaborating throughout that long weekend to warn passengers to arrive early and then manage the rush. Hawaiian Airlines even deployed 60 volunteers from throughout the company to help harried travelers overwhelmed by the sinuous and seemingly endless TSA screening lines.
Those efforts made all the difference. During the most congested periods between Thursday and Monday, the majority of passengers were screened in fewer than 20 minutes — far less than the 60-90 minutes that were forecast. But as we face another long holiday weekend this July Fourth, we should take note: A Herculean effort by airline employees and volunteers doing work that should be done by the TSA is not a long-term solution.
The power to detangle our terminals lies on Capitol Hill, where politicians decide how much to charge passengers for security and how to spend the taxes collected.
That TSA needs more manpower and better technology nationwide — and here in Hawaii, additional checkpoint lanes — to provide the highest levels of security without inconvenience to passengers seems abundantly clear. What has been obscured is that a large amount of the money airline passengers are already paying for security is being diverted elsewhere.
In 2013, the U.S. Congress voted to raise the “passenger security fee” collected on each segment flown to $5.60 — an increase of almost double for most passengers. At the same time, Congress voted to siphon off $13 billion of the proceeds over the next decade to pay down the national debt.
In the 2015 Highways Bill, Congress included a provision that links Customs user fees (including fees paid by airline passengers) to inflation — a move expected to generate an additional
$5 billion. Congress then voted to allow the inflationary increases to be diverted to highway spending.
Raising taxes on airline passengers and then not spending the money to facilitate their travel is a double burden on an island state such as ours, where even the most basic functions of society may require an interisland flight. A flat $5.60 security fee is a much larger percentage of a one-way fare to Maui than on a one-way fare to Australia. Forcing interisland passengers to arrive two hours in advance for a 20-minute plane ride because of inadequate TSA budgeting simply adds insult to injury.
Many in Congress have added voices of outrage to the clamor brought on by lengthy airport lines this summer. U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon actually addressed the central issue, introducing legislation to repeal the diversion of TSA fees.
Let us remind the other members of Congress that the solution is theirs to enact, and encourage them to set their outrage aside and use their power on behalf of travelers who have paid for a service that they are not receiving.
