The EU Has New Carry-On Luggage Rules. Here’s What to Know Before You Fly

If you're taking a formation to immoderate state that’s a subordinate of the European Union—and determination are 27 of them—then determination are immoderate updated carry-on luggage rules you request to marque yourself alert of earlier you crook up astatine the airport. When you walk done security, agents volition inquire you to region liquids and electronics from your carry-on truthful they tin beryllium scanned.

In theory, these regularisation changes are lone temporary: They're a stopgap solution portion we hold for the adjacent procreation of information scanners to spell afloat live. The implementation of these C3 scanners, which tin decently analyse liquids and electronics truthful they don't person to beryllium taken retired of your manus luggage, has been delayed beyond the archetypal June 2024 deadline.

The authoritative implementation day for these caller carry-on baggage rules is September 1, 2024, truthful they are already successful effect. There's nary fixed day arsenic to erstwhile they volition beryllium relaxed, due to the fact that determination are a batch of factors astatine play. It’s apt the rules volition beryllium successful spot until astatine slightest the mediate of 2025.

Which Airports Are Affected?

To beryllium clear, these aren't brand-new rules for your carry-on luggage. What's happening is that EU airports are reverting to the erstwhile acceptable of rules astir what types of things request to beryllium taken retired of your carry-on for inspection erstwhile you walk done security.

All airports successful EU countries are affected, arsenic are immoderate airports successful the UK (including Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, and Manchester) and airports successful Iceland, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and Norway.

Strictly speaking, lone airports that person C3 scanners installed should beryllium rolling backmost their rules; different airports that ne'er installed the C3 scanners person continued to travel the aged procedures. The rollout of the caller tech has been costlier and taken longer than expected, and determination are inactive bugs successful the system—so the aged information rules are erstwhile again required.

Officially, it's a “tech issue” with the caller equipment: Although the machines person been installed successful a fig of airports, it seems their scanning capabilities aren't rather up to the precocious level required. While that gets sorted out, the scanners can't beryllium relied upon to spot unsafe contents successful luggage.

Considering getting items successful and retired of bags ever takes time, and bearing successful caput that immoderate passengers aren't going to cognize precisely what they're expected to beryllium doing, you mightiness privation to permission immoderate other clip successful your docket to let for queues and delays.

What Are the Rules?

To defender against the menace of explosives, each liquids and electronics volition request to beryllium taken retired of bags and scanned separately. In addition, liquids should beryllium wrong containers nary bigger than 100 milliliters (3.4 liquid ounces) and are to beryllium placed successful a wide integrative container of astir 20 x 20 cm (7.9 x 7.9 inches).

This “100 ml rule” applies to each liquids, including (but not constricted to) drinks, semiliquid foods similar soups, cosmetics and toiletries, sprays, toothpaste, ablution gel, hairsbreadth gel, and interaction lens solution. As usual, these liquids and emblematic electronics tin beryllium enactment successful your checked luggage with nary issue.

Exceptions to the 100-ml regularisation are sometimes made for those traveling with tiny babies and for those with peculiar dietary and wellness requirements (including radical who request to transportation medication). If you acceptable into these categories, you indispensable cheque successful beforehand with the airport, and if you're taking medicine with you past you whitethorn request a doctor's note.

For seasoned travelers, this is each going to beryllium beauteous familiar—but hopefully, arsenic the caller baggage scanners commencement to travel online, the information checkpoint process astatine airports should go much streamlined and faster overall. If you're successful immoderate uncertainty astir the rules, cheque with your hose and the airdrome progressive adjacent to the clip you've traveling.

Finally, a enactment connected thing that isn't changing, astatine slightest not yet: While determination person been rumors that the EU is going to use rules connected standardized lawsuit sizes for carry-on luggage, thing has been decided. The thought has been discussed, but for the clip being there's nary azygous size standard.