Spain Airport Liquid Rules 2026: Is 100ml Still the Limit?

HealthPlan Spain team · Reviewed by Sean Guy, authorised Sanitas agent · 12 min read · Updated November 2026

The 100 ml limit still applies at every Spanish airport. New 3D scanners at Madrid-Barajas, Barcelona-El Prat and Palma de Mallorca let you leave your liquids and laptop inside your bag at certain security lanes, but each container must still hold 100 ml or less. Everywhere else in Spain, liquids come out in a clear 1-litre bag and laptops go in a separate tray. This guide explains what the new scanners change, airport by airport, and what to watch for on the way home.

NEW SCANNER LANES

Liquids and laptop stay in your bag

Liquids still in containers of 100 ml or less
Your liquids bag stays inside your case
Laptops and tablets stay in your bag

ALL OTHER LANES

The usual routine

Max 100 ml per container
All liquids in one clear 1-litre bag, out of your case
Laptops and tablets out in a separate tray

New lanes nowMadrid-Barajas T4 and the T2 and T4 Fast Track · Barcelona-El Prat T1 Fast Track · Palma de Mallorca

2027 to 2031Málaga · Alicante-Elche · Gran Canaria · Tenerife Sur · Tenerife Norte · Lanzarote · Fuerteventura · La Palma · Valencia

No date yetIbiza · Menorca · Bilbao · Sevilla · every other Spanish airport

No Spanish airport accepts liquid containers over 100 ml in hand luggage, except medicines, baby food, special diets and sealed duty free (November 2026).

Is the 100 ml rule still in force in Spain?

Yes. Aena, which runs Spain’s main airports, still sets the same rule on its passenger pages for the whole network: liquids, gels, creams and aerosols in individual containers of no more than 100 ml, all inside one transparent, resealable plastic bag of up to 1 litre, one bag per passenger, children included. A container larger than 100 ml is refused even if it is only partly full.

The rule dates from 6 November 2006, when the European Union brought it in after a plot to bring down transatlantic flights with liquid explosives. Twenty years later it still applies at every Spanish airport. What has changed at a few security lanes is how you are screened, not how much you can carry.

What the new scanners change, and what they do not

The new machines are computed tomography scanners, known in the industry as EDSCB (Explosive Detection Systems for Cabin Baggage). They build a 3D image of your bag, so security staff can check liquids and electronics without you unpacking them. At a lane with these scanners:

your liquids bag can stay inside your case or rucksack;
your laptop, tablet and other large electronics can stay in your bag;
every liquid container must still hold 100 ml or less.

Aena’s passenger rules make no exception for the new lanes: every liquid container must still hold 100 ml or less, and no date has been announced for any change. Pack your liquids in a clear 1-litre bag either way: at a new lane it stays in your case, and at any other lane it comes straight out.

Spanish airports, one by one

The new lanes are only at three airports, and not at every checkpoint in them. The table shows the position in November 2026.

Airport	New scanner lanes	Liquids limit
Madrid-Barajas	T4 central security filter on floor +2 (fully open since the end of July 2026) and the T2 and T4 Fast Track. At other Madrid checkpoints, expect to unpack.	100 ml per container
Barcelona-El Prat	T1 Fast Track on floor 3. More scanner lanes come with the Terminal 2 works planned for 2027 to 2031.	100 ml per container
Palma de Mallorca	The security control in the check-in hall, in use since November 2024.	100 ml per container, no date for any change
Málaga-Costa del Sol	None. A larger security area is planned for 2027 to 2031.	100 ml per container
Alicante-Elche	None. An enlarged security filter with the new scanners is planned for 2027 to 2031.	100 ml per container
Canary Islands (Gran Canaria, Tenerife Sur, Tenerife Norte, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, La Palma)	None. New security controls arrive progressively from 2027 to 2031.	100 ml per container
Valencia	None. A new security control with the new scanners is planned for 2027 to 2031.	100 ml per container
Ibiza	None. The new scanners come with a remodel of the terminal, with no date announced.	100 ml per container
Menorca, Bilbao, Sevilla and all other airports	None, and no date announced.	100 ml per container

You may read that Valencia, Ibiza, Sevilla, Bilbao and other airports have new scanners. The ones in service there today are for checked luggage in the hold, and they change nothing at the security check for your hand luggage. The new hand-luggage scanners are planned for Valencia from 2027 to 2031, and for Ibiza as part of its terminal remodel.

