AIRPORTS: European Union reimposes liquid limits in hand luggage from Sunday 1 September

Sunday 1 September sees European airports move back to 100ml limits on all liquids in hand luggage. The limit applies to liquids as well as gels and aerosols.

Previously, with the installation of advanced scanners, or Explosive Detection Systems for Cabin Baggage (EDSCB) to give them their formal name, you could take onboard up to two-litre containers of liquids. And you didn’t need to remove them from your luggage.

Why reimpose 100ml liquid limit?

Turns out the new EDSCB 3D scanners were not all they were cracked up to be. A report delivered at the last European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) indicated that the software used on the 3D scanners could only guarantee reliability on liquid containers up to 330 ml. Oops!

This precautionary measure is not in response to any new threat but addresses a temporary technical issue, undertaken in alignment with the EU’s international partners.

Eurpean Commission Statement

100ml liquid limit ‘temporary’

The commission’s statement and the report indicate that the issue might be ‘temporary’, with presumably a software upgrade in the pipeline that will increase the scanner’s ability to do its job on liquid containers larger than 330 ml.

The UK has implemented similar regulations. So it’s back to transparent plastic bags holding all your carry-on liquids in containers of 100ml or less.

The Commission is collaborating closely with Member States and the European Civil Aviation Conference to develop swift technical solutions, ensuring the highest s

Eurpean Commission Statement

Expect delays

You can expect delays in European and UK Airports from 1 September. Passengers were only just getting used to the higher limits, and now they will have to be retrained back to the former carry-on liquid practices and restrictions.

Depending on the ‘temporary’ nature of the revised regulations, you may experience these 100ml restrictions after November when the EU will move to the biometric-based EES, or Entry/Exit System, which will mean no longer collecting stamps in your passport. Entry will rely on facial biometrics and fingerprint scans for registered, non-EU passengers.

2PAXfly Takeout

Yah! Boo! Sucks! is my response. Just when you thought that transiting borders was entering the 21st century, it all takes a backward step.

On my recent trip to Europe, you couldn’t tell what regime you would be met with. Sometimes it was computers out, sometimes not. Sometimes liquids are out, and sometimes not.

With this temporary regulation adding more uncertainty, I would be reverting to last decade’s practices of having all liquids in 100ml or less containers in a transparent 1 ltr bag and having laptops and other digital devices easily extractable from your cabin luggage.

Looks like it might be the end of the decade before we get some consistency in security practices across the world.