CNN
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We’ve all been there: you’re on a flight, and your cell phone battery is dwindling. You need your phone to show your boarding card, keep yourself entertained on board, and navigate your way to your destination.
For many travelers, that’s when portable battery packs or portable chargers can save the day.
Now passengers flying with Southwest Airlines will be required to keep these kinds of chargers visible, if they are using them mid-flight — a move aimed at reducing the risk of batteries causing onboard fires.
In what it called a “first-in-industry” policy, the airline confirmed to CNN that the new rule would be introduced from May 28. “Using portable charging devices while stored in a bag or overhead bin will no longer be permitted,” a spokesperson said via email.
The new Southwest rules are also online on the airline’s website: “When a portable charger/power bank is used during a flight, it must be out of any baggage and remain in plain sight. Do not charge devices in the overhead bin.”
“Nothing is more important to Southwest than the safety of its customers and employees,” the airline’s spokesperson added.
Portable power banks are powered by lithium-ion batteries and more than 600 in-flight lithium battery incidents involving smoke, fire, or extreme heat have been recorded by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the past two decades. FAA data also says there have been 22 verified incidents so far in 2025.
FAA rules currently prohibit passengers from carrying spare lithium-ion batteries, such as power banks, in their checked luggage.
Southwest’s change follows the tightening of rules on carrying lithium batteries on planes by several Asian airlines, including Thai Airways and Singapore Airlines.
A portable power bank with a lithium battery was found to be a possible source of a fire that engulfed an Air Busan plane in January while it was waiting for takeoff, South Korea’s transport ministry said in a press release. The press release cited the investigation committee and forensic services.
Investigators found “multiple electrical melting marks from the remains of a power bank,” the press release said.
South Korea subsequently introduced nationwide restrictions, banning passengers from storing power banks and e-cigarettes in overhead cabins on all of the country’s airlines. Travelers can store power banks either in the seat pocket or under the airline seat.
Meanwhile, travelers on Thai Airways cannot use power banks on flights. Singapore Airlines also prohibits passengers from using or charging power banks in-flight.
Lithium-ion batteries, which are used in power banks, are filled with materials which are highly reactive and highly flammable, according to Sonya Brown, senior lecturer in aerospace design at the University of New South Wales in Australia.
“Lithium batteries could act as an ignition source themselves, or as a source of fuel for a fire initiated elsewhere. The potential risk as an ignition source is increased when lithium batteries are damaged, swollen, include manufacturing defects, are over-charged or over-heated,” she told CNN earlier this year.
Brown also said accidental contact with other battery terminals “can cause unintended discharge” and suggests power banks and spare batteries be taped with a non-conductive material or packed separately to avoid coming into contact with other metals.
Brown also recommends passengers inspect their power banks before traveling for any signs of swelling or external damage and consider disposing of them according to local regulations if there is anything that appears unusual.
CNN’s Kathleen Magramo, Gawon Bae, Kocha Olarn and Tom Booth contributed to this report.
