U.K. 100ml Liquids Rule In Hand Luggage Not On Track—An Explainer

28.03.2024 - 09:13 / forbes.com / London Gatwick / London Heathrow

It's theoretically great news for travelers leaving the U.K. with carry-on hand luggage—that by June 2024, all U.K. airports should have scrapped the 100ml limit on liquids.

The bad news, though, is that not all U.K. airports will make the deadline and this could lead to widespread confusion over the upcoming Easter and summer holidays in 2024.

The U.K. government's website is still advocating the 100ml rule for all travelers at all U.K. airports meaning it is up to passengers to work out which airports accept which size liquids and that will inevitably lead to mistakes and hold ups.

Here's an explainer for travelers departing from U.K. airports over the upcoming holiday season.

The 100ml liquid rule began in 2006 after an attempted terrorist attack foiled by British police—a terrorist group tried to smuggle hydrogen peroxide in several 500ml drinks bottles with the idea of turning them into bombs when onboard, in as many as 10 airplanes.

Since that point, 18 years ago, passengers departing from U.K. airports have been obliged to limit liquids in their hand luggage to individual transparent 100ml bottles that can fit inside a closed transparent bag of no more than 20cm by 20cm.

In 2022, ministers voted to scrap the ban, because new 3D scanner technology enables airport security to better see the insides of passenger bags, similar to scanners used in hospitals, a bit like an x-ray. When all U.K. airports have the new scanners in place, passengers will be able to leave electronic equipment and liquids (in bottles of up to 2 litres in total) inside their bags and skip through security. Items that are not allowed, like weapons, can also be more easily detected.

The impact hardly needs to be stated in terms of reducing lines and wait times at busy U.K airports—London Heathrow and London Gatwick are some of the busiest airports in the world and Heathrow alone, has 146 security lanes.

By early 2023, Teeside and then London City were able to scrap the rule. At London city, the average time taken to get through a security check has gone down from seven minutes in 2022 to three minutes and 45 seconds.

At the moment, all other U.K. airports except Teeside and London City have the rule in place, although many have already started using 3D scanners and so some security lanes will be state-of-the-art and some won't—meaning that travelers must assume that they need to follow the 100ml limit rule.

The four largest airports in the U.K., Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted will not be ready until 2025 but all other airports are expected to announce a full scrapping of the rule at some point through 2024.

The delays are understandable. The scanners being used at the moment across most airports in the U.K. are