Knives get boarding passes. What’s next?

Why the relaxation of TSA rules is likely to continue

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 March 12, 2013, 3:09 p.m. EDT

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By Quentin Fottrell

When is a bottle of hand lotion more dangerous than a knife? At 30,000 feet.

While passengers can once again carry small blades on flights, bringing aboard more than 3 ounces of liquid is still a no-no. Experts say that too may soon change. The Transportation Security Administration surprised passengers and airlines last week by allowing small knives — with blades no longer than 2.36 inches and no wider than half-an-inch — on airplanes.

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Novelty toy bats and adult-size sports equipment like lacrosse, pool and hockey sticks, and two golf clubs per traveler will also be permitted on April 25. David Castelveter, a spokesman for the TSA, says the move brings U.S. security rules in line with those of the International Civil Aviation Organization. “You’re not going to bring an airplane down with a pen knife,” he says.

“Now that the TSA has opened up Pandora’s box on pocket knives, it really does call into question every decision made in the past decade,” says consumer advocate and travel writer Christopher Elliott. The TSA has recently rolled back rules prohibiting passengers from carrying everything from knitting needles and tweezers to small scissors and fingernail clippers, plus up to four books of matches (2005), standard cigarette lighters (2007) and even small snow globes (2012). “I’ve never heard of a plane being taken over by snow globes,” Elliott says.

So what’s next? The TSA’s restrictions on the sizes of bottles for drinks, shampoos, gels and lotions will likely be next for review, Elliott says. The rules were put in place after a foiled 2006 trans-Atlantic plot to blow up a plane using liquid explosives. “I’d be happy to open my bottle of water and drink from it at security so I could take it through,” Elliott says. The latest rule change on small knives isn't an isolated decision, according to the TSA, but it declined to comment on what might be next. “This is part of an continuing assessment on the threat that carry-on items do or don’t present to the traveling public,” Castelveter says.

Most experts say the TSA will also eventually allow everyone to keep their shoes on at security. The shoe rule came into force after an unsuccessful plot in the December 2001 by Richard Reid, a British national, to blow up a plane flying from France to the U.S. with plastic explosives hidden in the sole of his shoe. In 2011, the TSA began allowing children under 12 to keep their shoes and light jackets on when passing through security and, last year, it started applying the same rule to those ages 75 and older. Loosening these rules for everyone will help avoid delays, says Steven Frischling, an aviation security expert. If someone wants to smuggle a plastic razorblade on board, they will do it with or without their shoes on, he says.

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Increasingly, industry pros say the heavy lifting on security happens before most people get to the airport. “The existing checks, which hunt for weapons rather than criminals and categorize every single person who flies as a potential terrorist of equal threat, is neither sustainable nor effective,” says Patrick Smith, a pilot with a major commercial airline. The TSA is already looking at ways to expand its pre-screening program where, for instance, some frequent fliers can pass through security without taking their laptops out of their bags, Castelveter says. See: Airport line-cutting gets an upgrade.

Given the outcry from some groups over the TSA’s new rule on small knives, however, the agency may face similar resistance to future loosening of restrictions. Southwest Airlines’ Flight Attendants Union; the Flight Attendants Union Coalition, which represents nearly 90,000 flight attendants; and the Coalition of Airline Pilot Associations, with over 22,000 pilots, are among the industry groups that oppose the rule allowing small knives. An online petition on the White House website currently has over 20,000 signatures, but that is still short of the 100,000 needed for an official White House response.