What's the deal with powerbank rules on planes?
If you have traveled at all in the past couple of years you have probably noticed mixed signals about powerbanks on planes. I am quite confused by the rules as well. Small electonics like phones, tablets, nintendos, or other things like that are also confusing (do we take them out of the bag or not?)
Powerbanks aren't expensive for the most part, but I think I speak for almost anyone when I say that I would rather not have them confiscated in an airport when I don't really have any choice but to let them have it.
On several of my latest trips there were even more rules about them and it can be very confusing since these decisions seem to vary depending on who you fly with.
Let me help you out with that I know that is either universal or close-enough-to-universal that this advice should be heeded.
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The technical specification as to what TSA and other countries will even allow through security is that 27,000 mAh is the max and they have gone far enough to say that 100 watt-hours is also the max but I'll be honest and say that I don't even know what that means.
Basically, any shop that sells powerbanks is probably going to stop at that limit but it is never a bad idea to ask. If you get too close to that number you can expect increased scrutiny and even though it is stupid in this day and age, the larger (physically how much space it takes up, not its power) the bank is, the more likely some overzealous TSA agent is to flag it and perhaps take it off of you even if they are wrong.
I find that a "normal" sized PB is going to be fine and by "normal" I just mean that it is about the size or slightly larger than a mobile phone. I've never been so much as questioned about this.
There is one thing that you never should do though, regardless of the technical specifications of your bank is.
NEVER put it in your checked luggage
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This monster might get you flagged
Batteries haven't been allowed in checked bags for a long time now. You can normally get away with a electronic shaver (which i have mistakenly put in my checked bag many times) but there seems to be a powerbank witch-hunt going on at the moment so if you do put it in your checked bag the chances of it not making it to your destination is pretty high. Plus, what the hell are you even bringing your powerbank with you for if you are not going to have access to it, you dolt?
When I first started hearing about this I thought it was another one of those things like how they banned mobile phones but still allowed those seriously overpriced phones that were attached to your seat to be used. IE, a way of protecting the airline's ability to make money off of a captive audience.
However, as it turns out there was around 100 incidents of powerbanks causing fires on commercial airplanes in 2025 and while the data hasn't been released for 2026 yet, it is purported to be higher. While these fires have been relatively minor, there was a couple of incidents that necessitated the early landing of the plane and in one quite violent incident, the plane was destroyed by it.
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That can't have been fun.
Do not charge your powerbank with airplane's USB ports
Other things you need to keep in mind just to prevent you from getting treated like a child by airline staff is that while you can use your own powerbank on the plane, they will reprimand the hell out of you if you use the plane's USB slots for recharging your powerbank. This is not true for all airlines but it is true for enough of them. I feel it is pretty natural for the airline industry to overcorrect and overreact to anything that goes wrong just one time. This is why you still have to take your shoes off because a single asshole tried, unsuccessfuly, to ignite a small bomb in his shoe back in 2001. Thanks Richard Reid, you failed badly at blowing anything up but now because of you all of us have to suffer a rather silly extra screening process maybe forever.
only 2 powerbanks per person
Why? Because they said so. That's all you need to know
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Apparently, this was confiscated from a single passenger.
Honestly, what the hell are you doing with so many of these things anyway? If you are not a traveling powerbank salesman and you have more than 2 powerbanks on you, you are a weirdo.
For me, it has been rather rare that a plane I was on didn't have USB ports in the seats these days but you never know. So I can understand why a person would want to bring some extra charge with them, especially on longer flights. I can't imagine what people are going to do on their phones though, I'm yet to experience any good wifi on any plane I have been on in the past several years. Maybe that's just for the rich people.
Err on the side of caution I think is a good rule for anything involving the rigmarole that is travel on planes these days. I would imagine that they have an absolutely massive collection of abandoned powerbanks in the back of every single major airport in the world.