145 Members of Congress Say "No Knives on Planes"

The Coalition of Flight Attendant Unions, representing nearly 90,000 flight attendants, commended U.S. Representatives Ed Markey (D-MA) and Michael Grimm (R-NY) for their efforts to generate bipartisan support to keep knives out of airline passenger cabins. Markey, Grimm and 143 House colleagues signed a letter to the Transportation Security Administration, calling the proposed rule change "dangerous, unnecessary, and irresponsible."

"The TSA should deny any knife from ever being brought into a passenger cabin of a plane. I want to thank the Flight Attendants, the pilots, the air marshals, the TSA screeners, and the airlines who all stood up and said 'no' to this terrible idea," Markey said.

"We have heard from a host of stakeholders on this issue, and the consensus is simple: no knives on planes. We can never be too careful when it comes to protecting the safety of our flight crew and passengers. Keeping knives off our planes is a smart decision and one that should be upheld," Grimm said.

On March 5, 2013, the TSA announced plans to allow passengers to carry certain knives aboard aircraft. Flight Attendants immediately mobilized and soon the coalition to block the rule change included pilots, gate agents, air marshals, TSA officers, passengers, law enforcement officers, several airline CEOs and the airline trade association.

On April 23, implementation was delayed, and opposition to allowing knives on planes is growing. The coalition, which includes AFA-CWA, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, International Brotherhood of Teamsters and Transport Workers Union, is continuing to build support for keeping the original ban against knives on planes.