Security Fee for Air Travel to Start Feb. 1

Air travelers will begin paying a security fee of as much as $10 a trip in February to help pay for increased baggage and passenger screening, the Department of Transportation said.

The fee applies to tickets sold on or after Feb. 1 and is $2.50 per flight boarded, with a $5 maximum for one-way travel and $10 for a round trip. The charges, set in a November law, apply to domestic and overseas flights originating at U.S. airports.

The DOT said it expects to collect about $900 million this fiscal year, which runs through September.

The department’s new Transportation Security Administration was required to write rules for collecting the fees, which were set as part of an air-security bill signed by President Bush on Nov. 19.

The law replaces a system under which airlines arranged and paid for airport security. The law also requires additional baggage inspections starting next month and the hiring and training of 28,000 security screeners within a year.

Frequent fliers traveling on free tickets also will have to pay the fee, the DOT said.