SAN DIEGO -- Jet fuel is a big cost to the airlines, but with fuel prices dropping, the airlines are still pushing the cost to passengers, 10News reported Thursday.

Video

Airlines Still Passing Costs To Consumers

Since Sept. 11, the cost of jet fuel has dropped from more than $1 a gallon to less than 60 cents now.

Two years ago most airlines added up to $20 per flight to cover the increasing cost of fuel. But with jet fuel cheaper carriers say they'll still keep the surcharge, leaving passengers puzzled.

"It doesn't seem like it's justified," one passenger said. "You'd think it would go down and they could take the money that they're charging us in fuel and do better security across the country."

Another passenger suggested that greed is fuelling the airlines' fuel policy.

"They should lower it, but as long as they can get away with it, they're going to get away with it," he said.

American Airlines -- the world's largest carrier -- said it will keep the fuel surcharge because, "We have not as a company or industry been anywhere near compensated for costs when fuel was much much higher. There's no way to know that fuel won't change and go back up," according to a statement from American Airlines.

American claims it lost $922 million in the third quarter without counting government bailout money.

Southwest Airlines said it doesn't worry about a fuel surcharge since it never added one.

"It's a fare increase, pure and simple," Southwest spokesman Ed Stewart said. "If indeed we had any kind of increase it would be a modest increase and it would be mileage based, but not a fuel surcharge, not across the board."

Southwest used a financial maneuver called hedging that last year help it offset 80 percent or its higher fuel costs to avoid higher fares, Stewart said.