New York, April 15, 2005
NRI Press
Rapid City Regional Airport issued a reminder that
beginning Thursday, the federal Transportation Security
Administration will no longer allow cigarette lighters
to be carried aboard commercial airline flights.
Lighters already are prohibited in checked baggage.
On Thursday, this ban will extend to carry-on bags,
purses, pockets and anything that passes through the
passenger checkpoint at the airport.
At the checkpoint, lighters will be treated as any
other prohibited item, and passengers will need to
surrender them to the TSA or leave them in their vehicle
or with someone who is not traveling.
Passengers who smoke still will be allowed to carry
up to four books of paper matches beyond the checkpoint.
However, matches will continue to be banned in checked
luggage.
TSA said that it banned lighters in response to a
provision in the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism
Prevention Act of 2004 that requires that butane lighters
be added to TSA's prohibited items list.
The TSA extended that ban to include all types of
lighters. Officials deemed it easier to ban all lighters
than to try to distinguish what type of lighter a
passenger is carrying.
