Airline power bank and battery rules

Key findings

• Under FAA rules, spare lithium batteries and power banks must go in carry-on bags. Up to 100 Wh is allowed, 101–160 Wh needs airline approval (two spares at most), and anything over 160 Wh is forbidden on passenger planes.

• 58 of the 59 portable power stations we track are over 160 Wh, so they can't fly in carry-on or checked bags. Only the BLUETTI Elite 10 Mini (128 Wh) falls in the 101–160 Wh band that needs airline approval.

• Of the 15 airlines whose own policy pages we could read, 12 restrict using or charging power banks in flight, and 6 ban both. Emirates allows only one power bank per passenger.

• International rules tightened in 2026. ICAO limited passengers to two power banks and banned recharging them on board from March 27, 2026, and South Korea and Japan added national limits in April 2026.

• U.S. federal rules haven't adopted the new ICAO limits; 49 CFR 175.10 was last amended in 2024. Stricter U.S. rules come from individual airlines, such as American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and JetBlue.

What are the FAA rules for power banks and lithium batteries?

Under U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and TSA rules, power banks and spare lithium-ion batteries must travel in carry-on bags, never in checked luggage. A passenger may bring spare batteries of up to 100 Wh each for personal use with no federal limit on how many. Up to two spares of 101–160 Wh are allowed with the airline's approval, and batteries over 160 Wh are forbidden on passenger aircraft. Batteries installed in devices such as laptops follow similar watt-hour limits, but the device may go in checked bags if it is switched fully off and protected.

Can you take a portable power station on a plane?

Almost never. The FAA's power station guidance says units over 160 Wh are forbidden on passenger aircraft, in carry-on and checked bags alike, and 58 of the 59 current portable power stations in our database are over that limit. Capacities run from 128 Wh to 6,144 Wh, with a median of 1,264 Wh. The exception is the BLUETTI Elite 10 Mini (128 Wh), which falls in the 101–160 Wh band: it may go in carry-on bags only with the airline's approval, and many airlines will want to see the Wh rating printed on the unit. None is 100 Wh or less, the size most airlines accept without approval. Some battery packs are sold at 99 Wh precisely so they can fly, so check the Wh figure on the label rather than the product name. If you need more power at your destination, ship a power station by ground, or buy or rent one there.

What are each airline's power bank rules?

Airlines can be stricter than the FAA, and many changed their power bank rules in 2025 and 2026 after cabin fires. 12 of the 15 airlines in this table restrict using or recharging power banks in flight. Most also require power banks to stay under the seat or on your person rather than in an overhead bin, so crew can reach one that overheats. Each airline name links to the official page we read.

"Not stated" means the airline's page doesn't address it; FAA rules still apply on U.S. flights.

We could not read the official pages of these airlines, so they are not in the table:

• Southwest Airlines: southwest.com hosts failed DNS on this machine (browser and WebFetch); public-DNS fetch returned empty JS shell; reader proxy 403. Search only showed teaser about power bank updates. Visibility rule not confirmed from official page.
• Alaska Airlines: alaskaair.com returns HTTP 406 / bot-block page to curl, WebFetch and browser; only page title retrieved ('Flying with batteries and electronics restrictions', published 2026-09-30).
• Spirit Airlines: customersupport.spirit.com and www.spirit.com did not resolve even via public DNS on 2026-10-22; contract of carriage PDF returned HTTP 502.
• Frontier Airlines: No official Frontier page found addressing power banks. Bag-options lists lithium batteries as prohibited in checked bags; smart-luggage FAQ (modified 2026-02-20) caps smart-bag batteries at 100 Wh; no power bank count or in-flight rules found.
• Hawaiian Airlines: hawaiianairlines.com (now shared Alaska/Hawaiian platform) returns HTTP 406 to all methods; only page title retrieved.

How did international power bank rules change in 2026?

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which sets the dangerous-goods rules most countries follow, added a limit of two power banks per passenger and banned recharging them on board from March 27, 2026. IATA's guidance to airlines also advises against using a power bank to charge devices during flight. Several countries went further: China (domestic flights) (from 2025-06-28), South Korea (from 2026-04-20) and Japan (from 2026-04-24). On flights to or within those countries, their rules apply in addition to your airline's.

How do you work out a power bank's watt-hours?

Watt-hours = milliamp-hours × voltage ÷ 1,000. Most power banks list their capacity in mAh at the cell voltage of 3.6 or 3.7 V, and many now print the Wh figure too. A 20,000 mAh bank at 3.7 V is 74 Wh, well under the 100 Wh limit. The largest common size, about 27,000 mAh, comes to just under 100 Wh, and that is deliberate. Airlines including Emirates now require the capacity to be printed on the power bank, so an unlabelled bank may be refused.

Can you download and reuse this data?

Yes. The main table is available as a CSV file (20 rows), and every chart on this page opens as a full-size image when you select it. Our compilation, calculations and charts are licensed CC BY 4.0: reuse them in articles, reports, slides or lessons, as long as you credit RuntimeWise and link to this page. The underlying data belongs to the sources listed below, so please credit them too.

Download the CSV

How was this data compiled?

We read each regulator's and airline's own official page on 2026-10-22: FAA PackSafe pages and posters, TSA "What can I bring" entries, the eCFR text of 49 CFR 175.10, ICAO and IATA notices, and the civil aviation authorities of China, South Korea and Japan. Every row links to the page used. Airlines whose official pages couldn't be read are listed separately and left out of the counts.

• "In-flight use limited" means the airline restricts using a power bank to charge devices, or recharging the power bank itself, during some or all of the flight.
• Rules change quickly. Check your airline's page before you fly, especially for international trips, and note that a codeshare flight follows the operating airline's rules.
• Medical devices such as portable oxygen concentrators and CPAPs have separate allowances under 49 CFR 175.10 and U.S. disability rules; ask your airline in advance.

Sources

• FAA PackSafe - Lithium Batteries
• FAA PackSafe - Airline Passengers and Batteries
• FAA PackSafe - Power Station poster (PDF)
• FAA PackSafe - Spare lithium batteries packing poster (PDF)
• TSA What Can I Bring - Power Banks
• TSA What Can I Bring - Lithium batteries with 100 watt hours or less in a device
• TSA What Can I Bring - Lithium batteries with more than 100 watt hours
• 49 CFR 175.10(a)(18) (eCFR, current as of 2026-10-20)
• 49 CFR 175.10(a)(18)(iv)
• ICAO news - New power bank restrictions (Addendum No.1 to Doc 9284, 2025-2026 ed.)
• IATA Guidance Document for Operators - Power Banks (31/03/2026)
• IATA Guidance - Passengers Travelling with Lithium Batteries (31/03/2026)
• CAAC (China) - CCC/3C power bank ban
• Korea MOLIT press release (korea.kr, 2026-04-08)
• Japan MLIT press release (2026-04-14)

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