TSA to Allow Small Knives in Carry on Luggage on Flights

[Tink]

Well, I have a little thing on my keychain that has a tiny knife in it. I used it often for snapping plastic bands, and opening packages, etc. Herself has a money clip that has a small knife in it. Same thing. Used for opening things sometimes. And those corkscrews are quite familiar.

I'm not saying I approve, but you do realize that all this "inspect you down to your naked body" hasn't caught a single person right? The shoe bomber, and that other guy (geez, gotta love this sieve of a memory) made it past security.

We need some types of reasonable criteria, but sealed containers with water and other food or body products do not seem to be reasonable to me. As for traveling with firearms, I know for a fact that Orlando is very careless with that. A woman I used to work with traveled with a handgun all the time! She NEVER got stopped going out of Orlando and actually got into a HUGE argument in Charlotte's airport because of it. They finally made her go and buy safety mechanisms for the handgun and the TSA there reported Orlando.

So, all that to say, I don't think the tiny blades are the problem. I think the idiotic criteria is the problem.

[Keith]

So, all that to say, I don't think the tiny blades are the problem. I think the idiotic criteria is the problem.

yes I think I agree with that, it's a general sense of policy having not been properly thought through and fairly arbitrary changes being made which just nibble around the sides of the actual problem.

It's like the bag checks at Disney. They take the time of ordinary visitors and they may catch the odd person who's left something daft in a bag but generally they waste our time. Does anyone doubt that someone with malicious intent could hide their items from a Disney bag search??

I feel it's the same with airport security right now. If I leave a bottle of water in my bag or a penknife, I'm going to get the third degree but heck, the terrorist organisations with their billions of dollars can afford to infiltrate the places that pack the food for planes, the people who clean the planes and so on. It seems very unlikely to me that all these hours spent wasted at security does anything tangible to protect us against major terrorism.

...but ironically what I did think it helped us with was crazy people taking on personal weapons like knives/guns and things that can be used as weapons like clubs/bats and the like :/ So for the folks saying "well you can make a bomb from a liquid but you cant with a small knife" sure, I get that, but I actually feel a bit more personally threatened from some idiot with access to free alcohol who happens to have a knife with him/her ;/

[welshjim22]

What possible reason is there for needing a pocket knife on an aircraft and 2" is enough to do some real harm.