Just a few days before the Transportation Security Administration was going to allow small knives on flights, they have decided to postpone the policy.
The TSA faced a lot of backlash from flight attendants, air marshals, airlines and politicians after they announced that they were going to lift the 10+ year ban on pocket knives. The TSA announced Monday that they will delay the policy change to give airlines, passengers and law-enforcement experts time to have their say on the issue, USA Today reports.
"This timing will enable TSA to incorporate the feedback about the changes to the Prohibited Items List and continue workforce training," the TSA said in a statement according to USA Today.
Starting Thursday, the TSA was ready to allow passengers to bring knives, with blades up to 2.36 inches, on flights. Small knives have been banned since terrorists used box cutters to hijack four planes on September 11, 2001.
On March 5, TSA chief John Pistole announced the policy change. He said the TSA was making the decision so that the agents could spend more time focusing on higher risks to air travel such as explosives. He also said that this would go along with international policy.
However not everyone thought it was such a good idea.
The Flight Attendants Union Coalition, which represents 90,000 flight attendants, fought hard against the policy and they're quite pleased with the decision to postpone the policy from taking effect. The FAUC argued that the TSA must go through a formal rulemaking process before something like this could go into effect.
"In the wake of the terrorist bombing in Boston last week ... now is not the time to weaken transportation security," said Sara Nelson, international vice president of the Association of Flight Attendants. "Flight attendants are breathing a sigh of relief that the weapons that led to the deadliest attack on U.S. soil in our nation's history will not be allowed in the aircraft cabin this week."
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