EU killed our digital product

What’s the current law on liquids

The 100 ml (3.38 oz.) liquid restriction was first introduced in 2006 after the UK uncovered a terrorist plot involving liquid explosives. It allows passengers to bring liquids in containers no larger than 100 ml (3.38 oz.) in their carry-on bags with the inconvenience of having items confiscated if they exceeded the limit. However, recent technological advancements have been changing this system. With the installation of advanced CT scanners in some major airports passengers no longer need to remove liquids from their bags during security checks and are now being allowed to carry up to 2 litres of liquids (half a gallon), easing the previous restrictions.

The launch preparation

With liquid limits and other travel regulations across different airports being unclear, we realized there is a need for a solution to help passengers easily check these details. This led to the idea of our website, which main goal was to allow travellers to quickly find current liquid limits at any airport worldwide.

Initially, the idea seemed simple. We started by gathering data on the world’s busiest airports, using Wikipedia as a primary source. Essential data was scraped using programming tools, extracting information about the 150 most popular airports globally (you can find more about the process here). Once we had the data, we manually reviewed the liquid regulations for each airport, which was a slow, repetitive task, but critical for the site’s foundation. The next challenge was to automate the process, making sure the liquid limit information stayed up-to-date.

As we were preparing for the website’s launch, we knew building a community around it was equally important. We started engaging with people on Twitter, learning from their experiences, commenting on product launches, and becoming part of the Product Hunt community. We reached out through DMs to potential users, seeking feedback and refining the website based on their insights.

EU regulations killed our vision

Just as we thought we were ready to launch, the EU announced a major setback. European airports were being forced to reinstate the old liquid limits due to delays in implementing the new CT scanner technology. Airports like Heathrow, Frankfurt, and Madrid cancelled their plans to ease restrictions, reversing all the progress made toward more relaxed liquid regulations.

It was a huge blow. After months of research, manual work, and community-building, the idea of tracking liquid limit changes seemed pointless if every airport was stuck with the same outdated rules.

Despite the liquid limit tracking feature being temporarily paused, the website is out. It still provides a lot of valuable information for travellers, so it didn’t make sense to let all that effort go to waste. In a user-friendly format it offers Google Maps locations of airports, details on which airlines operate there, statistics on how busy each airport gets and many more.

There's also a dedicated blog filled with travel tips and hacks to make your journey easier and more enjoyable.

This is just the start. The site is open for your feedback and you can share your suggestions through forms. We wait for any updates on the liquid limits to be able to add our most valuable feature back soon. Join the journey!