Association of Flight Attendants-CWA

Euless, TX – The Flight Attendants’ Union Coalition, representing 90,000 Flight Attendants at carriers across the country, has released an open letter to TSA Administrator John Pistole from one of the 9/11 Crewmembers’ families. Mike Low, father of Sara Low who was instrumental in providing information to the authorities as her flight was hijacked and ultimately flown into the World Trade Center, is speaking out against the proposed policy change by Pistole.

The Coalition of Flight Attendants will continue leafleting at airports across the nation on April 1, 2013, to ask the flying public to contact their Representatives in Washington and sign on to a White House Petition: www.NoKnivesOnPlanes.com.

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March 28, 2013
Mr. John Pistole
TSA Administrator
Washington, D. C.

Dear Mr. Pistole,

My name is Mike Low. I am the father of Sara Elizabeth Low, American Airlines Flight Attendant on Flight 11, September 11, 2001. My family and I want to lend our support to APFA and the Coalition of Flight Attendant Unions and express our feelings about your decision to allow knives back on commercial aircraft. We are astounded by the lack of understanding and thoughtlessness that this terrible decision reflects.

On the morning of September 11, 2001, our Sara Elizabeth was working business class on American Airlines Flight 11 out of Boston. She had to have witnessed in part or all, the stabbing of flight attendants and the murder of a passenger and the pilots, all by knives. Sara spent the last 30 minutes of her life performing her duties amidst that carnage. We know she gave Amy Sweeney our phone number (as verified by the FBI) to charge the calls made to American Airlines employee Michael Woodward, that led to the identification of the hijackers. We have the FBI phone records and Michael Woodward’s deposition that told of her activities during the final 30 minutes.

I understand that the justification for your new policy is to expedite and make more convenient the security process at airports. I can see no improvement in time or effort required, as under your new edict the inspectors will, instead of simply confiscating a knife, now have to stop, look, measure and probably argue about the legality of the knife. You have gained little or nothing and again put the flight crews and passengers more at risk. The terrorists have to be laughing at how naïve our government continues to be.

Furthermore, the recent instance of a French national who managed to worm his way into the cockpit of a US Airways flight demonstrates that hardened cockpits and multilayered security protocols can still fail. Yes, he was discovered while the plane was still parked, but he could have locked himself in with the pilots, attacked them with a knife, and done something terrible to or with that aircraft. 

For the safety of flight crews, passengers and those potentially affected on the ground, please reconsider this terrible decision. Take a page from the doctor’s oath and “first do no harm." Thank you for allowing us to express our strong feelings about this terrible decision.

With our respect for the tremendous responsibility you have, we are:

Mike, Bobbie and Alyson Low
Family of Sara Elizabeth Low
American Airlines Flight Attendant
Flight 11
September 11, 2001

WWW.NOKNIVESONPLANES.COM 

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Media Contacts: Sara Nelson, AFA [email protected] ; Leslie Mayo, APFA, [email protected] ; Jamie Horwitz, TWU, [email protected] ; James Carlson, IAM, [email protected] ; Galen Munroe, IBT,[email protected] .

The Flight Attendants Union Coalition coordinates on issues of mutual interest to Flight Attendants. Members of the Coalition are the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, Transport Workers Union, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.