The Transportation Security Administration today began enforcing a ban on cigarette lighters from the secure areas of airports and onboard airplanes. The ban, first announced in February, will prohibit all butane, absorbed-fuel, electric and novelty lighters from areas beyond checkpoints at airports.
"Terrorists constantly seek innovative means to cause harm, and this requires appropriate risk mitigation," said David Stone, departing assistant secretary of homeland security for TSA
(BTNonline, April 8), in a statement. "This policy provides another layer of protection in TSA's overall security plan."
Though lighters have been banned from checked baggage for more than three decades, Congress passed a bill last year also prohibiting them from cabins. Passengers, however, may still carry up to four books of safety matches onboard.
Robin Buzzeo, director of corporate travel at Hawthorne, N.Y.-based Taro Pharmaceuticals, said she is in the process of drafting an announcement about the lighter ban for distribution on the company's corporate intranet.
"I'm going to try to get it out today on the intranet, but I think most of my travelers already saw it in the morning news," she said. "I don't think a lot of my people are big smokers, and those are the only people this is really going to affect. Still, I find it ironic that they won't let you take lighters on but they'll let you take matches. A logical traveler will laugh at these things."
Buzzeo also said that she's looking into notifying employees about private mailing services at airports that allow travelers to avoid confiscation of banned items. ReturnKey Systems Inc. already has implemented automated mailing kiosks at many of the country's major airports, including Newark, Washington Dulles, LaGuardia and Bush Intercontinental.