Pressure from flight attendant unions and politicians resulted in the TSA “temporarily delaying” its decision from March 5, to allow certain knives, tools and other implements that could be used as weapons on board airplanes (see our blog entry regarding the new ruling). This policy was supposed to free up screeners and alert them to more catastrophic threats (TSA screeners confiscate approximately 2000 small knives per day), and also be more in line with global regulations.

On April 22, three days before this controversial plan was supposed to go into effect, the TSA released the following statement: “In order to accommodate further input from the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, which includes representatives from the aviation community, passenger advocates, law enforcement experts, and other stakeholders, TSA will temporarily delay implementation of changes to the Prohibited Items List, originally scheduled to go into effect April 25. This timing will enable TSA to incorporate the ASAC’s feedback about the changes to the Prohibited Items List and continue workforce training”.

The news about allowing knives, sporting equipment and tools on airplanes was met with fierce opposition from passengers, flight personnel and politicians alike, and although the TSA hasn’t altogether abandoned the idea of implementing the policy, the agency has also not set a new date when it would enter into effect.

Author: Heidi Lind, International Group Coordinator, BridgehouseLaw Charlotte