Smoke, flames and passengers scrambling to help: a routine domestic flight in India turned into a mid-air emergency at the weekend when a passenger’s power bank caught fire inside an overhead bin. The fire spread to bags stored alongside it before people on board helped put it out. The IndiGo flight, which was heading from Delhi to Chennai, diverted to Hyderabad and landed safely.
It is the kind of incident that makes anyone who flies with a phone charger think twice, and it is far from a one-off. Lithium-ion cells can overheat, vent and ignite in a process known as thermal runaway, and airlines around the world have spent the past two years tightening the rules on what you can carry and use on board.
Why the overhead bin is the danger zone
The case airlines cite most often is Air Busan Flight 391, which caught fire on the ground at Gimhae airport in Busan, South Korea, in January 2025. Investigators said in March 2025 that a power bank was the likely cause, and Air Busan responded by banning power banks from overhead bins altogether.
The logic is simple. A battery in your pocket or on a tray table is seen and dealt with in seconds. One buried in a closed bin can burn unnoticed until smoke appears, which is exactly what happened on the IndiGo flight.
The rules if you fly from the US
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is clear on the basics:
- Spare lithium batteries, including power banks, must go in carry-on bags, never in checked luggage.
- Batteries up to 100 watt-hours (Wh) are allowed without approval.
- Batteries between 101 and 160Wh need your airline’s permission, and you can take no more than two.
- Anything above 160Wh is not allowed on passenger flights.
The rules if you fly from the UK
The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) applies the same international limits and has been campaigning hard on them. It has warned of the danger posed by more than 100 million incorrectly packed batteries, and its Pack Right campaign singles out power banks and vapes as the items most likely to cause trouble in the hold, where a fire cannot be reached.
Airlines are going further
Government rules set a floor, and individual airlines are adding their own. Emirates banned in-flight use of power banks from October 2025, and the Lufthansa Group, including SWISS, has also changed its rules. India’s aviation regulator banned charging devices from power banks during flights in January 2026. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the UN body that sets global aviation standards, has now adopted limits of two power banks per passenger and no charging them on board.
That means a power bank that is legal to carry may still be banned from use on your particular flight. Check your airline’s policy before you travel.
How to fly safely with a power bank
- Pack every power bank in hand luggage, and take it out of any cabin bag that gets checked at the gate.
- Check the rating. Watt-hours equal milliamp-hours multiplied by voltage, divided by 1,000, so a typical 20,000mAh bank at 3.7 volts is about 74Wh.
- Keep it on you or under the seat in front, not in the overhead bin.
- Do not charge it from the seat socket, and do not use it unless your airline allows it.
- Leave swollen, dented or very cheap unbranded power banks at home.
- If a device gets hot, smells or smokes, tell the cabin crew straight away rather than moving it yourself. Crew are trained and equipped to deal with battery fires.
Further reading
- FAA PackSafe: Lithium Batteries
- UK CAA: Regulator warns of potentially deadly threat posed by over 100 million incorrectly packed batteries
- Wikipedia: Air Busan Flight 391
Image: Mk2010, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
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