The actual packing rules, which airlines now ban using them onboard, and how to buy one that won't let you down. Worth five minutes of anyone's time before their next flight.
On 10 September 2026, easyJet flight U23905 was evacuated at Milan Malpensa after a passenger's power bank overheated and began smoking while the aircraft was still taxiing. The captain declared a mayday, all 146 passengers left via the emergency slides, and two people picked up minor injuries in the evacuation itself. The airport closed for around an hour and over twenty arriving flights had to be diverted elsewhere.
It's a genuinely rare event, but it's exactly the kind of incident that makes the rules below worth actually following rather than skimming past. Lithium batteries don't need much to go wrong: a knock, a manufacturing fault, or simply age can be enough to cause what's called thermal runaway, where the battery heats up, then heats up faster, then catches fire.
None of this means don't bring a power bank, most flights with one on board are completely uneventful. It just means it's worth packing and choosing one properly, which takes two minutes.
These are the current UK CAA rules, and most airlines worldwide follow the same broad limits.
| Where it goes | Hand luggage only, never in checked or hold baggage |
| Capacity up to 100Wh | Allowed, no airline approval needed (this covers almost every power bank people actually buy, roughly up to 27,000mAh) |
| Capacity 100 to 160Wh | Allowed only with the airline's approval in advance, check before you fly |
| Capacity over 160Wh | Not allowed on board at all |
| How many | Maximum two power banks per person, unless your airline states otherwise |
| Protection | Terminals need to be individually protected when not in use, a pouch, its original box, or tape over the contacts all work |
| Charging on board | You can't recharge a power bank from the seat power supply, and in most cases you can't use it to charge another device either, see below |
Most power banks list their capacity in mAh rather than Wh. As a rough guide, Wh is roughly mAh divided by 270, so a 20,000mAh power bank works out at about 74Wh, comfortably under the 100Wh limit. Check the label on yours if it's a bigger one.
Keep it in the seat pocket or your bag under the seat in front, not in the overhead locker. Several airlines now require this, and it also means cabin crew can get to it fast if anything does go wrong.
Carrying a power bank and using one are two different things, and more airlines are now restricting the second even where the first is still fine. This list is growing quickly, so always check with your specific airline close to your flight date.
| Airline | Current position |
|---|---|
| easyJet | Use onboard not permitted, this was already the policy at the time of the Malpensa incident |
| Jet2 | Use onboard not permitted for the whole flight |
| Ryanair | Can't be used to recharge from the seat power supply, and must be kept out of the overhead locker |
| British Airways | Can't be used to recharge from the seat power supply, and must be kept out of the overhead locker |
Wizz Air, TUI and Vueling hadn't published a full onboard use ban at the time of writing, but all of them still require the same packing rules above, and the direction of travel across the industry is clearly toward more restrictions rather than fewer. If it's not on this list, don't assume it's unrestricted, check with the airline directly.
On brands, Anker, Belkin and Ugreen are generally well regarded and widely available in the UK, but "reputable brand" isn't a lifetime guarantee, check for recalls on your specific model regardless of who made it.
If yours is more than a couple of years old and you can't remember the last time you checked it over, it's worth replacing before a long haul flight rather than after something goes wrong on one.
While you're at it, have a look at what else is worth packing and what isn't.