Passengers can carry butane lighters onto planes -- for now
By: Associated Press | ∞
WASHINGTON -- Airline passengers could still carry butane lighters onto planes on Tuesday, the date by which Congress had ordered them banned.
The Transportation Security Administration, the agency charged with prohibiting dangerous items on aircraft, offered no comment on why it missed the deadline.
The ban was ushered through Congress last year by Sens. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore.
The two senators were concerned that the lighters could be used to ignite a bomb on an airline. Richard Reid, the convicted shoe bomber, could have succeeded in blowing up a trans-Atlantic flight three years ago if a flight attendant hadn't smelled the sulfur from his burning match, they said.
"There's some foot-dragging going on, but I expect that it will be announced in the coming days or weeks," Dorgan said Tuesday, adding that the White House and the Office of Management and Budget were holding up the ban.
The TSA allows passengers to carry two butane lighters and four books of matches on board a plane.
On the Net:
Transportation Security Administration: http://www.tsa.gov
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