My friend and I were wondering how much money TSA (Or the government) makes a day on the $2.50 security fee. It appears to be quite a lot. Tens of millions a day? Is there somewhere that shows the number of flyers on a given day? It appears someone is making a killing on this $2.50 one way fee. Can anyone verify or refute this?
Just some cocktail-napkin figuring:
For 2004, there were 587,484,502 passengers who flew on domestic flights in the USA (based on enplanements). The average one-way trip consists of about 1.4 segments from this same data, so it's safe to say that around 420 million of the $2.50 fees were collected in 2004, for a grand total of over a billion dollars brought in, or something like $2.8 million a day.
Also, I'm not sure if the US collects this $2.50 for international departures originating in the US as well... that would add even more in.
You can get some of the necessary data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics
For 2004, there were 587,484,502 passengers who flew on domestic flights in the USA (based on enplanements). The average one-way trip consists of about 1.4 segments from this same data, so it's safe to say that around 420 million of the $2.50 fees were collected in 2004, for a grand total of over a billion dollars brought in, or something like $2.8 million a day.
Also, I'm not sure if the US collects this $2.50 for international departures originating in the US as well... that would add even more in.
You can get some of the necessary data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics
FlyerTalk Evangelist
I believe that international departures from the USA are also charged this fee.
Despite the billion plus the fee brings in, it is less than 25% of the TSA budget, which is about $5.5 billion last year.
Spends like a drunken sailor describes our government's response to transportation security.
Despite the billion plus the fee brings in, it is less than 25% of the TSA budget, which is about $5.5 billion last year.
Spends like a drunken sailor describes our government's response to transportation security.
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An apt metaphor given the looting going on (for I know no better word for it) in taking passenger and taxpayer money and flushing a large chunk of it down the drain on things like silk flowers, office artwork, no oversight of contractors supposedly hiring new recruits, $2.50+ cups of coffee, etc.Originally Posted by FWAAA
Spends like a drunken sailor describes our government's response to transportation security.
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Wow, thanks for the quick number cruching!Originally Posted by FWAAA
Spends like a drunken sailor describes our government's response to transportation security.
I am always wary about hearing numbers that big. I just get the feeling that a LARGE portion is being siphoned off. Reminds me of a song "The banks get richer, the poor stay poor, the cops get paid to look away, while the one percent rules America."
I wonder what the civil fines assessed to people for bringing prohibited items to the checkpoint amount to on an annual basis? I know the WSJ found that these penalties seemed to be assessed very unevenly around the country, and I don't buy the argument that some "large" airports had lower rates of fining than smaller ones because they have more travel-savvy fliers.
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I am always wary about hearing numbers that big. I just get the feeling that a LARGE portion is being siphoned off. Reminds me of a song "The banks get richer, the poor stay poor, the cops get paid to look away, while the one percent rules America."
This 1%?http://www.hells-angels.com/Originally Posted by rc408
Wow, thanks for the quick number cruching!I am always wary about hearing numbers that big. I just get the feeling that a LARGE portion is being siphoned off. Reminds me of a song "The banks get richer, the poor stay poor, the cops get paid to look away, while the one percent rules America."
No, I meant the World not the Under-World. 
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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Thanks, but exerda deserves the real thanks for number crunching here. Originally Posted by rc408
Wow, thanks for the quick number cruching!
The real lunacy about the September 11 Security Fee is that Congress added a large tax to airplane tix just when airline travel was down. If you want less of something, you tax it. No wonder airlines' domestic revenue is awful; every time I fly domestically, more than $50 of my ticket price goes to the feds and the airports (PFCs).
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Keep in mind that $2.50 is per segment, regardless of how many times you encounter the TSA. So, if you're flying round trip with one connection each way, you pay four $2.50 fees, even though you're screened only twice.
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I thought there was a cap so if you had several segments you didn't get hosed too much on the fee.Originally Posted by LessO2
Keep in mind that $2.50 is per segment, regardless of how many times you encounter the TSA. So, if you're flying round trip with one connection each way, you pay four $2.50 fees, even though you're screened only twice.
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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The fee is capped at $5 per one-way, no matter how many segments, which leads to a $10 cap per round trip.Originally Posted by AArlington
I thought there was a cap so if you had several segments you didn't get hosed too much on the fee.
But if you connect once (four segment round trip) you pay $10 even though you are screened only once (actually your airline pays $10, since there's no evidence that airlines are actually passing the tax along to pax).
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The real lunacy about the September 11 Security Fee is that Congress added a large tax to airplane tix just when airline travel was down. If you want less of something, you tax it. No wonder airlines' domestic revenue is awful; every time I fly domestically, more than $50 of my ticket price goes to the feds and the airports (PFCs).
The tax rate was 50% for a ticket I bought for my mother-in-law earlier this year. Fare was around $88, with taxes and other government fees adding another $44.Originally Posted by FWAAA
Thanks, but exerda deserves the real thanks for number crunching here. The real lunacy about the September 11 Security Fee is that Congress added a large tax to airplane tix just when airline travel was down. If you want less of something, you tax it. No wonder airlines' domestic revenue is awful; every time I fly domestically, more than $50 of my ticket price goes to the feds and the airports (PFCs).
Yeah, let's make the airlines more profitable by taxing them more heavily.
Only Congress would think that's a good idea. Then again, it's like the old saying "If pro is the opposite of con, isn't Congress the opposite of PROGRESS?" 
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Originally Posted by FWAAA
Spends like a drunken sailor describes our government's response to transportation security.
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Originally Posted by P.J. O'Rourke
Giving money and power to the government is like giving car keys and whiskey to teenage boys.