Flight attendants favor keeping pocket knife ban

With the Transportation Security Administration planning to lift the ban on small knives in the cabins of commercial aircraft later this month, flight attendants not in favor of the idea have been lobbying passengers to voice their disapproval.

They’ve been handing out leaflets at airports around the country that say, “Terrorists had small knives. No knives ever again.”

On April 25, passengers will no longer be stopped at security checkpoints for carrying a knife as long as it’s a folding knife with a blade less than 2.36 inches long and less than a half-inch wide.

“I wonder why? Why would you do that? Why would you allow even the small knife back on the plane? It makes no sense to me,” said Gordon Scott, who had just taken a West Jet Flight from Vancouver, B.C., to Palm Springs International Airport.

Kim Carpenter, who was about to leave Palm Springs and board an American Airlines flight to Jacksonville, Fla., also isn’t crazy about the TSA relaxing its security measures.

“I like the fact I get on a plane and know people are not carrying knives with them,” said Carpenter.

Unless Congress steps in, the ban will be lifted as scheduled.

Flight attendants were distributing leaflets Monday at several major airports, including LAX.

The TSA said it’s lifting the ban on pocket knives in order to concentrate on finding larger and more dangerous weapons.