JFK Screeners Miss Boxcutter, Outrage Ensues

Contributing Editor Carl Unger believes that every trip is worth taking. He loves an extended trip to Europe as much as he enjoys exploring the towns and landscape near home. Basically, you'll find him wherever there is good food, fresh air, and plenty of stories to bring home.

Carl has been writing for SmarterTravel since 2005. His travel writing has also appeared on USA Today and the About.com Boston travel guide.

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Ultimate Bucket List Experience: "Japan. I'd love to take a month off and visit the cities, temples, and countryside. I'm fascinated by the country's juxtaposition of ancient traditions and modern ambitions."

Travel Motto: “Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.” –Terry Pratchett

Aisle, Window, or Middle Seat: "Window."

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TSA screeners at New York’s JFK Airport allegedly missed a boxcutter stowed in a passenger’s bag. The passenger—who was not charged with any crime—was able to bring the boxcutter onboard, and was only caught when the boxcutter fell out of his bag.

Naturally, New Yorkers are more than a little outraged. The 9/11 hijackers used boxcutters, you may recall, so this TSA slip-up is imbued with uncomfortable symbolism.

Objectively, however, the presence of a boxcutter on a plane is not a big deal compared to a bomb or gun. Are boxcutters dangerous? Of course. Could someone use one to inflict severe injury, or even kill a person? Yes. But one man armed with a boxcutter is not going to bring down a plane.

For starters, cockpit doors are heavily reinforced, protecting the pilot from any sort of siege on the cockpit, certainly from someone armed with just a boxcutter. And that’s assuming the boxcutter-wielding individual even makes it to the cockpit door. A boxcutter would only briefly delay the inevitable pounding to be delivered by the passengers that subdue the would-be terrorist. Long gone is the mindset that allowed terrorists to storm the cockpit on 9/11. Just ask Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.

Having said all that, a boxcutter on an airplane is unacceptable, if only because the TSA says so. And so it’s disappointing, though not entirely surprising, that screeners missed not only a prohibited item, but one with particular resonance among the traveling public. Screeners have missed everything from guns to bomb-making materials, and now boxcutters are on the list as well.

Readers, what do you think about this latest TSA gaffe? Is it a big deal, or are people too hard on the TSA?

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