EU Changes Airport Liquid Restrictions (But There’s a Catch)

EU Scraps Airport Liquid Restrictions (But There's a Catch)

Good News: the European Union is Changing Liquid Restrictions at airports with computed tomography (CT) scanners at security. Imagine being able to bring a favorite bottle of wine or liqueur, or a special jam or sauce through security. Or on a more prosaic level, not having to worry about only bringing tiny toiletries and cramming all of them into a 1 liter plastic bag.

The bad news: very few airports have these next generation scanners in place, and the EU isn't requiring airports to install the new scanners, which are expensive. Officials estimate that it will cost over $1 billion (GBP 750 million) for London Heathrow (LHR) alone, to install the new scanners at all security checkpoints.

For those that do have the new CT scanners, passengers will be able to bring up to 2 liters of liquid, and they also shouldn't have to remove laptops or tablets from their carry-on luggage.

But before rearranging your European trip so as to end at one of these airports, double check that there aren't different restrictions for U.S.-bound flights; for example, at time of writing, Rome FCO has x-ray scanners for U.S.-bound and Israel-bound flights, so passengers on these flights won't be able to take advantage of the 2 liter limit that applies to other flights departing FCO to non-U.S. and non-Israel destinations.

For now, these are the European airports that allow up to 2 liters of liquids:

Birmingham BHX
Edinburgh EDI
Milan Linate LIN
Milan Malpensa MXP Terminal 1 (but note that Terminal 2 has regular scanners, so the old restrictions apply)
Rome FCO (*except* flights to the U.S. and Israel, which continue to use traditional x-ray machines, so the old restrictions apply)

These airports have the new scanners and may soon allow up to 2 liters of liquids (but as of writing don't yet):