Another airline restricts the use of portable chargers onboard. What to know.
Emirates, the Dubai-based mega-carrier, is the latest to announce restrictions on portable battery packs in its cabins. Beginning Oct. 1, passengers will be prohibited from charging devices using external power packs, will only be allowed to bring one power bank onboard and only in their at-seat carry-on bag.
"After a comprehensive safety review, Emirates is taking a firm and proactive stance to mitigate risk when it comes to power banks onboard. There has been a significant growth in customers using power banks in recent years, resulting in an increasing number of lithium battery-related incidents onboard flights across the wider aviation industry," a statement from the airline said.
Emirates already prohibits passengers from flying with batteries in their checked luggage, and will soon also bar its customers from stowing portable power packs in the overhead bins.
A full list of the new rules for Emirates passengers is available on the carrier's website.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, there have been 43 incidents caused by lithium batteries on aircraft so far in 2025, and there were 89 such incidents in 2024.
Cruising Altitude: How to play your part in preventing fires on airplanes
Southwest Airlines announced its own restrictions on portable power packs in May. Its policy requires passengers to keep the devices visible while they're in use on its planes.
U.S. airlines already prohibit passengers from traveling with lithium batteries in their checked bags partly because it's harder to address a fire if it starts in the cargo hold, and experts say caution around electronics onboard is the right move to keep travelers safe.
'The visibility of the devices is a smart choice,' Rich Henderson, a flight attendant at a major U.S. airline and one of the authors of the Two Guys on a Plane blog, previously told USA TODAY. 'Every regulation we have in aviation comes from an incident happening. Clearly, this is something that's getting increasingly dangerous as time goes on, and more devices come onboard.'
Zach Wichter is a travel reporter and writes the Cruising Altitude column for USA TODAY. He is based in New York and you can reach him at zwichter@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why more airlines are cracking down on onboard electronics
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