Outrage Grows Over Allowing Knives on Planes

AFA-CWA Vice President Sarah Nelson (third from right) and leaders from the Coalition of Flight Attendant Unions join Rep. Ed Markey on Capitol Hill.

At a press conference today on Capitol Hill, the Coalition of Flight Attendants Union rallied their growing number of allies against TSA's new policy allowing small knives on planes.

This week Reps. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Michael Grimm (R-NY) introduced a bill to stop the TSA policy from taking effect as planned on April 25 — what's now being called the "No Knives Act."

"If TSA won't reverse its policy to allow knives onto planes, then Congress will take action with this legislation," said Markey. "There is no reason for a passenger to have a knife on a plane and allowing knives on planes puts our Flight Attendants, pilots, and passengers at greater risk."

Grimm, along with two other members of the House homeland security committee — Reps. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) and Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) — have already formally objected to the decision.

They're joined by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), who said the items could be used as weapons. "While it's true that pilots are safe, locked behind cockpit doors, these dangerous items still pose a significant hazard to the flight crew, other passengers, and even the integrity of the plane," said Schumer.

Pilots and air marshals agree. US Airways and Delta are calling on TSA Administrator John Pistole to reconsider the decision.

And some families of 9/11 victims are speaking out against the reversal of the knife ban.

Sign AFA's White House Petition and help keep knives and other dangerous objects out of the aircraft cabin and on the ground where they belong.