TSA Reverses Itself on Lighters

"Federal aviation authorities have decided to stop enforcing a two-year-old rule against taking cigarette lighters on airplanes, concluding that it was a waste of time to search for them before passengers boarded. The ban was imposed at the insistence of Congress after a passenger, Richard Reed, tried to ignite a bomb in his shoe in 2001 on a flight from Paris to Miami." So begins a story titled "U.S. Will Allow Most Types of Lighters on Planes" in today's New York Times.

It is not necessarily a bad thing to reverse a rule that was passed in response to one specific incident, but as usual, the the Transportation Security Administration can't do anything in a simple and straightforward way, such as permitting all cigarette lighters. The new policy, according to reporter Eric Lipton, "applies to disposable butane lighters, like Bics, and refillable lighters, like Zippos. Torch lighters, which have thin, hotter flames, will continue to be banned." Matches, he adds, have never been banned. Lipton further reports that the TSA has been confiscating an average of 22,000 lighters per day, a move that TSA assistant director described as "security theater,” adding that confiscated lights “trivializes the security process.” Furthermore, disposing of these lighters costs taxpayers $4 million annually.

Future policies reversals are still to come, according to Lipton. "A ban on liquids in containers greater than three ounces, which was imposed last summer after the disruption of a plot based in London to blow up planes headed to the United States, will remain in effect, but the security agency will modify its rules related to breast milk. Passengers will be allowed to carry breast milk in quantities greater than three ounces as long as it is declared for inspection at the security checkpoint. Currently, breast milk is allowed only if a passenger is traveling with an infant."

I wonder how the TSA is planning to differentiate between breast milk, formula or regular milk in a baby bottle. A TSA taste test, perhaps?

The article also noted that "in late 2005, security officials lifted a ban on small scissors, screwdrivers and other small tools, making a similar argument that searching for them was a waste of time."

I never thought of screenings as "security theater," but that's a wonderful way of characterizing shifting policies and differences from one country to another. I have previously written about Britain's draconian requirements for only one carry-on for flights departing from any U.K. airport but not those arriving there.

In Canada, where I recently took a domestic Quebec City-Toronto flight, passengers do not need to remove their shoes to shuffle through the medal detector. When transferring to a US-bound flight (Toronto-Denver in my case), off come the shoes. In Quebec City, I checked my bag at the small domestic terminal for the short Jazz flight to Toronto. I received my boarding pass, which I immediately had to show the security attendant at the X-ray machine into which passengers feed their checked luggage. This machine is perhaps 20 feet from the Jazz counter. From there, I walked another 20 feet to show my boarding pass and photo ID before passing into the room where the passenger screening takes place.

Then I walked a few more feet through a doorway, where someone else looked at my boarding pass and photo ID. I was metal detected (shoes on) then proceeded a short way to the gate. When boarding the aircraft, not only the boarding pass but the photo ID is again required. I think it's also security theater to show one's boarding pass and photo ID to a series of people who are practically within spitting distance of each other.

But then, security theater is one of the predominant themes of the 21st century -- 21st century travel in particular. Does it all make me feel safer? Not particularly. It can be more hazardous to be walking down the wrong street at the wrong time in midtown Manhattan just when an old steam pipe explodes, or to be traveling through Brazil's busiest airport, Sao Paolo, where the runway is too short (pilots have long complained) and one aircraft doesn't make it,