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Government brings back 100ml liquids rule at airports with new security scanners

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The UK Government has rushed out new rules on carrying liquids through security at airports with next-generation security scanners.

For British Airways customers, this means London City, Newcastle and Aberdeen as well as the First Wing at Heathrow Terminal 5.

Other airports impacted are Leeds Bradford, Southend and Teesside.

Heathrow Fast Track security

From Sunday, the old liquids rule is back.

You will not be allowed to take any liquid of over 100ml in your hand baggage, irrespective of the type of scanner being used.

Liquids can remain inside your hand baggage whilst being scanned at airports with the new equipment.

(EDIT: it seems there is some confusion about this, and that liquids may need to be removed from bags. Be prepared!)

It appears that there are no changes to the rules on electronics, so laptops can remain in checked baggage.

The Department of Transport claims that the change is not due to an imminent security threat but because of concerns over the reliability of the new scanners. It said in a statement:

“This temporary move is to enable further improvements to be made to the new checkpoint systems and will only affect a small number of passengers.

For most passengers, security measures will remain unchanged”

There is no indication of how long the rule change will last.

In reality, of course, it will not impact many people because – faced with old generation scanners on the way back to the UK – the majority of travellers will still need to stick to liquids in sub-100ml bottles anyway.

Comments (75)

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  • Giuseppe says:

    This is so dumb. Are all the other European countries crazy then? To allow liquids >100ml with the new scanners? I don’t think so

    • TGLoyalty says:

      I’m assuming it’s not the scanners themselves but the software it comes with which might be be bespoke to U.K. DfT or in some way new globally and it’s quite right.

      Everyone with over 100ml being sent to secondary is ridiculous so can’t continue.

      • Paul says:

        Bespoke – Infosys perhaps? Competence even?
        A single European standard is required to rid is both if 100ml and transfer security. But one can dream

        • riku says:

          going through security for transfer is purely a UK decision. The USA has a similar rule. Both countries only accept their own security clearance. If you are transferring at an EU airport then they accept EU and UK security with no need to transfer security again (at most well designed airports anyway).

    • Paul says:

      @giuseppe
      When I passed through AMS last year I was struck by how well designed the transfer hall equipments was. It looked modern, clean and really good looking. Consequently it gives an immediate sense of efficiency and competence. – while this is not always the case compare that to many chaotic badly designed security halls. Many in the USA spring to mind, but equally Heathrow, Edinburgh or Glasgow. There is nothing attractive about the facilities and certainly nothing that provides a sense of competence or efficiency. Are Europeans crazy, no I don’t think so but neither do I think they have trumpeted theses changes as the U.K. did. I might be wrong and will no doubt be told here very soon.
      If I could change one aspect about flying today it would be to have a single European standard and rid us of the need for transit security ….. but I was always a dreamer

      • TGLoyalty says:

        AMS has been an absolute shit show when I’ve tried to use it on 5/6 occasions in the past 5/6 years but admittedly not in the past year. I will in November.

        • Novice says:

          I agree with TGLoyalty. Last time I used AMS it was such a bad experience that I swore off any connection through there.

      • Derek Scott says:

        The problem is by the time a security hall is designed and built it’s already out of date.

        Security halls need to be functional rather than attractive. What’s the point in style if you want in and out as quickly as possible? As long as it’s effective and designed with throughput in mind.. and that’s hundreds per half hour at peak 6-9am slot

        I challenge the slant of lack of competence. UK screening is at such a high standard that arriving aircraft from non-EU countries have added security checked once the aircraft fully disembarked as standards overseas as not considered as stringent.

        There already is a single European standard and each country then applies it to respective borders by DoT.

        I feel EDI flows very well and has high scoring satisfaction scores. EDI has 6 loading bays per lane compare to LHR and the one lane that’s the “slow lane” is the Family lane!

        Warning, if it’s relevant… don’t take baby food through that contains banana… high potassium levels trigger the special food scanners and slows the process down

    • HampshireHog says:

      Just a thought, Fujitsu not the software supplier?

    • HampshireHog says:

      But we shan’t be part of any European standard as we’ve gained our freedom!

