Thousands of Jet2, Ryanair, Easyjet, TUI passengers are being stopped at security amid confusing over a hand luggage rule. Birmingham Airport is among the airports on track to installe new liquid scanners for Jet2, Ryanair, Wizz Air, British Airways, TUI and Easyjet passengers.
But around 15 per cent of passengers at Birmingham Airport are having their carry-on bags rejected over the liquid rule after Birmingham, Bristol and Liverpool John Lennon were found not to have the new scanners operational - despite installation at hubs like Aberdeen, Teesside and London City.
15 per cent of passengers at Birmingham Airport are having their carry-on bags rejected at security because they think the 100ml liquid rule has already been ditched. A spokesperson from Birmingham Airport told Travel Gossip said: "We wish to remind our customers that existing security restrictions remain in place.
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"This can be confusing to our customers and on average 15% of bags are rejected as they are not compliant with current security restrictions. For each customer, a non-compliant bag adds 10 minutes on top of their security search time."
The government initially gave airports a deadline of 1 June 2024 to install the new scanners, but it has since pushed this back to 2025. The following rules are still in force at Birmingham: liquids, pastes and gels, up to 100ml, in 20 x 20cm in resealable bags should be taken out of bags and placed in the security scanning tray and all electricals are to be removed from their cases and placed separately in the security scanning tray.
The spokesperson added: “We saw a usual busy Monday morning at Birmingham Airport with customers queuing downstairs, which is the new normal, as the upstairs queuing area has been taken out of service as we construct our new security area.
“We encountered a technical issue with our security lanes, which compounded the peak departure schedule and hindered our operation. We sincerely apologise to our customers for the level of service that they received, this is not what we aim to deliver here at Birmingham Airport.”
