To pick up that multibillion-dollar tab, the Senate bill proposes adding a security surcharge on airline fares, possibly of $1.50 or $2.50 per ticket.

The legislation gives $1 of that surcharge, for every ticket sold, to the federal government, with the airlines keeping the remainder.

While that places a burden on airline passengers, it would compare favorably to the $8 security surcharge German-based carrier Lufthansa, Europe's second-biggest airline, has imposed on every ticket since Oct. 1. Lufthansa has said it will put sky marshals on planes, reinforce cockpit doors and spend more money on background checks for new employees, and also faces higher insurance costs.

And some airline security experts say a surcharge should have been imposed years ago. Victoria Cummock, whose husband was killed on Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988, has served on presidential airline security commissions under both presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, and says the average passenger is willing to pay a little more for peace of mind.

"People have said to me, 'I pay for that for a drink on the flight ? I pay that much for a bad drink of wine,'" says Cummock.

But Cummock says that when serving on the 1997 White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security, chaired by Vice President Al Gore, she was alone in advocating a $4 per-ticket surcharge, good for $2 billion a year. Cummock claims the other commission members, and the airlines, were concerned the surcharge would dampen down demand for air travel.


Source - ABC News