Box cutters fall from bag on JetBlue flight

March 03, 2011|By Danielle Paquette, Special to CNN

The Transportation Security Administration is facing criticism after three box cutters were discovered aboard a JetBlue flight at New York's JFK airport on Saturday.

The tools, like those terrorists wielded in the 9/11 attacks, tumbled from a man's carry-on as he was stowing it in an overhead compartment on Flight 837 to the Dominican Republic, according to a New York Post report.

A flight attendant alerted the captain, who contacted the Port Authority Police. Officers also notified the Joint Terrorism Task Force and the FBI.

A Port Authority source expressed anger over the incident to the New York Post.

"In case anyone has forgotten, the TSA was created because of a couple boxcutter incidents," the source told the newspaper.

The Port Authority declined to comment to CNN.

JetBlue evacuated all passengers and crew members on the 9:40 p.m. flight, airline representative Allison Steinburg said. The plane reboarded nearly three hours later and took off without incident.

"TSA takes this very seriously, and appropriate disciplinary action and remedial training will occur for the officers involved," the agency said in a statement.

Additional security layers -- including the possible presence of armed federal marshals, armed pilots and flight crews trained in self-defense -- are designed to prevent someone from causing catastrophic damage with small cutting devices, the statement said.