Sen. Edward Markey is asking airlines to stop charging baggage fees for the summer
Two New England senators want your airport experience to be more enjoyable and efficient this summer.
Massachusetts’s Edward Markey and Connecticut’s Richard Blumenthal sent a letter to executives at 12 major U.S. airlines Tuesday asking the companies to stop charging fees during the summer’s popular travel months.
The rescinded baggage fees would help to counteract expected long lines at Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screening checkpoints in airports across the country in the coming months, the senators wrote. TSA found airlines with baggage fees see about 27 percent more carry-on bags—which adds to longer lines and wait times, according to the senators.
Markey and Blumenthal wrote that a recent investigation by the minority staff of the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee found three airlines increased checked baggage fees by 67 percent between 2009 and 2014.
But an increase in carry-on luggage isn’t the only thing plaguing TSA lines.
The agency has 7 percent fewer authorized agents working at U.S. airports than in 2014 due to federal budget cuts, but 12 percent more passengers are expected be screened at U.S. airports this year than in 2014, the Los Angeles Times reported. The agency is also using more thorough passenger screening tactics after recent terrorist attacks.
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