(NEXSTAR) – Southwest Airlines this week announced a new policy prohibiting the use of portable charging devices in overhead bins or closed carry-on bags.
The policy, which goes into effect later this month, was announced in response to a spate of incidents involving excessive heat, smoke or fire caused by lithium battery chargers.
“Southwest will introduce a first-in-industry Safety policy on May 28 requiring Customers to keep portable charging devices visible while in use during flight,” a spokesperson for the airline wrote in a statement shared with Nexstar. “Using portable charging devices while stored in a bag or overhead bin will no longer be permitted.”
Portable charging devices are already banned from checked bags by the Federal Aviation Administration for safety reasons. These devices — along with power banks, external batteries and all types of lithium batteries — are considered hazardous items which can “endanger the traveling public when not handled correctly,” the FAA says.
“All lithium ion batteries are capable of overheating and undergoing a process called thermal runaway,” the FAA writes. “Thermal runaway can occur without warning as a result of various factors, including if the battery is damaged, overheated, exposed to water, overcharged, or improperly packed.”
The FAA has already recorded 33 reports of incidents caused by lithium batteries (either in power banks, cell phones, laptops, tablets or e-cigarettes/vapes) on U.S. aircraft in 2025, though only 22 had been verified as of May 20. In many cases the flights continued to their destination after a member of the flight crew was able to place the malfunctioning device in a thermal containment bag, but in some cases the flights were diverted due to smoking or smoldering devices.
To mitigate such incidents, the FAA already limits the size and rating (in watt hours) of batteries allowed in carry-on bags. But Southwest is the first U.S. carrier to stipulate where battery packs can be used, to more quickly access a smoking or flaming device before it becomes a bigger problem. The announcement also follows similar policy changes implemented by overseas carriers earlier this year: AirAsia and Thai Airways, for instance, both banned the use of portable charges during flights entirely.
“These measures align with global aviation safety standards to reduce the risk of battery-related incidents during flights,” AirAsia wrote upon announcing its new policy in March.
Other major U.S. airlines, meanwhile, have yet to announce changes to their current policies regarding portable charging devices.
A representative for Southwest did not say whether passengers found to be in violation of its new restrictions would be removed from the flight or banned from future travel. But the carrier is attempting to get ahead of the issue by providing plenty of warning: Some travelers flying with Southwest may have already seen notices during the online check-in process, requesting that they keep their power banks “in plain sight” during use.
“I had no idea this was an issue,” one traveler claimed, after seeing the alert on their phone. “Blows my mind that there are people in the world who honestly thought putting their small, kinda fragile phone/tablet in a small confined space while attached to a power brick that gets hot is a good idea.”
