Tim Nudd of Adfreak points to Zippo’s response to a recent ruling by the Transportation Security Administration banning lighters from commercial flights, including checked luggage.
“We strongly oppose the interpretation by the Department of Transportation (DOT) that prohibits packing lighters in checked luggage. In testing performed by Zippo engineers, as well as investigations done by the Lighter Association, Inc., not a single bit of evidence points to lighters being hazardous in checked luggage. Specifically, we have not uncovered one instance in which lighters in checked luggage exploded, caught fire or otherwise posed a danger to the aircraft.
Ironically, DOT regulations permit such items as ammunition, as well as aerosol cans, which could contain isobutane propellants, to be carried in checked luggage, and considers these items to be non-hazardous. If the DOT considers gunpowder and isobutane to be non-hazardous, it should logically conclude, based on all the evidence available, that lighters are non-hazardous as well.”
Zippo claims their sales could decline by as much as 30 percent.
