Belts, jackets, laptops, and full-size liquids still have to come out of your bag at most U.S. checkpoints, even though TSA ended mandatory shoe removal in July 2025. The 3.4-ounce liquid cap and one quart-size bag rule remain in force nationwide, with no published date for changing them.
Laptops can stay in your bag only at the minority of checkpoints upgraded with computed tomography scanners — and TSA has never released a master list of which airports have them. The agency says broader screening rules are under review, but “under review” has not translated into an effective date for anything yet.
Ask a frequent flyer what changed at TSA checkpoints in 2025, and most will say the same thing: shoes stayed on. That’s true, as far as it goes — the mandatory shoes-off rule ended for most domestic passengers that July, closing out a policy that had run for nearly two decades. What often goes unsaid is that almost everything else at the checkpoint stayed exactly the same.
The Transportation Security Administration has publicly floated the idea that liquid and electronics screening sit on the same priority list that eventually produced the shoe change. But “under review” and “about to change” are not the same sentence. The agency has released nothing — no memo, no pilot timeline, no target quarter — spelling out when the rest of the checkpoint experience might catch up.
This is the gap travelers keep tripping into: assuming the shoe news signaled a broader loosening, then getting caught at a checkpoint that still wants their belt, their laptop, and their shampoo bottle in a bag.
What the July 2025 change actually covered
The July 8, 2025 announcement was narrow by design. The Homeland Security Secretary said at the time, as reported by USA Today, that TSA “will no longer mandate that passengers take off their shoes when passing through our security screening” — language describing a default, not an absolute.
Officers can still ask a traveler to remove footwear for secondary screening, and that discretion hasn’t gone anywhere.
That scanner is doing more work than most passengers realize. TSA has deployed roughly 1,200 Advanced Imaging Technology units across nearly 400 U.S. airports, and it’s that body-scanning layer — not the shoe rule itself — that made the July change possible in the first place.
The 3-1-1 rule TSA won’t put a date on
Here’s the part of the checkpoint that hasn’t moved an inch. Every liquid, gel, or aerosol in a carry-on still has to sit in a container no larger than 3.4 ounces (100 milliliters), and every container has to fit inside one quart-sized clear bag. Medically necessary liquids, breast milk, and baby formula are exempted, but only when declared and screened separately.
Powders get their own quiet rule. Anything powder-based over 12 ounces has to come out of the bag for its own pass through the X-ray, whether it’s protein mix, coffee grounds, or a jar of turmeric.
The 3-1-1 rule has been a fixture of American air travel since 2006, and TSA’s own current guidance still presents it as the operative limit.
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Spotting a CT lane before you’re standing in it
Laptops and compliant liquids get to stay in the bag at checkpoints running computed tomography scanners — the tunnel-shaped machines that build a 3D image of everything inside, instead of the flat 2D silhouette a legacy X-ray produces. The catch is that no official, current directory of those checkpoints exists.
What exists instead is a patchwork of individual airport and technology-deployment announcements. CT units have been documented at Boston Logan, JFK, Dulles, Baltimore–Washington, Reagan National, O’Hare, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, Detroit, Houston Hobby, Indianapolis, LAX, Miami, Oakland, Phoenix Sky Harbor, St. Louis, Tampa, and Atlanta, with newer installations reported at smaller fields like Baton Rouge, Bozeman, Billings, Daytona Beach, and Green Bay. That’s roughly twenty named airports out of hundreds — a start, not a system.
Practically, that means the safest habit is still to travel as if you’re at a legacy lane: laptop out, liquids bagged, until the checkpoint itself tells you otherwise.
Where U.S. rules diverge from the rest of the world
Fly out of the U.S. and land somewhere with a modern security hall, and the contrast is immediate. Several fully CT-equipped UK airports — Heathrow, Gatwick, and London Southend among them — now let passengers carry liquid containers as large as two liters and keep laptops in their bags.
Heathrow’s overhaul reportedly cost £1 billion. Other UK airports, meanwhile, still enforce the old 100 ml limit and still want laptops out — inside a single country, let alone across the Atlantic.
