TSA Changes Course, Small Knives Won’t Be Allowed on Planes
Published at
Digital Vision/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — Small knives, banned on commercial planes since the 9/11 attacks, will remain prohibited after a huge backlash against a decision by the Transportation Security Administration to reverse the ban.
The TSA was prepared to lift the ban in April but temporarily scrapped the plan to get more input from the Aviation Security Advisory Committee (ASAC), which represents a wide swath of the aviation community that has come out against allowing knives on planes.
On Wednesday, the TSA said it had changed course and will not permit knives to be carried on jets along with baseball bats, ski poles, hockey and lacrosse sticks, and golf clubs.
The turnabout represents a major victory for the Coalition of Flight Attendant Unions, a 90,000-member group that had Washington lawmakers lobbying to keep any knives off planes, charging they pose a risk to passengers and crew.
Had the TSA not relented, passengers would have been permitted to carry on knives with blades that are 2.36 inches or shorter and less than a half-inch wide, provided the blade is neither fixed nor locks into place.
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio