Can I Take My Phone Charger In My Hand Luggage?
You can pack your phone charger cord and its respective plugs in your hand luggage/carry-on luggage without violating any security rules.
However, any power bank phone chargers you bring must be under 100 watt-hours and packed in your hand luggage, not checked bags.
When you’re packing for an already stressful flight, it is a pain to have to worry over where everything goes.
So, to make it a little less of a hassle, I will detail everything you need to know about flying with phone chargers and their associated devices in carry-on bags and hold luggage.
Can I Take My Phone Charger in Carry-On Luggage?
You can pack your phone charging cord, wall plug, car plug, and any other adapters in your hand luggage or checked luggage. These accessories do not contain lithium batteries, so they are not prohibited items.
The cords and plugs do not have their own power source that has a chance to explode or catch fire. Thus, airport security does not regulate phone chargers in carry-on bags or hold luggage.
Do I Need to Remove My Phone Charger from My Carry-On Bag at the Security Checkpoint?
You do not need to remove your phone charger from your carry-on bag when you go through security. You don’t even need to take out most power banks or external lithium batteries.
What you do need to take out from your carry-on bag is any electronics bigger than the average cell phone, like laptops. Thus, there is a slight possibility you need to remove your phone charger.
However, you can not bring most large power banks on flights anyways.
Can I Bring a Phone Charger Power Bank on a Plane?
If you use a bank to charge your phone or other electronic devices, you will need to be a little more careful. Also, for anyone who isn’t aware, a power bank is a charger where you plug the device directly into your phone to charge without a wall socket.
For the most part, you can bring a phone charger bank in your bag, but there are restrictions on these devices and some other electrical items.
One limitation is that you must have your portable power bank in hand luggage because there is a risk of the lithium-ion battery inside catching fire or exploding on the plane.
If you pack the battery in your checked luggage and it explodes, the flight staff can not get to the mobile charger easily. The fire might spread and cause damage to everyone’s checked luggage, as well as the plane.
Thus, you can not carry any type of lithium battery in your checked baggage at most airlines.
On the other hand, if a fire occurs in your hand luggage from a portable charger, the flight staff can get to it much easier.
So, be sure to follow the Federal Aviation Administration’s guidelines for packing phone chargers and spare batteries.
Secondly, the bank must have fewer than 100 watt-hours.
You can have power banks for electronic devices with less than 100 Wh in your hand luggage without requiring approval. But, for power bank chargers between 100 and 160 Wh, you must receive permission from the airline.
Anything with greater than 160 watt-hours is dangerous, and you must follow the law according to the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) Dangerous Goods Regulations.
You also need to pay attention to laws and rules set by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) if you are traveling in the US since they can have different rules.
Finally, security may ask you to switch your bank off when carrying it on the plane.
How Do I Find My Power Bank’s Watt-Hours?
In most cases, your bank will be within the 100 Wh limit. However, it is better to be safe than sorry because carrying a banned phone charger means security could take it from you.
With some power banks, you can see the watt-hours printed on the device. If that is not the case with your model, you should check the user’s manual if you still have it.
If you can’t use either of the options above, you can look up the power bank model because the manufacturer will likely have that information online.
In the event that you still can’t find the information, you can calculate the watt-hours of your device with other information that may be more available. You will just need the milliamp-hours (mAh) and the nominal voltage (v) of your device.
Once you know these figures, you have to divide the milliamp hours by 1,000 then multiply that number by the nominal voltage.
The formula is Wh = mAh/1000 x v.
Is There a Limit on the Number of Power Banks and Phone Chargers I can Bring?
Now that you know where your various electronics and their cords can go, it is important to know if there are any quantity limits.
Though having a ton of wires might raise some questions as well as take up space, there are no limits on the number of cords or plug adapters for regular phone chargers. Thus, you can carry as many portable chargers as you want at most big airlines.
Power banks, on the other hand, do have some more limitations. You can only have a maximum of two power bank portable chargers between 100 and 160 Wh.
More specifically, you can only have up to 8 grams of lithium-ion in non-rechargeable batteries.
Yet, there is no limitation on power bank cell phone chargers with less than 100 Wh in carry-on baggage, but you can’t put them in checked baggage.
Can I Charge Mobile Phones on the Plane?
Whether you can charge devices depends on if your plane has power sockets or a USB port near your seat. The same goes for using a laptop charger.
What About International Flights?
The short answer is there is no reason you can’t bring a charger, travel adapter, or any similar items with you on international flights. However, you should be aware that there are occasional bans on bringing laptops and certain other devices to the US from some Middle Eastern countries.
Conclusion
Most cell phone chargers, like plug-in phone chargers with a USB cable, do not have any restrictions, and you can place them in hand luggage. Yet, you may face problems if you have a functioning power bank or many items with lithium-ion batteries.
