UK Airport Liquid Rules 2026 — Which Airports Have Lifted the 100ml Limit?

The UK's 18-year-old 100ml liquid rule has finally started to crack. As of May 2026, eight UK airports — including Heathrow, Gatwick and Birmingham — let you carry up to 2 litres per container, leave your bottles inside your cabin bag, and skip the clear plastic bag entirely. The rest of the network still runs the 2006 rule.

This guide is the current state of play, airport by airport — what's allowed where, what counts as a liquid, and what to do if your departure airport hasn't switched yet. Verified against each airport's own published rules in May 2026.

Quick answer — where the 100ml rule has been scrapped

Eight UK airports now run on new CT scanners and have lifted the 100ml limit. At these airports you can:

• Carry liquid containers of up to 2 litres each
• Bring as many containers as you like (no 1-litre bag cap)
• Leave liquids inside your cabin bag — no removal at security
• Leave laptops, tablets and electronics in the bag too
• Skip the transparent plastic bag entirely

Quick answer — where the 100ml rule still applies

At every other UK airport, the 2006 rule still stands: 100ml maximum per container, 1-litre transparent resealable bag, removed from cabin luggage at the scanner. That includes most of the budget short-haul network and the three biggest London-adjacent airports outside Heathrow and Gatwick.

Last verified May 2026. Liquid rules are set by individual airport operators under Department for Transport oversight and can change with little public notice. Always check your departure airport's own security page within 48 hours of travel.

What the new 2-litre rule actually means in practice

At the eight airports that have switched, the new rule isn't just a higher volume limit — the whole security process changes:

• Containers up to 2 litres are allowed. A full-size shampoo, a 1.5L bottle of water bought before security, a litre of perfume — all fine.
• No cap on the number of containers. Pack as many as your hand-luggage allowance lets you carry.
• Nothing comes out of the bag. Liquids, laptops, tablets, e-readers and cameras all stay inside cabin luggage.
• No transparent plastic bag. The 1-litre clear bag is no longer required.
• Vacuum flasks are the exception. Even at lifted airports, vacuum flasks must be emptied — the insulation blocks CT scanners from imaging the contents.
• Reusable water bottles must still be empty. Fill them at the airside water fountains after security.

Net effect: at Heathrow or Gatwick in 2026, the bag-of-toiletries dance is gone. Walk up to the scanner, drop your bag on the belt, walk through. For travellers from Aylesbury heading to Heathrow long-haul, that's the single biggest security change since 2006.

What still counts as a liquid (and what doesn't)

Even at airports where you can carry 2 litres, the definition of "liquid" hasn't changed. Anything that flows, pours, sprays, smears, or is gel-like falls under the rule — only the volume and packaging requirements differ by airport.

Counts as a liquid:

• Water and soft drinks
• Toothpaste
• Shampoo, conditioner, shower gel
• Hair gel, hair wax (soft form)
• Sun cream, moisturiser, body lotion
• Liquid foundation, BB cream
• Mascara, lip gloss, liquid lipstick
• Aerosols (deodorant spray, hairspray)
• Contact lens solution
• Perfume, aftershave, eau de toilette
• Yoghurt, soft cheese, hummus
• Jam, honey, peanut butter, Marmite
• Soup, sauces, salad dressing
• Mascara, gel eyeliner, foundation
• Snow globes (yes, really)

Doesn't count as a liquid:

• Solid deodorant sticks
• Solid lip balm / Chapstick
• Solid soap bars
• Pressed powder, solid foundation
• Cream perfume in solid form
• Hard cheese
• Dry food (sandwiches, biscuits, crisps)
• Hair wax in solid (hard) form

The grey area is "creamy" or "spreadable" products. At a 100ml-rule airport, if in doubt, decant into a 100ml-or-less container and put it in the bag. Security has full discretion to confiscate anything they consider a liquid, and your appeal at the conveyor belt is unlikely to succeed.

