Since 9/11, U.S. airline passengers have faced significant restrictions on what they are allowed to carry with them in their airplane carry-on luggage. But starting on April 25, several current restrictions will be eased. The most notable among them is the new rule which will allow passengers to carry small, non-fixed blade knives with them onto planes. Most will recall that many of the 9/11 hijackers used box cutters to take control of the planes that they eventually crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
TSA has rationalized the move by suggesting that easing these types of restrictions will allow their security personnel to focus more clearly on larger threats. But not everyone is buying into their logic. Airline flight attendants and their union leaders are especially upset about the rules changes, noting that small knives and some of the larger sports equipment that is now allowed pose a threat to flight attendants. "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," said Stacy K. Martin, president of one Southwest Airlines' flight attendants union.
It's interesting that TSA decided to announce the details of its rules changes when it could have, conceivably, simply made the changes internally. Security personnel would have still been able to focus less on the newly legal items and more on the larger threats, but there would have been no debate and passengers would have been none the wiser. And good luck to you if you're seated in the row with the person who decides to bring their golf clubs as carry-on luggage.
TSA has rationalized the move by suggesting that easing these types of restrictions will allow their security personnel to focus more clearly on larger threats. But not everyone is buying into their logic. Airline flight attendants and their union leaders are especially upset about the rules changes, noting that small knives and some of the larger sports equipment that is now allowed pose a threat to flight attendants. "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," said Stacy K. Martin, president of one Southwest Airlines' flight attendants union.
It's interesting that TSA decided to announce the details of its rules changes when it could have, conceivably, simply made the changes internally. Security personnel would have still been able to focus less on the newly legal items and more on the larger threats, but there would have been no debate and passengers would have been none the wiser. And good luck to you if you're seated in the row with the person who decides to bring their golf clubs as carry-on luggage.