If you have flown recently and reached for your power bank mid-flight, you may have been told to put it away. That is not a cabin crew member being difficult. The rules genuinely changed, and most travellers have not caught up.
On 27 March 2026, new restrictions on power banks took effect internationally. They came from ICAO, the UN body that sets global aviation standards, and they apply across its member states rather than to one airline or one country.
Here is what actually changed, what the rules say precisely, and how to work out whether the power bank in your bag is still allowed.
1. The Short Answer
| Rule | What it means |
|---|---|
| Maximum two power banks | Per passenger, in the cabin |
| Carry-on only | Never in checked baggage |
| No recharging on board | You cannot plug the power bank into the aircraft |
| Keep it accessible | On you, in the seat pocket, or under the seat — not the overhead bin |
| Up to 100Wh | Fine, no approval needed |
| 100–160Wh | Requires the airline's approval before you fly |
| Over 160Wh | Banned from passenger aircraft |
| Protect the terminals | Individually protected when not in use |
The single change that catches people out is the charging ban. Everything else is a tightening of rules that already existed.
2. What Precisely Changed
Two things are worth separating, because most coverage blurs them.
Recharging the power bank itself is prohibited. The UK Civil Aviation Authority wording is unambiguous: a power bank must not be recharged on board the aircraft. So plugging your battery into the seat USB socket to top it up is out.
Using a power bank to charge your phone is worded more softly. The CAA says power banks should not be used to charge other devices on board. "Should not" is guidance rather than prohibition, which is why practice varies — some airlines ban it outright and announce it, others say nothing.
The practical takeaway: charge everything before you board, and treat in-flight power bank use as something your specific airline may or may not allow.
The two-per-passenger cap and the requirement to keep power banks accessible rather than in the overhead bin are both new. The reasoning behind the accessibility rule is blunt — if a battery starts smoking, crew need to reach it in seconds, and a bin above your head is the worst possible place for that.
3. Watt-Hours: The Number That Actually Counts
Here is the gap that trips people up. The rules are written in watt-hours (Wh). Power banks are marketed in milliamp-hours (mAh). They are not the same unit and you cannot compare them directly.
The conversion: divide the mAh figure by 1,000, then multiply by the voltage.
Most lithium power bank cells run at a nominal 3.6V or 3.7V. So:
| Capacity | Approx. watt-hours | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 5,000 mAh | ~18 Wh | Fine |
| 10,000 mAh | ~37 Wh | Fine |
| 20,000 mAh | ~74 Wh | Fine |
| 26,800 mAh | ~99 Wh | Fine, just under |
| 30,000 mAh | ~111 Wh | Airline approval needed |
| 50,000 mAh | ~185 Wh | Banned |
The practical ceiling for the no-approval tier is roughly 27,000mAh. Below that and you almost certainly never need to think about it.
Check the casing first. Most power banks print the Wh rating in small text near the model number. If it is printed, that is the figure that counts and you do not need to do any maths. If only mAh is shown, use the conversion above and assume 3.7V.
Where this genuinely matters is camera batteries, drone batteries, and portable laptop chargers — those routinely cross 100Wh, and that is the category needing written approval from the airline in advance.
4. Why the Rules Tightened
Lithium battery incidents on aircraft have been rising. The FAA alone recorded 38 incidents in the US by June 2025, and the trend through 2024 and 2025 is what pushed regulators toward a coordinated standard rather than a patchwork of airline policies.
A lithium battery in thermal runaway does not behave like a normal fire. It generates its own oxygen, reignites after being extinguished, and burns hot enough to be dangerous in a confined cabin. That is why the rules focus so heavily on where the battery is rather than just how big it is — a battery someone can physically reach is a manageable problem, and one in the hold is not.
5. What Your Airline Adds on Top
The ICAO rules are the floor, not the ceiling. Individual carriers layer their own conditions on top, and several have gone further than the global minimum after their own incidents.
Things airlines vary on:
- Whether you may use a power bank to charge devices in flight
- Whether power banks must be visible rather than merely accessible
- The process for approving a 100–160Wh battery, and how far in advance
- Announcements and enforcement at boarding
Check your specific airline dangerous goods page before you fly, particularly if you carry anything above 100Wh. Approval for those is not something you can arrange at the gate.
6. What This Means for How You Pack
Four practical changes:
Charge everything the night before. This is now the main defence. If you land with a dead phone because you assumed you could top up mid-flight, that is a self-inflicted problem under the new rules.
