Will tax boost safety?

Starting next month, the price of your airline ticket will increase by $10. It’s a small price to pay for a new government-run airport security infrastructure created after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, supporters say.

That may be true, but the ticket tax won’t help tighten aviation security. Instead, it just funnels more government aid to the airlines.

How so? Until now, airlines paid for airport security themselves. But by federalizing airport security personnel under the Department of Transportation’s new Transportation Security Administration, the carriers are essentially being let off the hook.

Total “savings” to the U.S. airline industry: more than $1 billion. That’s on top of the unprecedented $15 billion in federal bailout money already allocated to the ailing carriers.

And how about improving security? Well, if the measures undertaken by the airlines and proposed by the government are a preview of things to come, then we shouldn’t expect too much. After Sept. 11, new airline security efforts consisted of slowing the check-in process to a crawl and inconveniencing travelers who were unlikely to hijack an aircraft.

Perhaps the most extreme example is that of Rep. John Dingell, whose artificial hip set off a metal detector at Washington’s Reagan National Airport last weekend. An overzealous security guard ordered the Michigan Democrat to drop his pants so that he could make sure the Congressman wasn’t carrying any weapons.

Other so-called precautions include indiscriminately separating travelers from their nailclippers, bottle openers and jewelry. Meanwhile, the carriers are dragging their feet on meeting a deadline for screening all checked airline baggage as required under a recently introduced aviation law.

The government isn’t doing any better. Last month it dropped a requirement that all 28,000 new federal baggage screeners have at least a high school diploma, a move that contradicted its previously stated goal of creating a professional airport security force.

It also failed to enact sensible new rules that go beyond asking travelers if they packed their own bags. That could be why Richard Colvin Reid, an ex-convict with no job and no known address, traveling on a one-way ticket purchased for cash, nearly blew up an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami in December.

No one was paying attention.

The government seems more concerned about keeping the airlines in business than keeping every plane safe. Maybe that’s because airlines have the most expensive lobbyists on call for times like these, when it’s important that lawmakers see past trivial matters that might worry their constituents, like safety concerns, and focus on the big picture.

What good is airline security without an airline industry, after all?

Once the airlines have returned to profitability, it might be nice if they offered passengers a rebate for the $10 per ticket they’ve been saving. Then our tickets would cost us no more than they did before Feb. 1 – and we would be getting exactly what we paid for: nothing.

Starting next month, the price of your airline ticket will increase by $10. It’s a small price to pay for a new government-run airport security infrastructure created after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, supporters say.

That may be true, but the ticket tax won’t help tighten aviation security. Instead, it just funnels more government aid to the airlines.

How so? Until now, airlines paid for airport security themselves. But by federalizing airport security personnel under the Department of Transportation’s new Transportation Security Administration, the carriers are essentially being let off the hook.

Total “savings” to the U.S. airline industry: more than $1 billion. That’s on top of the unprecedented $15 billion in federal bailout money already allocated to the ailing carriers.

And how about improving security? Well, if the measures undertaken by the airlines and proposed by the government are a preview of things to come, then we shouldn’t expect too much. After Sept. 11, new airline security efforts consisted of slowing the check-in process to a crawl and inconveniencing travelers who were unlikely to hijack an aircraft.

Perhaps the most extreme example is that of Rep. John Dingell, whose artificial hip set off a metal detector at Washington’s Reagan National Airport last weekend. An overzealous security guard ordered the Michigan Democrat to drop his pants so that he could make sure the Congressman wasn’t carrying any weapons.

Other so-called precautions include indiscriminately separating travelers from their nailclippers, bottle openers and jewelry. Meanwhile, the carriers are dragging their feet on meeting a deadline for screening all checked airline baggage as required under a recently introduced aviation law.

The government isn’t doing any better. Last month it dropped a requirement that all 28,000 new federal baggage screeners have at least a high school diploma, a move that contradicted its previously stated goal of creating a professional airport security force.

It also failed to enact sensible new rules that go beyond asking travelers if they packed their own bags. That could be why Richard Colvin Reid, an ex-convict with no job and no known address, traveling on a one-way ticket purchased for cash, nearly blew up an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami in December.

No one was paying attention.

The government seems more concerned about keeping the airlines in business than keeping every plane safe. Maybe that’s because airlines have the most expensive lobbyists on call for times like these, when it’s important that lawmakers see past trivial matters that might worry their constituents, like safety concerns, and focus on the big picture.

What good is airline security without an airline industry, after all?

Once the airlines have returned to profitability, it might be nice if they offered passengers a rebate for the $10 per ticket they’ve been saving. Then our tickets would cost us no more than they did before Feb. 1 – and we would be getting exactly what we paid for: nothing.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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