Recently, Congress approved a hike for the TSA fee that is charged for each segment of airline travel within the US. Right now it’s $2.50 per segment (or $5 for a roundtrip), but as part of the recent budget agreement, it was raised to a flat $5.60 for a roundtrip.
However the TSA, in all its glorious wisdom, decided to “redefine” the definition of a roundtrip, and will charge that a separate $5.60 fee for each leg of a flight in which a connection between domestic flights is more than four hours, or between domestic flights in Alaska or Hawaii and international destinations with layovers of more than 12 hours.
A couple of bucks isn’t the end of the world, but since I don’t pay for flights (if I can help it!) oftentimes these TSA fees are my only cost for flights. For example, my flight to Washington is 9,000 Avios + $5, and 8 tickets to Lake Tahoe only cost me $40. Same thing with any bookings with the Southwest Companion Pass.
DansDeals had a good breakdown of the changes with a nice table. Basically, if you have a connection of over 4 hours, you’re going to be paying an additional $5.60 fee.
So What?
Well, the reason I’m telling you this NOW, is that the fees are going up on 7/21 (Monday). So if you have any flights that you were thinking about making, you should make them before Monday.
I actually have 2 flights that I have in the “planning” stages of my demand schedule, so I’ll definitely be sure to book those before this weekend!
What about you? Do you have any flights you’re thinking about?
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
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