Mistakes in screening procedures by Transportation Security Administration officers allowed a passenger to bring two box cutters aboard a Frontier Airlines flight from Cincinnati to Tampa. A man, approached a TSA checkpoint at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport with two backpacks late Friday. Video footage showed the man putting the backpacks and loose items in a bin for screening. TSA spokeswoman Patricia Mancha said that the “image review capabilities of the CT were not fully used” and that the passenger’s two box cutters were not identified during the screening, reports the New York Times.
The passenger’s belongings were flagged for a further search, and one of the box cutters was then discovered. In violation of TSA policy, this box cutter was returned to the passenger after its blades were removed. Mancha said, “The backpack containing the other box cutter, and the remainder of the traveler’s property, was screened for explosives, but the box cutter was not discovered.” TSA, prohibits box cutters in the cabin. The items are allowed in checked luggage. Aboard the flight, the passenger threatened to stab passengers and crew members, said Tim Turner, a spokesman for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The plane was diverted to the Atlanta airport, where the passenger was taken into custody by the police. A passenger quoted a woman seated next to a man who "said he wanted to slice somebody and showed the weapon, sliding the blade in."
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