WASHINGTON – The flying public turned white-knuckled yesterday over word that the feds might ease post-9/11 restrictions to allow passengers to bring scissors and small knives aboard planes again.
“I’d like to know why [knives] are no longer a threat when they were a threat over the last four years,” fumed Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-Queens), whose firefighter cousin was killed on 9/11.
Crowley and others were steamed that the Transportation Safety Administration is looking to shorten its list of “prohibited items” to lessen travel delays and focus on other threats.
“I don’t know why you would need to carry a pocketknife on a plane,” said Joe Oerke, 25, of Manhattan, who was flying to Dallas last night from La Guardia. “I’d rather keep things the way they are.”
Nancy Marte, 37, of Brooklyn, who was flying from La Guardia to Fort Lauderdale, called the TSA plan “a bonehead idea.”
“I’m not going to quit flying, but I feel unprotected,” she said.
Asked how the agency could consider lifting the ban on knives and scissors, TSA spokeswoman Anne Davis said, “Because the security environment has dramatically improved since 9/11.”
Alisa Arnold, a flight attendant, wrote the TSA last week, describing a frightening incident on board a plane and urging the agency to keep the ban.
Arnold recalled that on a September flight, two drunken passengers had to be subdued.
“If these men had the kind of dangerous items that you want to bring back on board, I can tell you, without a doubt, that the situation would have turned out gravely different,” Arnold wrote.
Former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik also slammed the proposal at a time when terrorism is still a threat.
“I just hope this isn’t a sign of the times, which is [that] four years after Sept. 11, [we’ve become] complacent and less vigilant,” Kerik told Fox News Channel.
“There are some serious implications to this,” said a surprised Rep. John Sweeney (R-N.Y.), a Transportation Committee member. “Congress will require some answers from TSA.”
Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) said, “I’d rather have people be inconvenienced than have somebody get away with something.”
The out-of-the-blue changes, including the possibility that scissors and small knives might be OK’d, was first reported yesterday by The Wall Street Journal.
Currently, passengers can carry on nail clippers, cigar cutters and safety razors.
Meanwhile, the TSA announced a plan yesterday that would allow passengers to avoid extra security checks, such as secondary pat-downs, if they register personal information with the government.