If you like to travel, then pay for TSA at least while the government is using TSA agents as pawns. Would you pay $5 for a short TSA line? $5 x 2.5m travelers would provide $50K per year to the 65,000 TSA employees. $50K is not great but a big help.

Tips Add Up

What about “The Passenger Fee”, also known as the September 11 Security Fee? This fee is collected by air carriers from passengers at the time air transportation is purchased.  Air carriers then remit the fees to TSA. The fee is currently $5.60 per one-way trip in air transportation that originates at an airport in the U.S., except that the fee imposed per round trip shall not exceed $11.20. In 2025 the fee added up to $4.5mil. Couldn’t that be passed on to employees with being caught up in the DHS-ICE stalemate?

It’s time that travelers stepped up if they want shorter lines. You can’t wait on government.

If you are a TSA employee, try setting out a tip jar.

Update. A friend informed me that there are laws about tipping TSA agents because it could be used to bribe an individual agent. I was recommending a centralized collection point for tips that would be fairly distributed among all TSA employees at an airport.

It turns out that some airports are already doing this. For more visit the article titled: Major US airports are asking people to donate gift cards and essentials to TSA workers who are going without pay