TSA To Lift Ban On Most Lighters On Planes

Security Chief Says Taking Lighters Away From Passengers Was "Security Theater"

(AP)  Airline passengers will be able to bring many types of cigarette lighters on board flights again starting next month, as federal authorities found a two-year-old ban on the devices did little to make flying safer, a newspaper reported Friday.

"Taking lighters away is security theater," Transportation Security Administration chief Kip Hawley told The New York Times in an interview Thursday.

Starting Aug. 4, air travelers will be allowed to carry on disposable butane lighters, such as Bics, and refillable lighters, including Zippos, according to the Times. A prohibition on torch-style lighters, which have hotter flames, will continue.

Lighters have been barred from checked bags for decades because of concerns that the lighters might start fires in cargo holds. Congress decided to stop air travelers from carrying lighters aboard after Richard Reid used matches to try to light explosives hidden in his shoes while on a Paris-to-Miami flight in 2001. Lawmakers worried that Reid might have succeeded if he had had a lighter. The lighter ban took effect in April 2005.

Security screeners now collect an average of 22,000 lighters a day, and it costs about $4 million a year to dispose of them, the Times reported.

"The United States previously had been the only nation in the world to prohibit lighters from carry-ons," the TSA wrote in a press release. "Lifting this ban is another step in our efforts to harmonize security measures with international partners."

Hawley said confiscating lighters hasn't meant much for security, as other items could be used to detonate bombs.

"The No. 1 threat for us is someone trying to bring bomb components through the security checkpoint," the TSA administrator said. "We don't want anything that distracts concentration from searching for that."

The congressional measure that governed the Homeland Security Department's 2007 spending let the agency stop enforcing the lighter ban if it found that "lighters are not a significant threat to civil aviation security."

[ecuadoriana]

"...nobody is going to set the plane on fire..." Posted by slim1h2o at 09:28 PM : Jul 22, 2007

Right, and no one is going to bring a gun or bomb on the plane either. And who in their right mind would ever try to hijack an airplane? That would be silly.

So, I was right all along- this "war on terror" was bogus from the beginning, all a set up for BushWhacked to justify the bombing & occupation of another country for his game of world domination....

But moms can't bring juice in Sippy Cups on planes to give their toddlers something to drink, I can't bring mascarra, toothpaste is super dangerous, don't get me started on deodorant...

[slim1h2o]

No lighter should be allowed on an airline.

What the hell is a passenger going to do with a lighter but to MAKE A FIRE ON THE PLANE!

Let the addict save the cigarette until he's back on the ground.
Posted by Agnim at 04:01 PM : Jul 22, 2007


You're an IDIOT! nobody is going to set the plane on fire, (unless they are trapped in a snowstorm,) so the passengers can get off the plane,.... maybe,...... Then? naw, noway YOU ARE A IDIOT,......nuff said

[agnim]

Lighter plus a little solvent soaked material == FIRE ON A PLANE!

NO LIGHTERS ON PLANE!

Passengers should be told who has a lighter before the plane takes off.

[agnim]

No lighter should be allowed on an airline.

What the hell is a passenger going to do with a lighter but to MAKE A FIRE ON THE PLANE!

Let the addict save the cigarette until he's back on the ground.

[keithle1]

Someone will try to set fire to his seat cushion & they'll ban lighters again. Maybe someone else
who is drunk will attack a flight attendant with a pen/pencil or hit them over the head with a laptop. Ban those!

[mommajomma-2009]

Funny thing.... there's a comment box on the lighter ban removal... but not on the article reporting a rocket launcher in a womans yard near an airport. CBS didnt want any comments on that one. After all, pretty boy edwards says terrorism is just a bumper sticker slogan for republicans.

[gramto7]

I propose a solution. Airlines can run "Smokers Only" flights. Then everyone can bring aboard all the bics they want (the attendants can even sell them along with the $5 cans of Bud Light)! In consideration for the more healthful minded people, they could run "Non-Smokers Only" flights where it wouldn't occur to anyone to be so idiotic as to bring a lighter on board. Maybe they could even have "Nekked with No Baggage" flights- no clothes or shoes, no toothbrushes, no cell phones or laptops, nothing!

I might be on to something. Watch this space for further details!
Posted by ecuadoriana

I don't think I'd like the 'nekked' version, but I might be interested in the smokers only flights!! Keep us posted!

[ecuadoriana]

"...nvme3, people have just as much right to smoke as you do to wear mascara..." Posted by seer999 at 12:22 PM : Jul 21, 2007

Seer999, I believe you inadvertently misdirected your comment to the wrong poster. Nvme3 didn't mention mascara in his post, I did. Assuming it was me you meant to question/attack, I will attempt to clarify the situation.

Sure people have as much right to smoke as I do to wear a bit of mascara. The difference is that those around me will not suffer from second-hand black lashes, while those near smokers WILL suffer from second-hand black lungs. (I'm a firm believer in the right to kill oneself, but not to take innocent bystanders with you.)
(cont.)

[ecuadoriana]

(cont.)
But the real point here is not smokers vs mascara wearers. The real point is the insanity that fuels a debate as to whether things like mascara, deodorant, nail clippers, toothpaste are more dangerous to bring on a plane than something that can set fire to the cabin & detonate an explosive. Protecting the rights of the smokers to light up immediately upon exiting the airport now takes precedence over the safety of the passengers?! Rather than pumping oxygen into the cabin they may as well pump cigarette smoke! Then the smokers wouldn't need their lighters at all & the non-smokers would probably beat them to death with the in-flight magazines anyway (win-win, I say)!

I propose a solution. Airlines can run "Smokers Only" flights. Then everyone can bring aboard all the bics they want (the attendants can even sell them along with the $5 cans of Bud Light)! In consideration for the more healthful minded people, they could run "Non-Smokers Only" flights where it wouldn't occur to anyone to be so idiotic as to bring a lighter on board. Maybe they could even have "Nekked with No Baggage" flights- no clothes or shoes, no toothbrushes, no cell phones or laptops, nothing!

I might be on to something. Watch this space for further details!

[seer999]

Tibu: There is such a thing as common sense. I'm just waiting for someone to try and sneak something on a plane in their butts. Want to guess what the next "theater" will be?
And guess what nvme3, people have just as much right to smoke as you do to wear mascara, or are only YOUR freedoms important?