Why other European airports allow 2 litres

In 2022 and 2023 several European airports used early versions of the new scanners to allow larger containers. From 1 September 2024, under a regulation the European Commission adopted on 29 July 2024, every one of those machines at EU airports had to go back to 100 ml because of what the Commission called a temporary technical issue with their detection performance. It stressed that there was no new threat behind it.

In July 2025 the European Civil Aviation Conference cleared one scanner and software combination, the Smiths Detection HI-SCAN 6040 CTiX with an updated detection algorithm, to screen containers of up to 2 litres. Airports that use it may choose to allow 2 litres; all other scanners stay at 100 ml. A Commission decision published on 3 November 2026, in force from 23 November 2026, confirms that position. Spain has not adopted the 2-litre allowance at any airport.

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Flying home: where 2 litres is allowed and where it is not

The rules depend on the airport you are leaving from, so a trip between Spain and the UK can mean two different rules. In November 2026:

2 litres per container, liquids stay in the bag: London Heathrow (Terminals 2 to 5), London Gatwick, Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Belfast International and Belfast City; Dublin (since 18 September 2025); Rome Fiumicino (Terminals 1 and 3, except flights to the United States and Israel) and Milan Linate and Malpensa Terminal 1; the scanner lanes at Frankfurt and Munich. At the scanner lanes of Berlin Brandenburg the limit is 2 litres per person in total.
Still 100 ml: every Spanish airport; Manchester, London Stansted, London Luton, Glasgow, Newcastle, Liverpool and London City, although many of these let 100 ml liquids stay in your bag with no plastic bag; and most other European airports, including Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels and Lisbon.

Even where 2 litres is allowed, that is the limit per container: a larger bottle is refused even if it is not full, and UK airports with the new scanners ask you to empty metal or insulated bottles before security.

The return-trip trap. A 2-litre bottle that goes through security at Heathrow or Dublin on the way out will be taken from you at any Spanish airport on the way back, unless it is an exempt medicine, baby food or special diet. Duty free bought on the way out does not help either: its sealed bag only covers the journey to your destination, so for the flight home buy after security in Spain or pack the bottle in checked luggage. Pack your hand luggage for the strictest airport on your route, which on a flight home from Spain means 100 ml.

Connections and duty free

Connecting flights: you follow the rules of every checkpoint you pass. At Heathrow all connecting passengers go through security again. Frankfurt keeps the 100 ml rule and the 1-litre bag at its transfer checkpoints, at gates C1, C2, C4 and C6 and at certain special checkpoints in Terminal 1, even though most other checkpoints in Terminal 1 and all checkpoints in Terminal 3 allow 2 litres.
Duty free: liquids bought after security stay legal on board as long as they remain in the sealed security bag with the receipt inside, unopened until your final destination. At a connecting airport, security may open the bag and should re-seal it, so tell the officer you have a connection.
Connecting in the UK: UK guidance warns that duty free bought at airports outside the UK may be refused at a UK transfer search. Manchester and Stansted accept bags bought elsewhere only if the receipt shows the purchase was made in the last 24 hours.

Medicines, baby food and special diets

Liquid medicines, special dietary products and baby food are exempt from the 100 ml limit at Spanish airports. For liquid medicines you can carry the amount you need for the outbound flight, your stay and the return flight; baby food and special diets are exempt in the amount you need for the journey. Aena asks you to bring the prescription or proof of the condition whenever possible and to present these items separately, outside your liquids bag, as security may check that they are genuine.

The UK rules are close but not identical. Proof such as a doctor’s letter or a copy of the prescription is needed for a medicine that is both liquid and over 100 ml. Baby formula, baby food and sterilised water are allowed only when the baby is travelling with you. Breast milk may be carried without the baby, in containers of up to 2 litres each, but frozen breast milk cannot go in hand luggage. If you are bringing prescription medicines to live in Spain, our guide to bringing medication into Spain covers how much you can bring and how to get it prescribed here.