Move power banks out of the checked bag, permanently. If you have been putting a spare battery in the hold, stop. This was already prohibited and is now enforced more visibly.
Count them. Two is the cap. A power bank, a battery case, and a spare camera battery may add up faster than you expect — spare lithium batteries generally fall under the same restrictions.
Pack them where you can reach them. Seat pocket, under the seat, or on you. Not the overhead bin. In practice this means your power bank belongs in the personal item you keep at your feet, not the cabin bag that might get gate-checked.
That last point matters more than it sounds. If your bag is gate-checked on a full flight and there is a power bank in it, you have accidentally put a prohibited item in the hold. Our long-haul flight checklist covers what else belongs in the bag that never leaves your side.
7. At the Airport
- Security: power banks go through the scanner in your carry-on. They are not liquids and have no volume limit beyond the Wh rules.
- Boarding: some airlines now announce battery rules with the safety briefing. Assume they mean it.
- If challenged: the Wh rating printed on the casing is your evidence. A battery with no legible rating is the one most likely to be refused, because staff have no way to assess it.
- Unbranded and unlabelled banks are the highest-risk category for confiscation. If yours has no markings at all, expect friction.
8. Quick Self-Check Before You Fly
- Find the Wh rating on each power bank. No rating? Convert from mAh at 3.7V.
- Anything over 100Wh — get written approval from the airline, or leave it.
- Anything over 160Wh — it is not flying. Ship it or leave it.
- Count your total. Two maximum.
- Move all of them into the bag that stays at your feet.
- Charge everything fully the night before.
Six steps, five minutes, and it removes the entire category of problem.
9. Building This Into Your Packing List
Rules like these are exactly what a checklist is for, because they are easy to know and easy to forget at 5 a.m. with a taxi waiting.
In PackPilot, electronics get assigned to bags like anything else, and bag compliance warnings flag restricted items when you put them somewhere they should not go — a power bank assigned to a checked bag raises the warning while you are still at home, rather than at a check-in desk. The carry-on packing guide covers how the bag split works in practice, and the business trip list has more on travelling with a full tech kit.
Because everything works offline, the list is there when you are repacking at the gate — which, given these rules, is exactly when you might need it.
10. A Note on These Rules
The restrictions described here took effect 27 March 2026 and are sourced from the UK Civil Aviation Authority and ICAO, checked in August 2026.
Aviation rules change, national regulators implement them at different speeds, and individual airlines add their own conditions. Check your airline and your departure country regulator before you fly if anything here is the deciding factor for what you pack.
Related Travel Guides
- The Essential Packing Checklist for Long-Haul Flights and International Travel
- How to Pack Light: The Ultimate Carry-On Only Travel Checklist
- Business Trip Packing List: What to Pack for a 3-5 Day Work Trip
- Expert Travel Packing Guides & Checklists
- PackPilot AI Travel Checklist App
Frequently Asked Questions
Two per passenger. Rules that took effect on 27 March 2026 cap passengers at a maximum of two power banks, and they must travel in carry-on baggage. This came from ICAO, the UN aviation body, and applies across its 193 member states, so it is a global standard rather than one airline policy.
No. Recharging a power bank on board is now prohibited outright. The UK Civil Aviation Authority states power banks must not be recharged on the aircraft. Guidance on using a power bank to charge other devices is worded more softly — the CAA says they should not be used that way — so some airlines permit it and others do not. Assume no and charge before you fly.
Up to 100Wh needs no approval. Between 100Wh and 160Wh you need explicit approval from the airline before you fly. Above 160Wh is banned from passenger aircraft entirely. Most consumer power banks fall well under 100Wh, so the limit rarely bites unless you carry camera, drone or laptop batteries.
Divide the mAh figure by 1,000 and multiply by the voltage. Most power bank cells are 3.6V or 3.7V, so a 20,000mAh bank is roughly 74Wh. The practical ceiling for the no-approval tier is about 27,000mAh. Many power banks print the Wh rating on the casing in small text, which is the number that actually counts.
No, and this predates the 2026 change. Power banks and spare lithium batteries have long been prohibited in checked baggage because a fire in the hold cannot be reached by the crew. They must be in the cabin with you, and under the new rules kept accessible rather than stowed in an overhead bin.
Yes. PackPilot includes bag compliance warnings, so when you assign a power bank or spare batteries to a checked bag it flags the restriction rather than letting you find out at the airport. Because it works offline, the warning is there when you are packing at home and when you are repacking at the gate.