Paying Double for Dubious Security

President Obama's proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning in October contains a gift for airline travelers: A 200 percent increase in the security fee that's attached to each ticket.  (Click here to read the Associated Press story.)

The fee, which is currently $2.50 per segment, would rise to as much as $5.50 per segment, ostensibly to cover the cost of providing the folks who have been known to let through prohibited items while pinching perfectly legitimate stuff (click here to see an example of what I mean). 

It would be almost worth paying twice what I am paying today to get better security, but I don't think better, more thoughtful, security is in the plan.  

To start, the increase is proposed by people who -- at least for the next 3.5 years -- will seldom, if ever, fly on a commercial airliner or pass through a TSA security check point.  Second, the increase is proposed by people who don't pay for their own air fare.  And third, the increase is way out of whack with the the general trend in the price of goods and services, which  is in decline!

Just about anywhere else, you just couldn't make the case these days for doubling the price of a service or a fee, unless it made you feel more "safe."  For security's sake, nothing is too good for the traveling public.  In this case, this is precisely what we're getting --- nothing.