Southwest Airlines will soon begin limiting the number of portable chargers and power banks that can be carried on a flight, according to an internal message obtained by the new york times.
According to the report, starting April 20, passengers will only be able to bring one portable charger with a lithium battery per person on a flight, and they will not be allowed to charge those portable chargers using in-seat power, nor will they be able to store them in overhead bins. Instead, passengers will be asked to hold their portable chargers throughout the flight or store them in a carry-on bag under their seats.
Lithium batteries power much of the technology we use in our daily lives, from phones to laptops to e-cigarettes. They are also found in portable chargers and power banks.
Most of the time they work fine, but if damaged, overcharged, or overheated, batteries can catch fire. Due to the chemicals inside these batteries, the flames they can create could be very difficult to extinguish.
Because of this risk, portable chargers were long banned from checked luggage, and airlines required passengers to place portable chargers and any other devices powered by lithium batteries inside their carry-on bags.
But still, in 2025 there were 97 incidents related to lithium batteries in aviation, and this year there have already been 14 accidents, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Most lithium battery-related aviation incidents involving smoke, fire, or extreme heat were due to portable chargers. The second biggest culprit was e-cigarettes, according to FAA data.
The most notable recent incident occurred in January 2025, when an Airbus plane caught fire on the runway of an airport in Busan, South Korea. Everyone on board had to evacuate and the fire took about an hour to extinguish. Authorities later concluded that a power bank stored in an overhead compartment may have been the culprit. A few months later, a AirChina flight He had to make an emergency landing when a lithium battery in an overhead compartment spontaneously combusted in mid-flight.
Chinese regulators have banned portable batteries on flights entirely, unless the device is clearly marked with a Chinese safety certification and has not been subject to recalls. Since then, many airlines internationally have also banned passengers from using or charging portable chargers, but Southwest is so far the only major U.S. airline to introduce an even stricter set of rules for portable chargers.
One way to protect against these spontaneous fires is to closely monitor product recalls. ankerone of the world’s leading power bank manufacturers, has issued several recalls over the past year due to potential fire risks.
