Virgin and Qantas to ban use of portable power banks after string of fires
38 comments
·November 20, 2025polishdude20
I would use a battery pack less if the outlets on the planes actually worked! On my last 4 flights I've had outlets completely disabled.
zamadatix
Or make the seatback USB solution a bit more modular and update it every 5 years. Nobody is bringing a toaster on board, they just need something more than a 5 Watt USB A port for their devices.
jballer
You have to look up the maximum wattage for the given cabin configuration. I’ve found 30W to be about as high as I can go without it cutting out. Use a phone charger for your laptop.
This is where it’s helpful to have a multi-port charger where they’re not all high-draw.
IMO more important to go with something flat or light that won’t fall out under its own weight.
jtokoph
And when they do work, my North American two prong plug falls right out half of the time.
trollbridge
A trick (on U.S. airlines) is to plug in an overseas adapter (British style plugs seem to work pretty well for this purpose), since those prongs see far less use and still grip well.
dylan604
That just sounds like another way of not working. Even if there is power, if the socket doesn’t hold the prongs, it’s not going to power your device.
Helithumper
Title should be updated to Virgin Australia. The article doesn't reference Virgin Atlantic or any other Virgin brands.
joeblubaugh
I’ve been getting this message on international flights for the last two months already - no using power banks at any time on the plane.
At some point lithium ion battery packs are going to be completely excluded from luggage and it’ll be chaos
jerlam
China bans non-certified power banks on their domestic flights, even if they're not in use. And the certification authority is China-specific, they don't care about UL or any others.
https://www.travelofchina.com/china-power-bank-ban-2025-xiao...
musicale
As batteries pack more and more energy into smaller and smaller spaces, what could possibly go wrong?
etempleton
Is the issue that many power banks have cheaply made batteries compared to phones, tablets, and laptops? Why power banks specifically?
If the issue is quality control is there certification that airlines might require?
trollbridge
Because the quality control on power banks is absolute rubbish. They're typically bought from no-name vendors on Amazon with zero accountability for if they go bad.
Overall, the U.S. and other countries need to start requiring UL listing for stuff like this before it can be imported into the country (and strict liability for any domestic manufacturers).
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jMyles
It's nice when rules can be written in sense instead of blood. I don't know if that's the case here. But any fire on an aircraft is close to the latter.
ars
The title is misleading unless you read it carefully.
They are not banning bringing power banks, they are banning using power banks. On the plane you have to keep the power bank on your person, but not use it.
This would be a lot more defensible if they had high-power USB-C ports by every seat.
appreciatorBus
I’m sure you don’t mean this, but it sounds like you’re saying that if airlines don’t provide high-power USB, passengers would prefer the risk of dying in a fire rather than going without their devices. Of course, now that I type that out, I worry that perhaps many people would make exactly that choice. Regardless, I would argue that aviation safety is much more important than device preference - if that means, we all have to go back to paper books, then so be it.
holysoles
I'm pretty certain their intent was that passengers would be less upset by the rule change, and certainly less motivated to try to circumvent/violate them if they had reliable charging ports available
instagib
“Australian airlines will ban the use of portable power banks… and Emirates”
AtlasBarfed
Isn't LFP dense enough for power banks now? And far more stable/safe?
Heck, isn't Sodium Ion getting good enough now?
The issue is that these power banks are often cheapo corporate gifts or bought out of vending machines, catering to the cheapest possible price and not certified to anything.
In this case they have crappy BMS that doesn’t have thermal sensors or even make sure the cells are balanced during charging, and no mechanical integrity so the cell can just get crushed and explode.
The solution is to require all consumer electronics with batteries to be certified (if carried on a plane or in the post), and part of that certification process needs to be mechanical; including crushing with normal levels of in-transit forces, and electrical testing; including charging the device at a high temperature.