TSA Allows Small Knives Back on Airplanes

• Photo from Flickr Creative Commons by Christian Kitazume

The Transportation Security Administration announced today that for the first time since 2001, U.S. airline passengers will be allowed to carry small knives on board with them, along with golf clubs, hockey sticks, billiard cues, and other sporting goods.

This change, which will be effective beginning April 25, has caused an uproar with several flight attendants.

The union for Southwest Airlines flight attendants said that the change is “designed to make the lives of TSA staff easier, but not make flights safer,” according to Fox News.

The president of the union, Stacy K. Martin, said, “while we agree that a passenger wielding a small knife or swinging a golf club or hockey stick poses less of a threat to the pilot locked in the cockpit, these are real threats to passengers and flight attendants in the passenger cabin,” in an article in the Los Angeles Times.

A statement by the TSA made online today about the decision states the different items that are now allowed and the requirements for such.

“This is part of an overall Risk-Based Security approach, which allows Transportation Security Officers to better focus their efforts on finding higher threat items such as explosives,” the statement also included.

The blades of the knives that will be allowed on flight must be no longer than 2.36 inches. Box-cutter type knives, razors, and knives with molded handles will still be banned.

This article appears in Feb 28 – Mar 6, 2013.