Airline security update: the knives are back!

Shanghai-San Francisco, UAL, 10 hours+ in the plane, the magic of business class! I am tall enough, and old enough, and have had enough experience with the 31" seat pitch in economy, to appreciate every minute in which my knees are not jammed into the seat ahead.

Bigger surprise: full set of metal cutlery with the meal, knife too!

I ask the flight attendant: How long has this been going on? Five days now, she says. Did you announce it, or just change? We didn't say anything about it. (Presumably the TSA was clued in.) Then she makes the real point: "Of course, the plastic knives were much sharper! I can't tell you how often I cut myself on them."

Any step away from the idiocy of purely-symbolic "anti-terrorist" measures deserves celebration. I don't care that much about the metal knife, but I welcome the tiny shift of the tide away from lunacy. Well done, UAL.