The Transportation Security Administration today postponed its plan to allow small knives on U.S. planes this week, according to two flight attendants groups.
Coalition of Flight Attendant Unions announced the news on its website. The Association of Professional Flight Attendants, a union at American Airlines, confirmed it.
The TSA did not return phone calls tonight.
The Los Angeles Times reported today that TSA chief John Pistole said in a letter to employees he decided to maintain, at least temporarily, the ban on knives on planes after a meeting with an aviation security panel.
The TSA said last month it would permit small knives, golf clubs, ski poles, small baseball bats and other items in carry-on luggage that have been banned since shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The change was to have started Thursday.
The agency said at the time the change was part of ?an overall risk-based security approach, which allows transportation security officers to better focus their efforts on finding higher-threat items such as explosives.?
Unions representing flight attendants at Fort Worth-based American Airlines and Dallas-based Southwest Airlines fought the TSA?s proposal.
The Flight Attendants Union Coalition, which has opposed the TSA?s plan, said it ?resolute? that all knives should be banned from planes permanently. The group represents 90,000 flight attendants nationwide, including those at American and Southwest.
?The APFA is pleased that the TSA has decided to postpone this change,? said Leslie Mayo, a spokeswoman for the Association of Professional Flight Attendants at American. ?We got what we wanted for now. Every day without a knife on board is a good day.?
The APFA is part of the Coalition. The Coalition is working with Congressional members on legislation to permanently keep knives off planes.
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