Travelers will soon face restrictions on how many portable chargers they can carry on a flight as airlines continue to try to reduce the risk of another lithium battery fire aboard their jets. Southwest Airlines announced Tuesday that starting April 20, passengers will only be able to carry one portable charger on their planes, and they won't be allowed to put it in the overhead bin or in their checked luggage. The airline already requires passengers to keep their chargers in the open while they are using them, reports the AP, so flight attendants can act quickly if they start to overheat.
The new Southwest rule goes even further than the limit of two chargers per passenger that the International Civil Aviation Organization recommended last month. But the airline says it isn't going to aggressively enforce the policy by searching bags and confiscating chargers. Instead, Southwest's Vice President of Safety and Security Dave Hunt said the airline will stress this to travelers when they book their flights and arrive at the airport while explaining the potential dangers. That alone might be a big help because most people don't seem to be aware of the risks, said Jeff Marootian, who is CEO of UL Standards & Engagement, which establishes the guidelines for the makers of chargers and other electronic devices. "A huge part of the concern here is seeing that number of incidents continue to increase, correlating, of course, to the number of devices that people are bringing on planes," he said.
The Federal Aviation Administration said more lithium battery incidents are reported every year and hit 97 in 2025. Marootian said that his organization hears about two incidents every week, and reported a 42% increase in the number of incidents involving portable chargers in 2025. One of the worst happened in January 2025 when a devastating fire aboard an Air Busan plane waiting to take off from an airport in South Korea forced the evacuation of all 176 people aboard before the fire burned through the plane's roof.
Flight attendants have fire-resistant bags and insulated gloves to put overheating devices into to contain any potential blaze. Southwest's Hunt said the airline's new rule will "strengthen our ability to contain and mitigate lithium battery incidents, including reducing the risk of battery fires." To help make the rule workable for passengers, Southwest plans to equip all of its planes with in-seat power by the middle of next year.
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