Some pocketknives (i.e. Swiss Army type knives) don't lock, though they have a detent to make it harder to close the blade when fully open.

The "regular" legacy leatherman doesn't have a locking blade, although it's far longer than 2.36" anyway and is too big for a normal pocket.

The leatherman micra is about 1.75" and doesn't lock either. But it fits extremely well in a pocket and I use mine all of the time. I'm so glad I will be able to fly with it instead of leaving it behind.

That's the elephant that is ignored. On 9/11 nobody ever heard of using the plane as a weapon. It was always, "oh divert plane to Cuba and let go free some terrorists in jail" so people were always relatively willing to let them do what they wanted, maybe they could pick up some cigars...

Today though, and honestly even 33% of the time on 9/11, the passengers are going to kick anyone's ass immediately. We have even proof after the shoe-bomber guy, the underwear-bomber guy, etc. Don't mess with America

As for knives, it doesn't really sound like knives, more like nail clippers and various stupid things that they banned before.

Nope: small knives means small knives. Nail clippers and small scissors have been legal for several years now.