TSA teases ending liquid restrictions in carry-ons just one week after eliminating shoes-off rule
There are more possible changes afoot for airport security, as the TSA could be revising one of the key policies.
We all know the rules are there to keep us safe and to make traveling more secure for everyone, but sometimes it's undeniably a pain, so anything that can streamline the process can only be a good thing.
Just weeks after another huge update was made, meaning you will no longer have to take off your shoes at the airport, there could be another amendment which many people will be happy about.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem teased the potential TSA revision at the Hill Nation Summit yesterday, July 16.
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Nothing has been set in stone yet, but if this revision goes through it could mean shorter queues and also less worry about what to pack in your hand luggage.
It's all to do with the carry-on liquids policy.
“I will tell you — I mean the liquids — I’m questioning. So that may be the next big announcement is what size your liquids need to be,” she told NewsNation host Blake Burman.
"We’re looking at, you know, our scanners.”
She talked about her hopes for the future of air travel.
“Hopefully the future of an airport where I’m looking to go is that you walk in the door with your carry-on suitcase, you walk through a scanner and go right to your flight,” Noem said.
She hopes it'll cut down the time, saying in an ideal world it would take 'one' minute to get to a gate.
The current rule around liquids in hand luggage applies to all liquids, aerosols, gels, creams and pastes, and you are allowed to fill one quart-sized bag with containers of liquid measuring up to 3.4 ounces.
Any items larger than that would need to go into your checked luggage.
Noem said she is 'working with several different companies with technologies to give us competitive bids on what they actually do. You will see us pilot this at a couple of airports before it gets implemented nationwide'.
However, safety still comes first above everything else, as she stressed they use a 'multi-layered screening process that allows us to change some of how we do security and screening so it is still safe'.
“It is still a process that is protecting people who are traveling on our airlines. But it has to make sense,” she added.
“It has to actually do something to make you safer.”
In case you're traveling next week, don't get your hopes up that it'll be an immediate change.
“It’s not certainly anything we’ll be announcing in the next week or two, but we're working to see what we can do to make the traveling experience much better and more hospitable for individuals, but also still keep safety standards,” Noem finished.
The liquids rule has already been relaxed at some airports in the United Kingdom in recent months, with Birmingham and Edinburgh airports allowing passengers to carry up to 2 litres, while several other UK airports use new scanners which mean the liquids can remain in the bag.
Jen Thomas