Before you fly from a Spanish airport

Decant toiletries into containers of 100 ml or less, with the size printed on them.
Put them all in one clear, resealable bag of about 20 x 20 cm, which holds 1 litre.
Keep the bag and your laptop at the top of your bag, ready to come out at a standard lane.
Pack larger bottles, such as wine, olive oil or full-size shampoo, in checked luggage.
Carry medicines in their original packaging with the prescription.
Buy drinks after security, or carry duty free in its sealed bag.
If you fly out from a 2-litre airport, check what you can bring back before you buy or pack anything larger.

Cabin bag size and fees: a separate change

The liquids rule is about security. What you pay for a cabin bag is a different question, and EU rules on it are changing.

Regulation (EU) 2026/2202, published on 2 October 2026, will apply from 23 October 2027. From then, on every flight leaving an EU airport, and on EU airlines flying into the EU from outside it, including from the UK, the airline must let you bring a personal item of up to 40 x 30 x 15 cm, or one that fits under the seat in front, at no extra cost. Airlines must also allow a larger cabin bag, space permitting, but they can still charge for it. The European Parliament’s call for a free 7 kg cabin bag was dropped from the final text.

In Spain, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs fined Ryanair, Vueling, easyJet, Norwegian and Volotea a total of about €179 million in November 2024, partly for charging for hand luggage. The High Court of Justice of Madrid has suspended the fines on Ryanair, Vueling, easyJet and Norwegian while it decides their appeals, so these airlines still charge for larger cabin bags. In October 2025 the European Commission told Spain that its national ban on cabin-bag charges conflicts with EU rules on airline pricing, and a Spanish court has referred the question to the EU Court of Justice.

The free under-seat bag today is 40 x 30 x 20 cm on Ryanair and on every Vueling fare, and 45 x 36 x 20 cm, up to 15 kg, on easyJet. A bigger overhead-locker bag comes with Vueling’s higher fares and is a paid extra on Ryanair and easyJet. The liquids rule is the same whichever bag you bring.

Travel with health cover that goes with you

Airports are where small health problems become big ones: a missed dose, a fall on the way to the gate, an illness that starts the day before you fly. Most Sanitas plans include emergency travel assistance when you are abroad, for example up to €12,000 per person per year on trips of up to 90 days on the Mas Salud range, alongside full private cover at home in Spain. See our Sanitas health insurance plans here.

Sources

Frequently asked questions

Has Spain scrapped the 100ml liquid rule?

No. In November 2026 every Spanish airport still limits liquids in hand luggage to containers of 100 ml or less, in one clear resealable bag of up to 1 litre. The new scanners at Madrid-Barajas, Barcelona-El Prat and Palma de Mallorca only let you leave your liquids and laptop inside your bag at certain lanes. Medicines, baby food and special diets are exempt from the limit.

Do I still need a clear plastic bag at Spanish airports?

Yes. Aena asks for one transparent, resealable bag of up to 1 litre per passenger, about 20 x 20 cm. At the new scanner lanes in Madrid, Barcelona and Palma the bag can stay inside your case; at every other lane it comes out for screening.

Do I have to take my laptop out at Spanish airports?

At the Madrid-Barajas Terminal 4 central security filter, the Madrid Terminal 2 and Terminal 4 Fast Track, the Barcelona-El Prat Terminal 1 Fast Track and the Palma de Mallorca security control, no: laptops and tablets stay in your bag. At every other Spanish checkpoint they go in a separate tray.

Can I bring a 2-litre bottle from Heathrow back through a Spanish airport?

No. Heathrow, Gatwick, Dublin and some other airports allow containers of up to 2 litres, but Spanish airports do not. A bottle over 100 ml will be taken at security on your way home unless it is an exempt medicine, baby food or special diet. Pack it in checked luggage, or buy it after security in Spain.

Are medicines and baby food exempt from the 100ml limit in Spain?

Yes. Liquid medicines are allowed in the amount you need for the outbound flight, your stay and the return, and baby food and special diets in the amount you need for the journey. Bring the prescription or proof where you can and present these items separately at security.

When will Spanish airports allow larger liquids?

No date has been set. The new scanner lanes in Madrid, Barcelona and Palma still apply the 100 ml limit, and the new scanners reach Málaga, Alicante, Valencia and the Canary Islands between 2027 and 2031.

Hand Luggage Liquid Rules at Spanish Airports: What the New Scanners Change