‘Never forget I guess’: United Airlines passenger confused after getting charged $5 ‘September 11th’ fee
Airlines can charge an incredible amount of fees. While one’s base ticket price may be fairly low, once all the fees and taxes of a flight have been added, the total ticket price can increase by over 20%.
Some of these fees, such as a sales tax, are understandable. However, others, such as the “September 11th Security Fee” have left X (formerly Twitter) users scratching their heads.
In a post that’s currently going viral, X user Suzy (@valley_ghoul) shows a ticket upon which $49.48 has been added in fees. One of those fees is a September 11th Security Fee, which cost Suzy $5.60.
“Why am I being charged a 9/11 fee,” she asks in her post.
On its website, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) offers an explanation for this fee.
“TSA has implemented congressionally mandated security fees to help finance the increased cost of securing the nation's aviation transportation system,” the website reads. “The revenue generated from these security fees is utilized to help ensure the safe and efficient flow of people and commerce.”
While the stated goal of such fees is to finance air travel security, a 2022 article in The Verge by Darryl Campbell points out that the many dollars the United States has spent in this area have not made us considerably safer.
In his piece, Campbell notes that “the TSA has played next to no role in the biggest counterterrorism stories of the past two decades,” and that most terrorist plots are stopped in the planning stages by other agencies.
Additionally, in 2015, the acting head of the TSA was fired “because, in 95 percent of test cases, real guns or fake bombs made it past the TSA,” per the Washington Post. There’s also scant evidence that the TSA has ever caught a terrorist.
On X, users made jokes about the fee.
“Never forget I guess,” wrote user @jen4PF.
“Lmfao I have never seen that one before,” offered @justAT3chGuy. “This city will charge you for breathing if they could.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Suzy via Instagram direct message.
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