Knife promotion angers air traveler

BANGOR – An American Airlines promotion that gives travelers extra frequent-flier miles for every dollar they spend on Swiss Army products – including pocketknives – is not scoring any points with Gina Clark of Oakfield.

Clark, who travels on American and was to fly on its planes Saturday, noticed the promotion when she received her AA frequent-flier statement Thursday.

It reads, “Earn 5 AAdvantage miles for each dollar spent. Check out our Swiss Army knives, watches and new travel gear.”

“I’m telling you, when I got this in the mail, I was fuming all night,” said Clark, owner of the Yellow House Bed and Breakfast, on Friday. “I felt it was such an insult. It was such a violation. Here’s an airline giving you five times the frequent-flier miles that you usually get if you buy a knife. I just felt it wasn’t moral.”

It was two of American Airlines’ planes that were hijacked by box-cutter carrying terrorists on Sept. 11 and flown into the World Trade Center towers in New York City, killing more than 3,000 people.

Most knives and guns never have been allowed on airplanes, according to Federal Aviation Administration rules. After Sept. 11, the rules were changed to include multipurpose pocketknives such as the ones made by Swiss Army or anything else that the FAA suspects could be used as a weapon.

“You cannot go on airlines with guns and knives, and they shouldn’t be promoting it,” Clark said. “They’re reputable companies, but they shouldn’t be in bed together on this.”

Jeff Turner, president of Swiss Army, which is based in Connecticut, said Friday afternoon that he did not know the knife promotion with American Airlines was being mailed out to frequent-flier travelers.

“I’m caught off guard,” Turner said. “The watch promotion should be running right now. I’ve got to make a call [to American].”

Emilio Howell, an American Airlines spokesman, said he has not seen the Swiss Army promotion, but AA and Swiss Army have been partners for years. The ad, he said, probably was developed before Sept. 11.

Howell said he understands that a number of companies pulled planned advertisements after the Sept. 11 attacks. American Airlines also decided not to air or print some of the advertisements “that we normally would do” because people now might find them offensive.

He said he is not aware of any conversation that may have taken place between AA and Swiss Army to pull the ads.

“Just because we’re advertising and have this promotion [with Swiss Army], we don’t encourage people to buy these knives and bring them on the planes,” Howell said. “Although we allow Swiss Army to advertise, we do not allow these knives on the planes. They will be confiscated.”

Turner said he hopes they will be.

“We’re not encouraging people to carry a knife on an airplane,” Turner said. “Perhaps the timing of the promotion with the knives was unfortunate. I’ll look into it.”

After Sept. 11, Swiss Army contacted its duty-free customers, who sell their products beyond security checkpoints, to cancel their orders, Turner said. The company now is developing a mail-back program with airlines. Under the plan, at airport safety checkpoints, people who have the Swiss Army pocketknives with them can put their address on an envelope, drop in their knives and have them mailed back to their homes, he said.

Turner stands by the Swiss Army knife, which was developed more than 100 years ago. The multipurpose product includes a toothpick, a bottle opener and a screwdriver.

“They aren’t weapons,” he said. “They aren’t used as weapons, and we, at Swiss Army, certainly have never made any weapons.”