Are TSA Liquid Carry-On Restrictions Really Relaxing Soon?

We’re seeing a lot of speculation around the internet this week about whether the Transportation Security Administration is about to relax limits on the size of liquids that passengers can take through airport security checkpoints.

As you know if you’ve flown through a U.S. airport at any point during the last two decades, the TSA restricts the amount of liquids (including aerosols, gels, creams, and pastes) allowed in carry-on luggage to individual containers no bigger than 3.4 ounces (100 milliliters) per item. The little containers have to fit in one clear, quart-sized, resealable bag per passenger in order to remain among carry-on belongings.

Also known as the 3-1-1 rule, the regulation was put in place to prevent liquid explosives from being brought on planes.

But, as Frommer’s reported in 2023, airport security technology has improved in recent years. Computed tomography (CT) scanners, which provide three-dimensional images of baggage contents, give TSA agents a clearer picture of what’s in your bags, raising the possibility that passengers could someday experience again the feeling of strolling through airport security with a full-size bottle of shampoo.

The advent of CT scanners at airports overseas prompted a brief lifting of the 100-milliliter liquid limit in the United Kingdom and parts of Europe, but after rollout delays the liquid restrictions abruptly returned this summer, even at airports equipped with the newer technology.

What about the United States?

Despite internet rumors you may have encountered, don’t expect the TSA to lift its liquid limits anytime soon.

The agency has introduced a growing number of CT scanners capable of handling larger liquid sizes at airports throughout the U.S., a TSA spokesperson told Travel + Leisure back in August. But “we are anticipating that it may not be until 2040 that we have CT units fully deployed across the nation and have the capability of changing the requirement across the system.”

Until 2040.

You’ll have to hold off on tossing that full-size bottle of Pantene into your carry-on for another 15 years. That’s a long wait even by TSA standards.