You can't flick your BIC on planes anymore

[Roundabout]

But you can still bring your matches, just in case!

Cigarette Lighters Banned From Airplanes

WASHINGTON - Starting Thursday, air travelers will have to leave their lighters at home. Unlike guns, knives and other dangerous items that a passenger cannot carry aboard but may stow in checked bags, lighters are banned everywhere on a plane.

The rule change is expected to produce a large number of seizures of lighters even though airports, airlines and the government have been telling travelers for the past 45 days about the impending ban.

"I'm sure we'll have a bunch of them," said George Doughty, executive director of Lehigh Valley International Airport in Allentown, Pa.

TSA screeners already seize a half-million prohibited items every month. They've been more vigilant about finding and confiscating banned items than were the private screeners who worked at airports before the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackings.

Lighters haven't been permitted in checked bags for at least 30 years because they might start fires in cargo holds. Congress passed a bill last year adding lighters to the list of items prohibited in the cabin.

The genesis for the ban was Richard Reid, who tried unsuccessfully to light explosives hidden in his shoes on a trans-Atlantic flight in 2001. He used matches.

Complete Story Here

[glockjs]

first my crack lighter...and now my bic

[thecoalman]

Dumb.... you can still legally bring matches aboard which by the way can't be detected. I can understand them not wanting them in the cargo hold because of the obvious fire hazard but is this really going to make for a safer flight....don't think so.

What's next, are they going to ban cologne that contains alcohol which is also flammable?

[bugster]

They will be banning shoes next

[VCDHunter]

The genesis for the ban was Richard Reid, who tried unsuccessfully to light explosives hidden in his shoes on a trans-Atlantic flight in 2001. He used matches.

Imagine being sat next to him on a flight;



Could he look more like a nutty terrorist ?

[BobV]

I feel so much safer now

[lumis]

i wonder if this applies only to butane lighters?

it would be a shame if a lot of people got their zippo's taken away.

[AlecWest]

Lessee if I've got this correct. Richard Reid tries to ignite explosives in one of his shoes using matches. So, lawmakers ban cigarette lighters but say up to four books of matches are OK. I guess they figure if a guy can't set fire to his shoe with four books of matches, he must really be a loser.

Well, as long as I can bring my plastique and poisoned wooden darts onboard, I guess it's OK. :P

Next thing you know, airlines will try to exacerbate people trying to join the mile-high club by banning KY Jelly onboard ... but saying it's OK to bring along up to four jars of Vaseline.

Yup, our tax dollars hard at work keeping us safe in the skies.

[ViRaL1]

So...what is it you'd need to light?

[lumis]

cigarettes, after you got off the plane.

[yoda313]

They will be banning shoes next

Hello,



Looks like I'll be sitting alone on my next flight then if you know what I mean

Kevin

[Roundabout]

Looks like I'll be sitting alone on my next flight then if you know what I mean

or next to a robot.

Terrorists - Yes. Robots - No

Airline yanks robotic passenger off flight

EVANSVILLE, Ind. - It's not easy flying with a robot.

At least that's what students from the University of Evansville have learned. The Indiana students had hoped to compete in a contest in Connecticut with the small robot they had built.

But employees of Northwest Airlink, a regional division of Northwest Airlines, refused to let the 'bot aboard.

Airline officials were concerned the robot might somehow interfere with the electronics on the airplane. The students arrived about an hour early for the flight, but the airline says that wasn't enough time to inspect the robot.

[Ward River]

cigarettes, after you got off the plane.

So go buy a lighter. What's the problem?

[flaninacupboard]

The genesis for the ban was Richard Reid, who tried unsuccessfully to light explosives hidden in his shoes on a trans-Atlantic flight in 2001. He used matches.

Imagine being sat next to him on a flight;



Could he look more like a nutty terrorist ?

Can you spot the crazy terrorist?

[VCDHunter]

can you spot the crazy terrorist?

Quality pic.

Would I be allowed to take Mr Hoppy onboard ?

[flaninacupboard]

Quality pic.

Would I be allowed to take Mr Hoppy onboard ?

Sure, what harm could a space hopper do!!

[BJ_M]

i think they should just require everyone to fly naked and no carry on .



problem for the bic lighter ban is that it is only in the usa , so you fly from somewhere else and then transfer to usa flight and get it confiscated ...

this ban is a real dumb one - alone with fingernail clippers ...

[jackal70058]

It's jsut a pain in the ass. You can takes 4 books of matches but not a lighter? What's the sense in that? And what makes matches less of fire hazard?

This is just so you get a harder time travelling. Just last year I went with my dad to Hawaii and they gave him such a hard time about his shoes and computer. He had to take them off and he sits the shoes and computer in the bin. So the secuirty guy yellsit so the whole airport could hear "Take the shoes off the computer." So he does what anyone else would do an put the shoes in another bin. But then "bins are for coats, jakets, and computers only" and the screener picks up the shoes and throws them on the belt.

I am not impressed by the "secuirty" in airports. And this lighter thing is just another I'm pissed about.

[ViRaL1]

Can you still carry flint?

[flaninacupboard]

It's jsut a pain in the ass. You can takes 4 books of matches but not a lighter? What's the sense in that? And what makes matches less of fire hazard?

