Carry On Luggage: Restrictions & Rules
This was written in the aftermath of the 2006 liquid ban and it opened with "where to start". Twenty years on the answer is genuinely better news than anyone expected then, and also more complicated.
The 100ml rule is no longer universal. Airports with certified CT scanners, which produce a detailed enough image that liquids do not have to come out, now allow containers up to two litres with no clear bag at all. In the UK that covers Heathrow, Gatwick, Edinburgh and Birmingham; Dublin, Rome Fiumicino and Milan are among the others. Manchester, Stansted, Luton, Glasgow and Liverpool still enforce 100ml.
Which means the rule you must pack to is the stricter of your two airports. Flying out of Heathrow with a litre of shampoo and back through Stansted means losing it on the way home. The list of qualifying airports changes as scanners are certified, so check both ends rather than trusting a blog post, including this one. UK rules and US rules are the sources that stay current.
What else has changed since this post:
- Laptops and tablets often stay in the bag at CT-equipped checkpoints. Where they do not, they come out.
- Power banks and spare lithium batteries must be in hand luggage, never checked, and several airlines have tightened rules on using or charging them in flight.
- Size and weight limits got stricter and more varied, particularly on budget airlines, where the bag that fits one carrier costs money on the next.
What has not changed at all: put anything you cannot replace in the cabin. Medication, documents, keys, glasses, chargers. Checked bags mostly arrive, and the cost of the exception is the whole trip.
Part of the guide to luggage and travel bags.