Travelers leaving from London’s Heathrow Airport will no longer be required to limit liquids in their carry-on baggage to 100 milliliter bottles, but the gift will be complicated by the need to check whether the destination airport will allow bigger bottles on return flights.
The change in rules that have been in effect since 2006 comes with advanced technology that allows scanning to take place without unpacking, but airports with older scanning equipment still enforce the rule.
Heathrow is so far the only world-class airport to lift the rule in all terminals. Other large airports, including selected terminals at Atlanta and Chicago have the needed equipment but have not lifted the rule; U.S. officials have indicated they don’t plan to lift it until the equipment is available throughout the system.
Airports that have removed the rule include three other British airports (Gatwick, Birmingham and Edinburgh); Rome Fiumicino, Milan, Turin and Bologna in Italy; Berlin, Stockholm, Krakow, Vilnius, Kaunus and Shannon, Ireland.
