[UPDATE: To see photos from the press conference at Logan Airport on 3/12/13, click here.]

Contact: Eben Burnham-Snyder, Rep. Ed Markey, 202-225-2836 or 202-494-4486 cell

Rocco Dirico, Rep. Ed Markey, 781-396-2900

Congressman, Flight Attendants, Pilot to Detail Risks of Policy, Plan for Reversal

Rep. Ed Markey (D-Malden) will join a Boston-based flight attendant, her fellow colleagues, and a pilot on Tuesday to push back against the new rules issued by the Transportation Security Administration to allow small knives into airplane passenger cabins. Rep. Markey sent a letter to the TSA on Saturday, March 9th asking the agency to reverse its policy, which is opposed by the Flight Attendants Union Coalition, the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, and even the CEO of Delta Airlines.

Rep. Markey pushed to continue the ban on knives, scissors and all other bladed devices in 2005 and 2006 with his “Leave All Blades Behind Act”, after TSA last relaxed these rules regarding scissors and other implements. The new TSA rules permit folding knives with blades shorter than 2.36 inches and narrower than 0.5 inches to be carried into aircraft cabins, the first time since 9/11 that knives are allowed inside of a passenger plane cabin.

WHAT: Press conference demanding reversal of TSA’s new small knife policy

WHO:

--Rep. Ed Markey

--Sara Nelson, International Vice President, Association of Flight Attendants, and a Boston-based United Airlines flight attendant; and several of her flight attendant colleagues in uniform

--Captain Steve Sevier, Security Committee Chairman for Passenger Security Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations, and a pilot for US Airways with 35 years of flying experience

WHERE: Terminal E, Logan Airport, Boston

Media can park in limousine parking area at Terminal E by stand-up location

WHEN: 10 AM, Tuesday, March 12, 2013

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