SEE UPDATE BELOW: Good news if you’re flying off for a beach vacation: Your full-size sunscreen can go in your carry-on, free from the 3-1-1 rule that had previously banished it to checked baggage or to a quick shopping trip on arrival.
As of last week, TSA considers sunscreen to fit into the “medically necessary liquids, gels and aerosols” that have been exempt from the rule limiting passengers to no more than 3 ounces of such substances and requiring them to be sealed in no more than a single one-quart bag.
Sunscreen is the latest addition to the list; earlier in the pandemic, TSA moved hand sanitizer out of the bag, allowing twelve ounces per passenger to keep the flight clean. Like all exempt items, the sunscreen and sanitizer are required to be announced to screeners.
The move on sunscreen follows an appeal in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology by doctors at Brown University, who argued that as the rate of sun-induced skin cancers increase it is bad public policy to make it harder for users to protect themselves with effective sunscreens.
UPDATE:
TSA isn’t changing the sunscreen rule after all. After triggering news reports around the globe, someone at TSA looked up and said, in effect, ‘that’s not right!’
In a new post from Ask TSA, the agency’s official Twitter account, it said “Our website incorrectly reported that sunscreen containers larger than 3.4 oz. were allowed in carry-on bags if medically necessary. That error has been corrected. Sunscreen in carry-on bags must be 3.4 oz. or less. Larger quantities should be placed in checked baggage.”