Opposition to allowing small knives on planes grows
September 2006 file photo shows knives of all sizes and types piled in box at State of Georgia Surplus Property Division store in Tucker, Ga. / AP
WASHINGTON Flight attendants, pilots, federal air marshals and even insurance companies are part of a growing backlash to the Transportation Security Administration's new policy allowing passengers to carry small knives and sports equipment like souvenir baseball bats and golf clubs onto planes.
The Flight Attendants Union Coalition, which representing nearly 90,000 flight attendants, said it is coordinating a nationwide legislative and public education campaign to reverse the policy announced by TSA Administrator John Pistole this week. A petition posted by the flight attendants on the White House's "We the People" website had more than 9,300 signatures early Friday urging the administration to tell the TSA to keep knives off planes.
"Our nation's aviation system is the safest in the world thanks to multilayered security measures that include prohibition on many items that could pose a threat to the integrity of the aircraft cabin," the coalition, which is made up of five unions, said in a statement. "The continued ban on dangerous objects is an integral layer in aviation security and must remain in place."
- Some 9/11 families angry over loosened TSA rules on knives
- Flight attendant rep sounds alarm on relaxed TSA relaxes knives rule
- FAA to allow small knives on planes">FAA to allow small knives on planes
Jon Adler, national president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, whose 26,000 members include federal air marshals, complained that he and other "stakeholders" weren't consulted by TSA before the "countersafety policy" was announced. He said the association will ask Congress to block the policy change.
The Coalition of Airline Pilot Associations, which represents 22,000 pilots, said it opposes allowing knives of any kind in airliner cabins.
"We believe the (terrorism) threat is still real and the removal of any layer of security will put crewmembers and the flying public unnecessarily in harm's way," Mike Karn, the coalition's president, said.
The new policy, which goes into effect on April 25, permits folding knives with blades that are 2.36 inches or less in length and are less than 1/2-inch wide. The policy is aimed at allowing passengers to carry pen knives, corkscrews with small blades and other small knives.
Passengers also will be allowed to include in their carry-on luggage novelty-sized baseball bats less than 24 inches long, toy plastic bats, billiard cues, ski poles, hockey sticks, lacrosse sticks and two golf clubs. Items like box cutters and razor blades are still prohibited.
There has been a gradual easing of some of the security measures applied to airline passengers after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The new policy conforms U.S. security standards to international standards and allows the TSA to concentrate its energies on more serious safety threats, the agency said when it announced the change this week.
The policy change was based on a recommendation from an internal TSA working group, which decided the items represented no real danger, the agency said.
A TSA spokesman said the presence on flights of gun-carrying pilots traveling as passengers, federal air marshals and airline crew members trained in self-defense provide additional layers of security to protect against misuse of the newly allowed items.
Not all flights, however, have federal air marshals or armed pilots onboard.
The new policy has touched off a debate over the mission of TSA and whether the agency is supposed to concentrate exclusively on preventing terrorists from hijacking or blowing up planes, or whether it should also help protect air travelers and flight crews from unruly and sometimes dangerous passengers.
"The charter, the mission of TSA is to stop an airplane from being used as a weapon and to stop catastrophic damage to that aircraft," David Castelveter, a spokesman for the agency, said. Pistole's position is "these small knives, these baseball bats, these sporting items aren't going to contribute to bringing an airplane down," he said.
In era of reinforced cockpit doors and passengers who have shown a willingness to intervene, the threat from terrorism has been greatly reduced, Andrew R. Thomas, a University of Akron business professor and author of several books on the airline industry and security, said.
Rather, "acts of aberrant, abusive and abnormal passenger behavior known as air rage remain the most persistent threat to aviation security," he said.
The International Air Transport Association recently reported that the incidence of air rage cases was way up, with an estimated 10,000-plus such events annually, Thomas said.
Adler, representing the air marshals, said aviation security is neither "terrorist proof nor psycho proof," and both should be protected against.
TSA's "primary concern, and their only concern, is to protect the cockpit to make sure the planes aren't turned into missiles," he complained. "Traveling Americans are expendable, disposable and otherwise irrelevant to air travel safety."
The new policy has aviation insurers concerned as well.
"We think this move is a bad idea, and isn't in the interests of the traveling public or flight crews in the aviation industry," said Joe Strickland, head of American operations for Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty, a leading global aviation insurer.
"Safety is the highest priority of every commercial air carrier, flight crew member and air traffic controller," he said. "We don't see how these changes support this priority."
Popular on CBSNews.com
- Powerball frenzy locks down most possible number combos
- Probe begins after Conn. commuter trains collide
- O.J. Simpson's ex-lawyer contradicts his testimony on guns
- Seven-time lottery winner shares secret to winning Powerball
- Why marry? Three generations tell their wedding stories
- Dozens injured as commuter trains collide in Conn.
- New Yorker's Strongbox: Can it shield anonymous sources?
- Texas tornado survivors start to return home
A boxcutter is small and one was enough to hijack an entire plane with on 9/11... if small knives are being allowed, then what's being put in that eclipses this so-called "freedom" to compensate in case some nut tries to hijack a plane again?
Is it a popularity contest or removing serious threat to crew and passengers?
Keep knives, bats, golf clubs out of plane cabins, period.
'Nuff said.
We have a serious budget crisis and we are not looking at defunding these clowns?
or 30.
When did the US first break the $1 Trillion milestone?
Go figure.
There are far more dangerous items already on planes than little pocket knives. Have a look around you next time at the things you can grab or break that are far more deadly than a pitiful 2 inch blade.
Better the passengers have their little pocketknives.
Human psychology is a many splintered thing... nobody thought a mere boxcutter could yield so much clout in the first place, regardless of net intent.
I seed no reason to rationalize bringing back small knives when even more harmless boxcutters are still banned. The phrase "cuckoo for a sugar-loaded breakfast cereal" comes to mind.
Hijackers were successful on 9/11, not beacuase they had box cutters but because people acted like sheep. Taught to do so by their own governement through years of telling them to yield to criminals and hope they let you live.
United flight with more information than the others, and led by sheepdogs, did not let they hijackers win. I suspect it will be the same on any flight from now on.
Quit being sheep. Let me have my knife. Let others have theirs, some of us just might rally to take down the hijackers if we are armed...and save your miserable liberal life.
I never carried a knife, but then again, I'm man enough to face a threat with my own bare hands. My guess is if you were on one of those planes, you'd be the 1st one with a big wet spot running down your pants leg.
Perhaps. The United passengers were on the phones pretty extensively, I think we have a fair idea of what happened. Yes they fought back, because they knew what was happening on other planes. The first 3 did not.
How would I react, don't know, havent been there. No one knows exactly how they would react until thrust into that situation.
I do expect that post 9/11, few people would willingly submit to terrorists armed with small knives or box cutters. Hope you or I never have to find out who will have a wet spot. But getting worked up over the relaxing of a rule allowing small knives will have no effect one way or the other.