Coalition of Flight Attendants: No Knives on Planes

The recent policy change announced by the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) that would allow small knives and many items of sports equipment starting April 25 is stirring up quite the controversy. The Coalition on Flight Attendant Unions which represents over 90,000 flight attendants across the country have come out publicly against the ban and are actively campaigning for it's end.

On March 21 flight attendants across the country handed out leaflets to passengers at the airport urging their support to contact TSA and say they do not support the rule changes. Today the head of the Coalition, a flight attendant for United, went on MSNBC's Morning Joe program and indicated that the Coalition doesn't see where the TSA is coming from on this rule change and their members and the passengers they serve and protect don't either. She indicated that it seems like the TSA believes that "security stops at the cockpit door" and now flight attendants are not only expected to do their duty and keep the cabin safe, but also be prepared to take care of anyone who is acting out on the plane...now possibly with a knife. I'll post the video of the whole interview once it is available. EDIT: Here is the video from MSNBC.

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The Coalition has started a petition on the White House's website to ask the Obama administration to rescind the policy. The petition currently has almost 40,000 signatures and if it can cross the 100,000 signature mark it will require an administration response. It will be interesting to see if all of the resistance from the flying professionals will cause any change from the TSA, or if this will just make them dig in their heels even more.

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