      • Paul says:

        Thank explains everything as the rest has gone so well too

  • Amy says:

    Went through the new scanners at T3 fast track this week for the 1st time. Nice to be able to leave to liquids in bag. The pain point for me was always having to cram into the small plastic bags rather than the 100ml limit. Hopefully that bit will go away?

  • Paul says:

    I think security at our airports is very good and the staff do a commendable job in difficult circumstances.
    The simple fact is this – that the desire to rid ourselves of the 100ml rules became a political matter with a strong desire to be “world beating”
    The DoT changing things in the midst of an election campaign to “enable further improvements” simply says to me that its doesn’t work and they take this opportunity to reverse it.
    Don’t get me wrong I’d love not to fill little bottles and buy miniatures of toiletries for a weekend away, but after almost 20 years of travelling like this, is it really the most important issue travellers face?

    • Bagoly says:

      Presumably this change was driven by civil servants – ministers during a general election more or less having to do what the civil servants recommend?
      So better disinterested decision-maker?
      Or stick-in-the-mud?

  • HampshireHog says:

    What a typical display of British amateurism, lack of openness and official incompetence. Presumably there no total limit of one litre?

  • Antony Savvas says:

    What a country. We’re hearing from voters that ‘nothing works’, and it doesn’t. Flying to SFO from Newcastle via London tomoz and thought I’d take my own full size shampoo and shower gel to my Element hotel in Santa Clara for the week on business, instead of relying on their lower grade product, and leave what I don’t use, and now this, after all the fantastic efforts Newcastle Airport has made to upgrade every scanning line there. I only check in luggage when travelling on holiday with the wife.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      But some Dove for $5 when you’re out there.

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

      Buy some mini bottles from Primark / Poundland / tiger.

      What did you do before when it was the long-standing 100ml rules?

      Likely decanted into a smaller bottle?

      Go back to doing that.

  • VinZ says:

    What a bloody joke.

  • John says:

    It’s rea;;y simple. Heathrow and other major airports missed the 2022 deadline and were given an extension. They then made clear they were going to miss the 2024 deadline…. Profit being far more important than complying with a security directive.

    Net result TOTAL confusion among the travelling public as security rules would vary by airport (& in some cases which queue you join. To end the chaos that would almost certainly result, it’s been decided to simply roll the clock back for the airports who bothered to invest in a timely manner, so the big boys aren’t shown up.

    • can2 says:

      That bums me too
      How come they can just not make the deadline and not get fined?

      • JDB says:

        I don’t understand how various people just randomly criticise the airports, government, UK in general without knowing any of the facts. As @BAFlyerIHGStayer says, there were entirely valid reasons so the airports couldn’t possibly have been fined. The UK has more stringent security standards than some other countries which isn’t a bad thing.

        • HampshireHog says:

          We are criticising the useless, back covering public administration in this country which many of us with a footin the gov.uk camp have known for years. Covid, blood products and the Post Office mean that Joe and Jane Public now know what I know

          • JDB says:

            @HampshireHog – thank you for confirming you know zippo about the security scanner situation so justify the mindless criticisms based on other entirely unconnected errors when what has happened here isn’t even an error.

            Governments and public administrations of all countries make monumental errors and suffer from cronyism and cover ups. That will never change.

            However, it’s wearisome to see such constant negativity or glass half empty attitude. A more balanced approach and analysis would sound rational rather than ranting and be better for mental health.

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

      Airports did bother to invest in time but the Dept for Transport didn’t settle on the detailed regulations for a long time so that the manufacturers weren’t sure what standard they should be following.

      Once the DfT did decide that it was all guns blazing but that also caused delivery and installation delays.

      But airports can’t install machines that haven’t been made can they?

      And it’s really unfair to compare installing 100+ scanners across multi site LHR to installing 2 at LCY or MME.

    • HampshireHog says:

      @JDB, I could add for your kind consideration, aircraft carriers, HS2, brexit, privatisation of public utilities and the railways. All botched.

  • AL says:

    Is this DfT or DOT? I’d expect to see this from the former, not the latter, although the latter definitely have influence.

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