This is just so you get a harder time travelling. Just last year I went with my dad to Hawaii and they gave him such a hard time about his shoes and computer. He had to take them off and he sits the shoes and computer in the bin. So the secuirty guy yellsit so the whole airport could hear "Take the shoes off the computer." So he does what anyone else would do an put the shoes in another bin. But then "bins are for coats, jakets, and computers only" and the screener picks up the shoes and throws them on the belt.

I am not impressed by the "secuirty" in airports. And this lighter thing is just another I'm pissed about.

Well what do you want, safe air travel with a bit of hassle, or more exploding buildings but as much porn and fireworks in your carry on as you like?

[BJ_M]

Can you still carry flint?

probobly ...


btw -- i guess no one thought of the fact that you can accually make a pretty effective small bomb out of normal matchs ..... i think a bic is more safe (to security) than matches are .. except lighting a match in the washroom will set off the smoke detector and a bic will not ..

well you can also make a small bomb out of a bic lighter also ...

[ViRaL1]

It's jsut a pain in the ass. You can takes 4 books of matches but not a lighter? What's the sense in that? And what makes matches less of fire hazard?

This is just so you get a harder time travelling. Just last year I went with my dad to Hawaii and they gave him such a hard time about his shoes and computer. He had to take them off and he sits the shoes and computer in the bin. So the secuirty guy yellsit so the whole airport could hear "Take the shoes off the computer." So he does what anyone else would do an put the shoes in another bin. But then "bins are for coats, jakets, and computers only" and the screener picks up the shoes and throws them on the belt.

I am not impressed by the "secuirty" in airports. And this lighter thing is just another I'm pissed about.

Well what do you want, safe air travel with a bit of hassle, or more exploding buildings but as much porn and fireworks in your carry on as you like?

How about exploding porn? Now THAT would make for an interesting flight.

[bugster]

Well what do you want, safe air travel with a bit of hassle, or more exploding buildings but as much porn and fireworks in your carry on as you like?

I think almost everyone would agree that we want safe air travel, but sometimes the logic behind some of these regulations just doesn't make sense!

You can't take a cigarette lighter on to a plane because you might use it to light the fuse to the explosives hidden in your shoe or elsewhere, but you can take matches!

You can't take sharp objects such as nail scissors onto a plane because they could be used as a weapon to hijack the plane with. Thats OK, just get yourself a seat in Club Class and wait for the hostess to provide you with a metal knife and fork with your meal!

[BJ_M]

or sharpen your toothbrush -- or eyeglass temples made out of titanium are pretty damm strong, a broken cd is quite sharp, change in a sock is deadly --

hell i hate paper cuts myself -- etc, etc ...



where is it going to stop - because for sure , more items will be banned ..





fingernail clippers!!!

when there is a real terrorist or hijacker -- the passengers will not have anything to fight back with !!

[jackal70058]

Well what do you want, safe air travel with a bit of hassle, or more exploding buildings but as much porn and fireworks in your carry on as you like?

I think almost everyone would agree that we want safe air travel, but sometimes the logic behind some of these regulations just doesn't make sense!

You can't take a cigarette lighter on to a plane because you might use it to light the fuse to the explosives hidden in your shoe or elsewhere, but you can take matches!

You can't take sharp objects such as nail scissors onto a plane because they could be used as a weapon to hijack the plane with. Thats OK, just get yourself a seat in Club Class and wait for the hostess to provide you with a metal knife and fork with your meal!

Well put.

...a bit of hassle...

A bit of hassle is OK, but doing what those people at IAH did was unexcusable.

[VCDHunter]

I had rechargeable batteries taken off me at an airport in the states because they were dead. The live 4 pack of normal batteries were ok. Utterly bemusing.

[AlecWest]

i think a bic is more safe (to security) than matches are .. except lighting a match in the washroom will set off the smoke detector and a bic will not ..

You know, you may have stumbled on the deep dark secret behind this new law. If they were really serious about security concerns, matches would have been banned, too. Perhaps, under the guise of a "security" law, this is really nothing more than some rabid anti-smoker flexing his legal muscles for the sole purpose of making it a little bit less convenient for smokers to light up after they land.

P.S. I think we should make it illegal to fart on an airplane. It is, after all, a flammable gas that could be ignited by a spark.

[jackal70058]

...some rabid anti-smoker flexing his legal muscles...

Yeah. Just like the laws they make about where you can't smoke or wanting to raise the taxes on cigarettes. What a pain in the ass. There should be a law against them.

[Roundabout]

You know, you may have stumbled on the deep dark secret behind this new law. If they were really serious about security concerns, matches would have been banned, too. Perhaps, under the guise of a "security" law, this is really nothing more than some rabid anti-smoker flexing his legal muscles for the sole purpose of making it a little bit less convenient for smokers to light up after they land.

Or, maybe the BIC corporation paid off congress to pass this law so more lighters will be confiscated/destroyed = tons of sales of new BIC lighters = hefty windfall profits!

I haven't seen anywhere what they are doing with all these confiscated items...resale for gov't profit, maybe?

[BJ_M]

they are destroyed i heard