Cabin liquids rules by country and airport

How to read this table

Liquids rules are set by national regulators, but the limit you meet depends on the equipment at your departure airport. GOV.UK tells travellers to check the rules at the airport they fly from and at every airport on the route, including the return journey ¹. Dublin Airport gives the same advice to passengers flying back to Dublin ¹⁰.

Each row names the official or operator source we opened and its date. Where a rule covers only international flights, the row says so. Exemptions for medicine, baby food and special diets apply in most places and are covered further down.

Where the 100 ml rule came from

The European Commission says it adopted its liquids rules after the attempt to blow up several aircraft departing London Heathrow with homemade explosives in 2006. The rules allow liquids in containers of no more than 100 ml, packed in one transparent re-sealable bag of one litre. The Commission describes the ban as a temporary restriction, meant to be lifted when suitable screening technology became readily available ⁵.

In March 2013 the Commission adopted a phased plan to replace the restriction with technology. Phase 1 made it mandatory, from 31 January 2014 at the latest, to screen liquids in security tamper-evident bags (STEBs) and liquid medicines with special liquid explosive detection equipment ⁵. Japan applied the same 100 ml rule to all international flights from its airports from 1 March 2007, following ICAO guidelines ¹⁶.

Country and airport table

Rules as published on the source date shown. Check the airport page before you fly.

The EU rollback of 2024

Cabin bag scanners that meet the C3 standard can screen bags that hold liquids, laptops and other large electrical items. The EU says this lets an airport remove its liquids limits ⁷. Several airports did so. Tallinn Airport, for example, let passengers carry containers of up to two litres from March to September 2024, according to ERR ⁸.

On 31 July 2024 the Commission announced that from 1 September 2024 the maximum container size would return to 100 ml at all EU airports using this equipment. It called the step a precaution that addressed a temporary technical issue, not a response to a new threat. Airports that had kept the 100 ml limit or had not installed the equipment were not affected ⁶.

The legal act is Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2108 of 29 July 2024. Its recitals say technical information validated by ECAC states and laboratories showed that approved C3 configurations needed verification to improve their performance. It told manufacturers to verify their configurations and submit them for testing in ECAC Common Evaluation Process laboratories. It said the 100 ml cap could be lifted once test reports showed verified configurations met the detection standards. It repealed Commission Decision (EU) 2024/1177 of 23 April 2024, which had suspended the approval of one configuration ⁷.

The UK acted first. On 7 June 2024 the Department for Transport said the 100 ml limit would return temporarily from 9 June 2024 at Newcastle, Leeds Bradford, London City, Aberdeen, Southend and Teesside. It said these airports carried about 6% of UK air passengers ².

Changes since 2025

ERR reported on 29 July 2025 that the Commission had decided passengers could again carry containers of up to two litres at EU airports using 3D scanning equipment, and that the decision still needed ECAC approval ⁸. On 5 August 2025 Italy's civil aviation authority ENAC announced up to two litres per container at Milan Linate, Bologna and Milan Malpensa Terminal 1. CAPA reported that the change applied to airports using one manufacturer's recertified equipment and that airports with other equipment kept the 100 ml limit ⁹.

Dublin Airport dropped the 100 ml limit in both terminals from midnight on 17 September 2025. It said about 30 new C3 scanners were in use and that it met the regulatory deadline of 31 December 2025 early ¹⁰.

In the UK, Heathrow now allows containers of up to 2 litres ³. Which? reported on 23 January 2026 that Heathrow, Gatwick, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Bristol, Belfast International and Belfast City had scrapped the 100 ml rule, and that Luton and Manchester still applied it ⁴. GOV.UK guidance updated on 1 October 2026 still says most UK airports keep the 100 ml limit ¹. The two sources differ on how many airports have changed. We report both.

Exemptions

Medicine, baby food and food for special diets are exempt in the UK, the EU, Japan and Australia, with conditions ^1,514,16. In the UK such containers may be up to 2 litres at all airports ¹.

Duty-free liquids bought airside are allowed if sealed in a security tamper-evident bag with the receipt. The EU accepts duty-free liquids bought at certain airports in Croatia, Malaysia and Singapore and at international airports in Canada and the US, if sealed with proof of purchase within the preceding 36 hours ⁵. TSA allows duty-free liquids over 3.4 ounces for passengers connecting to a US-bound flight, if sealed and bought within 48 hours ¹¹. Changi says only liquids in sealed bags bearing the SGP code, bought in its transit areas, are allowed on flights to the EU and Switzerland ¹⁵.

Limits of this table

We list only rules we could read on an official, operator or dated news source. We could not open an official page for India or for Dubai, so they are not in the table. Canada shows that a CT scanner does not by itself change the limit. CATSA lets passengers keep liquids in the bag at CT lanes, but permitted liquids over 100 ml must still go in a bin ¹³. The TSA liquids page we opened mentions no change linked to CT scanners ¹¹.