| Jurisdiction | Carry-on liquid container limit | Laptop/large electronics at standard lanes | Shoes at standard lanes |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States (TSA) | 3.4 oz / 100 ml per container, all in one quart-sized clear bag; medically necessary liquids may exceed limit when declared | Generally removed in legacy 2D X-ray lanes; may stay in bag at CT-equipped lanes | No longer mandatorily removed as of July 2025, but officers may still request removal for secondary screening or alarms |
| European Union framework | Individual containers of no more than 100 ml, all in one transparent one-liter resealable bag, with exemptions for medical and duty-free liquids in STEBs | Typically removed unless local CT deployment allows in-bag screening | Not universally mandated off; applied selectively by local procedures or alarms |
| United Kingdom (mixed) | 100 ml/one-liter bag at legacy airports; up to 2 liters, bag-free, at fully CT-equipped airports like Heathrow, Gatwick and Southend | Removed at legacy lanes; can stay in bag where CT upgrade is complete | Generally kept on, removed only if directed |
| Canada (CATSA) | Containers of 100 ml or less, all fitting into a single one-liter clear resealable bag | Removed in non-CT lines; CT lanes may allow in-bag screening | Typically left on unless directed or alarmed |
| Australia | Containers of 100 ml/100 g or less, one bag with sealed edges totaling no more than 80 cm | Removed unless airport-specific CT permits otherwise | Normally remain on |
| Singapore | Containers of not more than 100 ml, one one-liter bag, gate-based screening | Removed at most terminals; Terminal 4’s CT scanners generally allow laptops to stay in | Usually remain on |
| Japan | Containers not greater than 100 ml, one-liter transparent bag | Generally removed for X-ray inspection | Commonly kept on |
| UAE (Dubai) | 100 ml per container, up to 10 containers (one liter total); exemptions for medication and baby food | Removed at existing checkpoints | Belts with metal buckles, boots, and heeled shoes removed at existing checkpoints |
Canada’s CATSA, Australia’s Home Affairs Travelsecure program, Japan’s MLIT, and Singapore all still hold the line at 100 ml. That is the same number the U.S. uses, just written in metric. Dubai’s existing checkpoints still require belts, heeled shoes, boots, and laptops to come out.
Why the number is 100 milliliters almost everywhere you go
That shared number has a single origin. In August 2006, authorities disrupted a transatlantic plot in which the plan was to use ordinary-looking drink bottles to carry liquid explosives onto flights bound for the U.S. and Canada.
Governments moved from outright liquid bans to a standardized volume control within weeks, and the European Commission formalized it that October through Regulation (EC) No 1546/2006: 100 milliliters per container, one transparent one-liter bag. ICAO later confirmed the same threshold and the use of tamper-evident bags for duty-free transfers through confidential state letters.
TSA’s version, set at 3.4 ounces, is simply that same 100 ml expressed in customary units — which is why the U.S. and EU numbers have never drifted apart even as their screening technology has.
Duty-free purchases are where that shared math gets complicated for anyone connecting through the U.S. A liquid bought duty-free abroad only survives a second screening if it’s sealed inside an ICAO-compliant tamper-evident bag with visible proof of purchase. Open that bag mid-journey, or buy from an airport that doesn’t issue the right bag, and the bottle gets treated like any other over-limit liquid at the next U.S. checkpoint — confiscated, unless it can be moved into checked luggage first.
How much this actually costs travelers is easy to underestimate. TSA agents intercepted 6,678 firearms at checkpoints nationwide in 2024, and New England airports alone screened more than 33.4 million passengers and found 48 firearms, according to the Transportation Security Administration. Snow globes, of all things, remain a routine seizure — they almost always exceed the liquid cap by volume, not intent.
What this means for you
Until TSA names an effective date, pack as if nothing but the shoe rule has changed. That means liquids capped at 3.4 ounces in one clear bag, and a laptop you’re prepared to pull out unless the lane visibly says otherwise.
Look for the tunnel-shaped scanner and posted signage before assuming you can leave items in your bag — a CT lane will usually announce itself. If you’re not sure, hold your carry-on as you normally would; over-cautious beats a second trip through the belt.
For duty-free liquids connecting through the U.S., keep receipts and sealed bags intact through your entire itinerary, not just the first leg.
TSA has kept liquid and electronics screening on its list of things under review since well before the shoe change took effect. Nothing forces that review to move quickly — but it’s worth checking TSA’s own site before a trip, since any future date would likely appear there first.
Questions? Answers.
Do I still need to remove my laptop at airport security in 2026?
At most U.S. checkpoints, yes — laptops and other large electronics still have to come out of carry-on bags unless the lane has a computed tomography scanner, and TSA hasn’t published a full list of which airports have one.
Is TSA changing the 3-1-1 liquid rule?
TSA has said liquid screening policy is under review, but no document or FAQ names a timeline or effective date for raising the 3.4-ounce limit or dropping the one-quart-bag requirement.
How do I know if my airport has CT scanners?
There’s no official master list; the best approach is to look for the larger tunnel-shaped scanner and checkpoint signage on arrival, since deployment has so far been reported airport by airport rather than nationwide.
Are shoes required off at TSA checkpoints now?
No — mandatory shoe removal ended for most passengers in July 2025, though officers can still request it for secondary screening, particularly for thick-soled sandals, high heels, and steel-toed boots.
Can I bring duty-free liquids through a U.S. connection?
Only if they’re sealed in an ICAO-compliant tamper-evident bag with visible proof of purchase; an opened or improperly sealed bag will typically be treated as an ordinary over-limit liquid at the next U.S. checkpoint.
