Portugal Flyers Confront Mixed EU Rules on Liquids and Carry-Ons

Passengers flying from Portugal this autumn are discovering that the familiar airport routine has been quietly rewritten. Liquids that were once confiscated may now slide through security, while cabin bags that fit on one carrier are suddenly too large for another. The European Union is rolling out new technology and legislation to simplify travel, yet the patchwork speed of that rollout is producing the opposite effect: confusion at the checkpoint.

Why flying out of Portugal feels like a lottery right now

Even seasoned travellers departing from Lisbon, Porto or Faro report wildly different experiences. Some sail through with laptops and toiletries untouched thanks to next-generation CT scanners, others are still ordered to decant shampoo into 100 ml containers. The root cause is an uneven installation schedule: Brussels has financed roughly 700 scanners across 21 Member States, but only a fraction are active in Portugal and no official date has been set for nationwide coverage. Until every lane is upgraded, the old and new regimes will coexist—sometimes in adjacent security lines—leaving passengers to guess which rules apply.

The long goodbye to the 100 ml rule

The notorious liquids cap is not being scrapped overnight. Airports equipped with certified C3 machines, such as Madrid-Barajas or Amsterdam-Schiphol, already allow bottles up to 2 litres to remain inside carry-on luggage. In Lisbon, a limited number of these scanners were spotted in early 2024, but the 100 ml limit still re-emerges whenever travellers are diverted to older lanes or when EU regulators demand fresh safety audits. As of late 2025, only equipment manufactured by Smiths Detection has cleared Brussels’ recertification process; terminals using rival brands must keep the stricter threshold. The European Commission insists that each airport—not the EU—must alert passengers to the current rule set before they fly, a policy critics describe as “security by surprise.”

Carry-on politics in Brussels

Parallel to the technology debate, lawmakers are wrangling over how much hand luggage should be free of charge. The European Parliament wants every ticket to include one personal item measuring 40×30×15 cm plus a small cabin bag up to 7 kg and 100 cm in girth. They cite a 2014 Court of Justice ruling that labelled hand-luggage fees illegal when the bag is “reasonable” in size. Transport ministers, however, prefer a softer approach that leaves room for airlines to monetise larger trolleys. Final plenary voting has slipped into 2026, meaning this Christmas season will still be governed by a mosaic of company-specific policies.

Low-cost airlines brace for impact

No sector feels the heat more than the budget carriers whose business model leans on ancillary revenue. Ryanair has already tweaked its free allowance to 40×30×20 cm, hoping to pre-empt stricter EU rules without sacrificing sales of priority boarding. EasyJet signals a similar reset, while the lobby group Airlines for Europe warns that banning cabin-bag fees could push base fares higher. Regulators counter that hidden surcharges harm consumers and distort competition; Spain proved the point in 2024 by fining five low-cost airlines €179 M for what it called “abusive luggage practices.”

What to expect at Lisbon, Porto and Faro

Humberto Delgado Airport is Portugal’s test bed: several departure lanes now feature C3 scanners that let passengers keep liquids, laptops and pastéis de nata inside their bags. Yet staff can switch back to legacy equipment without notice if technical issues arise. Porto’s Sá Carneiro hopes to activate its first CT units during 2025, but officials have not released a calendar. Faro still posts the classic rule—liquids in transparent 1-litre bags—on its website, signalling that southern holidaymakers should keep plastic sachets handy for now. Travellers connecting through multiple airports should follow the stricter set of regulations to avoid surprises during layovers.

How to stay one step ahead

For Portuguese residents planning winter getaways, the safest strategy is redundancy: pack liquids under 100 ml unless your departure airport guarantees CT coverage, verify the exact cabin-bag dimensions printed on your booking, and monitor both airline and airport alerts up to the morning of travel. The EU promises a future of faster queues and clearer rights, but until every scanner is humming and every law is inked, the smartest carry-on is a dose of flexibility.