If you have flown with a magnetic wireless power bank this year, you may already sense that it is no longer a small accessory you toss into a backpack. On 27 March 2026, an addendum to ICAO's Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air took effect, giving power banks their first global rule: two per passenger at most, cabin only, never checked, and no recharging the bank itself in flight, not even from the seat socket. The rule reaches 193 member states and was approved by the 36 nations on the ICAO Council.
The reasons behind it are specific. In January 2025 an Air Busan A321 caught fire at a gate and was destroyed, with 176 people evacuated; South Korean investigators pointed to a short circuit inside a passenger's power bank. That July a Virgin Australia 737 had a similar fire on descent into Hobart. In May 2026 an easyJet flight diverted to Rome after a passenger was reported to be charging a phone from a power bank in checked luggage. The US FAA logged 97 lithium battery incidents involving smoke, fire or extreme heat in 2025, against 54 in 2021. IATA estimates 44 percent of passengers now travel with a power bank, and a single widebody departure can carry close to 1,800 lithium cells.
Watt-hours, not milliamp-hours
Many people assume 20000mAh is the ceiling. The rule actually reads in watt-hours. Up to 100Wh - roughly 27,000mAh - needs no approval. Between 100Wh and 160Wh requires the airline's advance consent, and IATA has said that consent route disappears when its new Dangerous Goods Regulations apply from 1 January 2027. Above 160Wh does not fly on passenger aircraft at all. Run the numbers: 10000mAh is about 37Wh, 20000mAh about 74Wh, 27000mAh lands at 99.9Wh, and the common 30000mAh models sit near 111Wh - the band that needs approval and often does not get it.
One hard requirement is easy to miss: the watt-hour figure has to be printed on the casing. IATA's own guidance to airlines says it plainly - if staff cannot verify the watt-hour rating from the battery or its documentation, the operator may refuse to carry it. A worn-off label or a no-name pack showing only a big milliamp number is genuinely something you can end up discussing at the security line.
A charging pad is not a power bank
This is where plenty of travellers get it wrong. The rule targets power banks, meaning energy storage with lithium cells. A wireless charging pad with no battery, a 3-in-1 magnetic desktop stand, a car magnetic mount - none of them are spare lithium batteries, so they do not count against the two-unit limit and are not bound by 100Wh. Packing a 3-in-1 magnetic charging stand for a trip and packing two magnetic power banks are two different calculations.
The other reality is that airlines may go stricter than ICAO, and many already have. From 15 January 2026 the Lufthansa Group banned both using power banks and charging them across its network, requiring them to stay in the seat pocket, on your person or under the seat ahead, never in an overhead bin; that covers Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings and ITA Airways, with Virgin Atlantic following. Singapore Airlines imposed an onboard ban back in April 2025, Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Australia followed in December 2025, and Japan now requires restrictions on every flight to, from or within the country. Emirates, Southwest and Wizz Air allow just one power bank per passenger, and Emirates does not permit using one to charge another device either. British Airways allows two of up to 100Wh in the seat pocket, and both American and Delta allow two of 100Wh or less, none of them in the overhead bin.
For anyone shopping for a magnetic power bank to travel with, the conclusion is not complicated: stay in the 10000mAh band, around 37Wh, where there is never an argument; check that the watt-hour figure is printed and still legible; and charge both your phone and the bank before boarding, because on a growing number of carriers the only power in the air is the seat socket, and that socket can no longer be used to top up a power bank. Sorting this out before the trip beats sorting it out at the gate.
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