Aussie airports to phase out 100ml carry-on limit on liquids, gels
By David Flynn, April 19 2012
Australian airports will begin lifting the 100ml restriction on packing liquids, gels and aerosol sprays in your carry-on bags from the middle of this year.
Passengers will once again be able to carry bottles of water, more sizeable cosmetics as well as wine, spirits, perfume and other toiletries without fear of them being pulled from your luggage and tossed into a bin behind the security scanning stations.
The bans will be lifted in two stages, beginning with international transit lounges from July 1st.
"Passengers transiting through Australia's international gateway airports will be able to keep their duty free items if they are cleared by the technology" a spokesman from the Department of Infrastructure and Transport told Australian Business Traveller.
"This arrangement will apply only to passengers who arrive from an overseas airport with duty free liquids contained in a sealed plastic bag and who are transiting through one of our eight major gateway airports as part of an international flight."
By early next year the advanced scanners will be "introduced at main screening points at the eight international gateway airports for all passengers departing Australia at the commencement of their international journey.
This second stage aims to permit the screening of a wider range of LAG items beyond duty free liquids." It's expected that similar technology will be introduced across the EU and other nations in 2013, leading to a global relaxation of the 100ml rule introduced in 2006 after a plot to detonate liquid explosives on several flights from the UK.
The new airport scanning equipment -- comprising multi-view explosive detection x-ray machines and bottled liquid scanners -- has already been trialled at Sydney and Melbourne airport, with staff wearing distinctive purple uniforms to highlight their presence and explain the process to passengers.
Multi-view x-ray machines can examine baggage at more than one angle, and have the ability to detect different liquids' densities. Explosives are measurably more dense than, say, water or juice.
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David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
28 Oct 2011
Total posts 645
very irresponsible caption/picture you use under the picture of the wine esky in your article!!
"don't fancy what they're serving on board? soon you'll be able to BYO wine" which implies you will be able to BYO booze to consume on an aircraft!!! TOTALLY misleading as all oz airlines (and most overseas airlines) do not allow pax to consume their own alcohol onboard due to RSA laws!! (Repsonsable Service of Alcohol)..
24 Oct 2010
Total posts 2560
Good point, I was having a little tongue-in-cheek fun there but you're right, best to keep things on the straight and narrow. Now I'll have to replace this with a more boring photo! :(
28 Oct 2011
Total posts 645
thanks David for responding/fixing the ACTUAL point/concern i was raising...
17 Feb 2012
Total posts 121
Thanks for the over-reaction, undertheradar.
10 Apr 2012
Total posts 59
Does this mean you can bring your own drink on the plane.I am asking as I am flying Air New Zealand to New Zealand just after these changes take place and it's a 600 ml soft drink I am taking on board.Thought I would ask and what about bringing your own food in this case as they unless you wish to pay with a credit card don't offer anything.
20 Jul 2011
Total posts 72
If that's your concern, undertheradar, you'd be horrified to learn that there are duty-free shops AFTER security which sell all manner of intoxicating liquor!
23 Aug 2016
Total posts 3
It is more than four years later and no word on when this will be phased out, though it was proposed for 2013. Considering most people are only bringing open bottles of drink or duty free alcohol (purchased outside the airport), there is a correspondingly low risk of a repeat of the plot a decade ago, and since then there have been numerous cases of nutters improvising on ways to get illicit substances, etc on board in clothes, prosthetics or implants. Ultimately a determined religious wingnut may get past abstract restrictions much more easily than the rest of us trying to travel in comfort rather than fear.
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