Washington, DC, April 2-5, 2013 – The Coalition of Flight Attendant Unions, representing 90,000 Flight Attendants, continues leafleting events this week at airports around the country to directly enlist passengers in the fight to keep knives out of the aircraft cabin. Leaflets encourage passengers to sign the petition to the White House at www.NoKnivesOnPlanes.com and to call their member of Congress to support the No Knives Act of 2013, introduced by Congressman Ed Markey (D-MA) and Congressman Michael Grimm (R-NY).

Airport Leafleting and Local Times for Tuesday, April 2-5:

No Knives – Call Congress

Knives WILL be allowed in our aircraft cabin on April 25 if we do not redouble our efforts NOW. TSA Administrator Pistole is completely dug in on this. It seems that it will take an act of Congress to get this reverse and we have no time to lose!

133 members of the U.S. Representatives signed a letter to Administrator Pistole urging him to withdrawal his decision to allow knives to be carried onto planes. Now we turn our attention to bipartisan legislation introduced by Congressmen Ed Markey (D-MA) and Michael Grimm (R-NY), H.R. 1093, the “No Knives Act of 2013.”

Dial (202) 224-3121 and ask the Capitol switchboard operator to connect you with your Representative.

When you call state:
“My name is _______ and I’m a constituent. I oppose the TSA plan to allow knives in the aircraft cabin. I would like my Representative to co-sponsor the No Knives Act of 2013 – bi-partisan legislation introduced by Congressmen Ed Markey and Michael Grimm. Thank you.”

Your phone call will be answered by a member of the Representative’s staff who will note your request. They may ask for the name of your hometown, your zip code or your mailing address to verify you are a constituent.

And, call your Senators too and ask them to sponsor companion legislation to H.R. 1093- No Knives Act of 2013.

Please call your member of Congress today. Find Your Representative>>

Bipartisan Congressional Letter to Pistole, 133 Signatures for No Knives

Sign and Share our No Knives On Planes Petition

Air Marshals, most pilots, Transportation Security Officers, several other unions and several airline CEOs have joined our opposition. We have also received strong support from members of Congress including these champions: Eric Swalwell (D-CA), Ed Markey (D-MA), Michael Grimm (R-NY), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) and Bennie Thompson (D-MS).

It’s not enough! Our petition to the White House (www.afacwa.org/NoKnivesOnPlanes) has just under 40,000 signatures as of this morning. That means it will take 3700 signatures a day to reach the required 100,000 by April 4^th. We are all united on this issue. But it’s not enough to be united in opposition – we need to be united in action!

If every Flight Attendant signed the petition we would reach the minimum today.
If every Flight Attendant took responsibility for getting 10 more signatures from family and friends we would be 1 million strong!

We can do this together. The petition requires that you create an account, so it may take a few extra moments to get it done. Be persistent. A few minutes on the computer or a few hours of phone calls, submitting a letter to your local newspaper editor, postings on your Facebook page or calls to Congress could save you or someone you love from the lifetime of grief experienced by the families of September 11, 2001.

Send a Letter to the Editor

Members of Congress have their staff read the letters to the editor of their local papers daily to help determine what is important to their constituents. One of the best ways to spread our message locally and have an impact on our efforts in Washington, DC is to get your letter published.

Please take a moment to review these sample Letters to the Editor or write your own and get your letter published in your local paper. Then, let us know about it! Send the link to your letter to info@afacwa.org.

Airlines Are Joining Our Fight to Keep Knives Off the Plane

Alaska/Horizon Airlines	American Airlines
United Airlines	US Airways
Southwest/AirTran	Mesa Airlines
Delta Air Lines	Pinnacle Airlines
Air Wisconsin

Members of Congress Are Joining Our Fight to Keep Knives Off the Plane

Major Media Outlets Are Joining Our Fight to Inform the Public

World News Tonight; Nightly News with Brian Williams; Good Morning America; The Today Show (3/6); ABC News Radio National Tour – 10 radio program in prime drive-time; Fox News; The Today Show (3/7); Americas Morning; NBC New York; Los Angeles News Talk Radio; NPR Marketplace; Canadian TV News; WJLA; USA Today; Forbes; Associated Press; Washington Post; ABC World News with Diane Sawyer; MSNBC; Rudy Maxa’s World; Fox and Friends

Flight attendants protest TSA knife policy
http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/region_phoenix_metro/central_phoenix/flight-attendants-protest-tsa-knife-policy

‘Bad Idea’: LAX Flight Attendants Protest TSA Policy Shift On Knives
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2013/04/01/bad-idea-lax-flight-attendants-to-protest-tsa-policy-shift-on-knives/

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/national_world&id=9049168

Flight attendants to fight easing of knife restrictions
http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/news/2013/04/01/flight-attendants-to-fight-easing-of.html

Unions Are Joining Our Fight to Keep Knives Off the Plane

Coalition of Flight Attendant Unions (COFU)
American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE)
Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations (CAPA)
Federal Law Enforcement Officers (FLEOA)
Teamsters (IBT)
UNITE HERE urged their members to sign our petition in a March 11 letter.
ALPA at United Airlines