Liquids in carry-on baggage, turnaround. The need for separate screening returns
If post-pandemic you happened to pass through Linate airport (as well as Malpensa and Fiumicino airports) [...]
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If post pandemic you happened to pass through Linate airport. (as well as at Malpensa and Fiumicino) you may have noticed that at security checkpoints you no longer need to remove liquids and computers from your carry-on luggage.
In this article:
Result: quite a lot of time saved and thousands of water bottles (almost full if not completely full) that avoid ending up in trash cans.
The best bonuses
This is made possible by the Explosive Detection System.: these are state-of-the-art equipment that, thanks to an X-ray scanner, are able to take a true CT scan of backpacks and trolleys, thus reproducing a 3D image of everything inside.
Well, for the past few days there has been a "return to the past": At Malpensa airport, checkpoint attendants have started asking passengers to take liquids out of their luggage again.
It is a Temporary about-face, due to an operational limitation of this equipment which struggle to scan liquids (larger than 330ml in size) found inside luggage and trolleys among other objects.
In a nutshell. Whether you are carrying a water bottle or a bottle larger than the classic soda can in your carry-on luggage one will be forced to remove it from the carry-on and pass it separately.
We also heard from Aeroporti di Roma, which has the same technology at Fiumicino, and again they are hoping for a quick upgrade of the machinery: "Our idea is to continue to have nothing removed, and in case the attendant identifies a situation where it is necessary to do the secondary check, we will ask the passenger to open the backpack and retest the liquid in question."
With these machines, security operations have become so much faster and now it is back to the past, not a tragedy because unfortunately few airports still have this technology, but still an extra hassle for all passengers.