If you are taking If you’re traveling to a European Union member country (there are 27), you should be aware of some updated rules regarding carry-on luggage before you arrive at the airport. When you go through security, officers will ask you to remove liquids and electronic devices from your carry-on luggage so they can be scanned.
In theory, these rule changes are only temporary – they are a stopgap solution while we wait for the next generation of security scanners to become fully operational. The rollout of these C3 scanners, which can properly scan liquids and electronic devices so they don’t need to be removed from carry-on luggage, has been delayed beyond the original June 2024 deadline.
The official implementation date for these new carry-on baggage rules is 1 September 2024, so they are already in effect. There is no set date as to when they will be relaxed, because there are many factors at play. The rules are likely to be in place until at least mid-2025.
Which airports are affected?
To be clear, these are not entirely new rules for hand luggage. What is happening is that EU airports are reverting to the previous rules on what kind of things need to be taken out of hand luggage for inspection when going through security.
All airports in EU countries are affected, as are some UK airports (including Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Manchester) and airports in Iceland, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
Strictly speaking, only airports that have C3 scanners installed should roll back their rules; other airports that never installed C3 scanners have continued to follow the old procedures. Implementing the new technology has been more expensive and time-consuming than expected, and there are still bugs in the system, so the old security rules are required again.
Officially, this is a “technical problem” with the new equipment: although the machines have been installed at several airports, it seems that their scanning capabilities are not up to par. While this problem is being fixed, the scanners cannot be relied upon to detect dangerous contents in luggage.
Considering that packing and unpacking always takes time, and considering that some passengers won’t know exactly what they’re supposed to do, you may want to leave some extra time in your schedule to account for lines and delays.
What are the rules?
To protect against the threat of explosives, all liquids and electronic devices must be removed from bags and scanned separately. Additionally, liquids must be in containers no larger than 100 milliliters (3.4 fluid ounces) and placed in a clear plastic bag approximately 20 x 20 cm (7.9 x 7.9 inches).
This “100ml rule” applies to all liquids, including (but not limited to) drinks, semi-liquid foods such as soups, cosmetics and toiletries, aerosols, toothpaste, shower gel, hair gel and contact lens solution. As usual, these liquids and typical electronic devices can be placed in checked baggage without any problem.
Exceptions to the 100ml rule are sometimes made for those travelling with small babies and those with special dietary and health requirements (including people who need to carry medication). If you fall into these categories, you should check in advance at the airport and, if you are carrying medication, you may need a medical certificate.
For seasoned travellers, this will all be fairly familiar, but hopefully as the new baggage scanners become operational, the security screening process at airports will become more streamlined and quicker overall. If you have any doubts about the rules, check with your airline and the airport in question close to your travel date.
Finally, a note on something that isn’t going to change, at least for now: While there have been rumors that the EU is going to implement rules on standardized suitcase sizes for hand luggage, nothing has been decided on this matter. The idea has been discussed, but there is no single size standard at the moment.