Exemptions that work at every UK airport

Whether your airport is on the 100ml rule or the 2-litre rule, the following are exempt and can exceed the standard volume — but you must declare them to security on the way through:

• Baby food and milk — enough for the journey, declared at the scanner
• Prescription medicines — bring the prescription paperwork or repeat-prescription printout
• Special dietary liquids — medical reasons, declared on arrival at security
• Airside-purchased liquids in a sealed tamper-evident bag — Duty Free liquids over 100ml are allowed through onward security if the bag is unopened with the receipt visible

Why the rollout took so long

The UK government's original deadline to scrap the 100ml rule at all major airports was June 2024. The deadline came and went. CT scanners — which produce 3D images and let officers see inside containers — had been installed at several airports including London City and Birmingham, but in summer 2024 the Department for Transport asked those airports to revert to the 100ml rule "to harmonise rules during the staged rollout." Travellers turning up to one airport expecting 2-litre rules and then encountering 100ml rules at their connecting hub had created more confusion than the relaxed rules had solved.

The breakthrough came in January 2026 when Heathrow completed a £1bn scanner upgrade across all five terminals and was permitted to operate the relaxed rules. Gatwick, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Bristol, Belfast International, Belfast City and Bournemouth followed within months. Stansted, Manchester and Luton are next in the queue but no firm completion dates have been published.

Practical packing for 2026

For travellers from Aylesbury and the surrounding Buckinghamshire towns, the airport you're flying from now matters more than ever — your packing strategy depends on it.

Flying from Heathrow, Gatwick or Birmingham:

• Pack as you would for a road trip — full-size shampoo, a litre of water, all of it
• No need to decant; no need to find the clear plastic bag
• Empty vacuum flasks before leaving home
• Refillable water bottles still need to be empty at the scanner

Flying from Luton, Stansted, Manchester or any regional UK airport:

• Stick to 100ml containers in a 1-litre transparent bag
• Decant into 100ml refillable silicone bottles (Muji and Decathlon sell decent sets under £10)
• Switch to solid where possible — shampoo bars, solid deodorant, solid sunscreen sticks — none of these count toward the bag
• Pack the 1L bag at the top of your cabin luggage so you can grab it at the scanner
• If you have prescription liquids over 100ml, bring the prescription paperwork

What to do if you're not sure which rule your airport runs

The list above is verified to May 2026, but airport rules can revert with little notice. The default safe approach when uncertain:

• Pack as if the 100ml rule applies — it'll always be allowed, even at lifted airports
• Check your departure airport's own security page within 48 hours of travel
• If transferring through a second UK airport, the connecting airport's rules apply for any new liquids you buy airside
• At a lifted airport with a transferring connection at a 100ml airport, your duty-free liquids over 100ml will not be allowed onto the connecting flight unless they're in a sealed STEB bag with receipt

Getting to your airport with margin for security

Even at the airports that have scrapped the bag, summer security queues can still be long — the new scanners are faster per traveller but the overall throughput hasn't doubled. The best fix isn't a packing trick; it's leaving with proper margin.

For travellers from Aylesbury we book a door-to-terminal taxi with a pickup time that puts you at the airport 2 hours before short-haul and 2.5 hours before long-haul. The driver tracks your flight, the £7 Heathrow drop-off charge is included in the quote, and there's no parking shuttle on the way in. That's enough margin for the worst-case security queue without rushing.

Bottom line

Eight UK airports have finally moved on from the 2006 liquids rule. If you're flying from Heathrow, Gatwick, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Bristol, Belfast International, Belfast City or Bournemouth, you can pack normally — 2 litres per container, no bag-of-toiletries, nothing out of the cabin bag. If you're flying from Luton, Manchester, Stansted or any other UK airport, the 100ml rule still applies in full. The DfT line is that the rollout will continue through 2026 and beyond, but specific dates for the remaining airports haven't been published — verify your departure airport within 48 hours of travel.

Last verified: May 2026.

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