Noora Mykkanen
Published January 24, 2026 5:01pm
Updated January 24, 2026 5:01pm
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Heathrow Airport has scrapped the 100ml liquid limit rule (Picture: Getty Images)
Passengers at the UK’s busiest airport no longer have to waste time taking liquids and electronics out of their bags.
Going through the security at Heathrow is set to be a little faster as the airport scrapped the pesky 100ml liquid limit.
Liquids in containers up to two litres can be left inside the bag during security, meaning struggling to fit everything into that single plastic bag is a thing of the past.
Travellers can thank the new CT scanners, introduced as part of a £1 billion rollout, which can capture crispier images through hand luggage.
Heathrow said the rule change will make security checks quicker for thousands of passengers (Picture: Shutterstock)
Heathrow is the only one of the world’s top 10 busiest travel hubs to rollout the more relaxed limit.
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Here is a roundup of what the change means for passengers, and which UK airports have scrapped the 100ml limit.
What is the new liquid rule at London Heathrow Airport?
Passengers going through security at all Heathrow terminals – T2, T3, T4 and T5 – can keep liquids in containers up to two litres.
However, refillable metal or double-walled containers must still be emptied for the security check, and refilled after it.
Medicines and baby food are exempt.
Electronics like laptops and tablets can also be left inside the bag.
People flying out of Heathrow no longer have to worry about cramming essential liquids into a plastic bag – but other airports might have different rules (Picture: Getty Images)
Not all airports in the UK or around the world have lifted the old liquid limit, so it is worth checking what the rules are when flying back.
Heathrow estimates that the new rule will save 16 million plastic bags a year, and that thousands of passengers an hour can pass through security with ‘significantly greater efficiency.’
Which UK airports have scrapped 100ml rule?
Here are the UK airports that have lifted the 100ml liquid limit:
- Birmingham
- Bristol
- Edinburgh
- Gatwick
- Heathrow
Belfast Airport has also increased the liquid limit to two litres.
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Some other airports – like London City, Luton and Teesside – have the new scanners in place, allowing people to keep the liquids inside the bag, but only in containers up to 100ml.
Nearly 84 million passengers travelled through Heathrow’s gates in 2024 (Picture: Story Picture Agency/Shutterstock)
The rules were set to change sooner, with an initial deadline of December 2022 for all UK airports to deploy the new scanners.
But when the aviation industry was hit by the impact the Covid-19 pandemic had on travel, the then Transport Secretary, Mark Harper, set the new date as June 2024.
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After a series of delays and back and forth, the Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander warned passengers last summer that they should still assume that the 100ml rule applied.
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