Union pushes for higher airport fees

The UNITE HERE union is pushing Congress to nearly double the amount of money that airline passengers can be charged to help pay for airport improvements. 

The New York City-based union is arguing that the cap on the Passenger Facility Charge that is added to every plane ticket should be raised from $4.50 to $8.50. 

The group is launching an initiative called “The Campaign for On-Time Flights” that it says will encourage airline passengers to contact members of Congress to request the increase in the cap on airport fees so that they can face fewer flight delays at congested facilities around the country. 

{mosads}”Airports are trying to get permission to increase the PFC to keep up with travel demand but airlines and their lobbyists are trying to block it,” the union said in a statement. 

“United, Delta, and American, as well as the industry group Airlines for America, together spent over $68 million total in lobbying efforts on a multitude of issues from 2012 to 2014,” the UNITE HERE statement continued. “This summer, frustrated travelers can tell Congress to ignore the airlines and instead give airports a chance to make their next trip a bit smoother.  They can do so at OnTimeFlights.org.” 

The union and other airport groups are proposing that lawmakers include the PFC cap increase in the reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) funding bill that is scheduled to come up for renewal in September. 

They are facing strong pushback from the airline industry, which argues that passengers are already charged enough fees when they purchase tickets.  

“Airports are putting on a great show for Congress, trying to invent a funding crisis, but it’s all flash and no substance,” the group that lobbies for airlines in Washington, Airlines For America, said in a blog post on their website about the PFC increase proposal that was published in March. 

“Pushing to nearly double the Passenger Facility Charge (PFC), the Airport Tax paid by passengers every time they travel through an airport, is not only unnecessary, it is invented out of thin air,” the blog post continued. “American families and the U.S. economy can’t afford another tax increase, especially for a funding crisis that doesn’t really exist.” 

UNITE HERE said Monday that increasing the facility charge cap could help reduce the number of delays that they say airline passengers are increasingly facing. 

“Today, the Campaign for On-Time Flights launched with a new website, OnTimeFlights.org, and a report that shows that at United, American and Delta, the percentage of flights delayed or cancelled went up 88 percent collectively, comparing 2014 to 2012,” the union said. “A total of 1 in 4 flights were delayed or cancelled in 2014.”

“Every airline ticket includes money to make airports run more efficiently and help fund new terminal facilities, new runways and other airport improvements,” the statement continued. “Right now, the federal government does not let airports set the Passenger Facility Charge on their own. Instead, the federal government puts a cap on it, and that cap has not gone up since 2000.” 

Congress is expected to begin working on the FAA bill where the facility charge could potentially be addressed this summer after they come to an agreement on federal surface transportation funding that is currently scheduled to expire in July.