Posted on 03/03/2005 5:57:36 AM PST by Born Conservative
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The war on terror is making an American flame sputter.
Zippo Manufacturing Co., which prides itself on its classic brass-and-chrome butane lighters, says new air travel security regulations could cut into sales by as much as 30 percent.
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration has announced it will ban butane, electric and absorbed fuel lighters aboard all aircraft and in areas behind airport security gates beginning in April.
Such lighters were already banned in checked baggage, but passengers previously had been allowed to have two lighters in their carry-on luggage.
Zippo officials will meet with federal officials later this month to plead their case. Millions of the metal, rectangular lighters are bought on impulse at duty-free shops and at vacation spots as mementos. Now, the company fears disposable lighters will drain their business.
The ban also means one of Zippo's most reliable supply routes, the commercial airliner, will be completely out of bounds. The travel restrictions are unlikely to affect any other lighter company as drastically as it will Zippo, the company said.
The company makes all its lighters in Bradford, a town in northwest Pennsylvania with a population of about 9,500. The company sold 14 million of them last year, said Greg Booth, president and chief executive officer.
"This really has the potential to hurt our business," Booth said.
The ban on lighters in the cabin is logical, Zippo officials said, but they are upset at Zippo's "hazardous" classification by the transportation department for checked baggage.
Zippo lighters have passed stringent standards for both the American Society for Testing Materials and those of the International Standards Organization, Booth said, meaning the lighters have been classified as nonhazardous.
Joe Delcambre, spokesman for the transportation department's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, said the ignition source on such lighters is too close to flammable materials to be allowed in cargo holds.
That separates Zippo from other items allowed in airline cargo holds that might be considered dangerous, including ammunition, firearms and spear guns.
Wondering if they will also ban hot air on all flights out of Washington DC?
Zippos dont use Butane....??????
not that it matters..all lighter seem to be banned.
Imagine being a territory salesman for Buck knives...
You ought not to have said that. You just lost.
It is not logical at all. It is capricious.
Ah c'mon....... they could ship them empty of fluid.
I remember me and 2 of my boys having our leatherman tools with 3.5" blades in our carry-ons in 1999 on aflight to Florida...the baggage checker picked mine up and I said.."Its a tool, like a pliers" which was also true...the checker put it back and said..."I know what it is" and we were off to the beaches of sunny Florida...
Things change eh??
Michael Rosen, while guest hosting the Rush Limbaugh Show last week, told a story about almost losing a keepsake money clip at an airport. The clip was given to him by a good friend who was in the Armed Services. Rather than lose it he coaxed a security guard to bend the rules and break off the included nail file with a pare of pliers so that it would be acceptable for carryon.
They can check their knives. No one is worried yet about their self propelled autonomous attack knives getting loose in the luggage compartment and taking over the plane. Wait, I wasn't supposed to mention those new knives and let TSA know about them....
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration has announced it will ban butane, electric and absorbed fuel lighters aboard all aircraft
I don't see any ban on my plans for oxy-acetylene lighters. That's where the money is now.
What about matches? You can light a match on a plane as easily as a lighter. Correct?
I just received my lighter back from Zippo with an apology for being late, and an explanation of this new law. (They fix lighters for free) If you look at their web site, the way it's packaged can't be dangerous. The inside of the lighter is taken out, dried, flint removed.....can't see anything wrong with this at all.
Groucho, Harpo and Chico couldn't be reached for comment.
The air marshals want to see the smoke and smell the sulfer. Keeping them out of checked baggage is just rotten.
This story is from back in prop-plane days. My boss and I were on a DC-6 and were discussing our project involving motion sensing in an airborne radar system. He wanted to set up an experiment right there with a simple pendulum demo. He asked the "stewardess" if she had string and scissors. She came up with a pair of little kiddy scissors like kindergarteners used, and our experiment proceeded to the amusement of nearby passengers.
Yes, things have changed.
"Madam, you're making history, as a matter of fact you're making me. And I'd appreciate it if you kept your hands to myself!"
Joe, you may be right. Hub and I are two of those dasterdly smokers and as soon as we get out of an airport, we light up. We'll have to take extra money for lighters I guess........no, wait! We just won't fly! Got a new car, may as well use it.*~*
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