Two U.S. senators have penned a letter to the 12 largest airlines in the country to ask them to waive baggage fees this summer.

This is not a unique request. Such fees have always been unpopular. However, the argument posed by the two Senate Democrats, Massachusetts Sen. Edward Markey and Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, has not been used before.

Airlines can help ease checkpoint gridlock

Markey and Blumenthal suggest that airlines waive baggage fees, at least temporarily, so that people do not have to take carry-on luggage through the crowded security checkpoints. Whether or not this argument is ultimately seen as valid by airlines, it is certainly timely. Wait times at airport screening checkpoints are at an all-time high, and the busy summer travel season has not even started yet.

The letter, which was published Tuesday on Markey’s Senate page, includes data that backs up the request. Markey says that the TSA claims that the number of carry-ons has risen by 27 percent because people want to avoid checked baggage fees.