"Altanta flight attendants at the nation's busiest airport protested Monday against the relaxing of U.S. security restrictions that once again allow passengers to bring small scissors and screwdrivers aboard planes."
They have taken our safety and our security one step backwards," Air Tran attendant Susa"n Cosby said at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta. "How can these items that once were viewed as potential weapons now be deemed safe?" AP Photo/Gene Blythe
Flight attendant Amy Green, of Atlantic Southeast Airlines, hands out flyers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Int'l Airport.
The Transportation Security Agency lifted the bans Dec. 22, allowing previously forbidden items - such as screwdrivers and pliers smaller than 6 inches (15 cm) and scissors with blades smaller than 4 inches (10 cm) - back on board planes.
TSA spokesman Chris White said the bans were lifted so the agency could refocus attention on explosives, which the agency considers the current top threat to aviation. Knives of any length still are banned from planes, as are cigarette lighters.
If an X-ray machine detects a small tool or pair of scissors, TSA officials must perform a hand search of the passenger with those items. White added that since December 2004 the agency has offered free self-defense training to all flight crew members.
He noted other improvements to aviation security in the four years since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, including hardened cockpit doors, an increase in federal air marshals and the arming of some commercial airline pilots.
"Because these enhancements have taken place, the threat to aviation has shifted," White said. "We believe that time is better spent to attempt to detect explosives."
But Green and other flight attendants said the small scissors and tools are much larger and potentially more dangerous than the box cutters terrorists used during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to gain control of planes. The flight attendants said airlines should make the self-defense training sessions mandatory and make the courses more accessible to crew members, who often are flying several days a week.
"Safety is not tedious," Green said. "If a small blade can hurt somebody and brought planes down on 9/11, then a four-inch blade (from scissors) can hurt someone."
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I have to side with the flight crews here. There is no need to carry on scissors and blades onto an airplane. There is definitely not enough room on the plane to be doing crafts or anything that would require scissors, so if you really need to have scissors at your destinations, pack them in your checked luggage.
People say that because the cockpit doors are reenforced now that possible hijackers could not get into the cabin. People will always find ways to accomplish something if they put enough energy into it. Keep the sharp objects out of the cabin and in the cargo holds.
Sign the Petition to keep sharp objects out of your airplane cabin
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