The lithium battery problem has hit Australia - fire on Domestic Flight

[Himeno]

I disagree with the concept of a blanket ban. There's clearly been a shift in coughpier batteries popping up causing the problem. Improving manufacturing standards would be a better solution overall as you end up with less trash and coughpy quality products in general. The coughpier stuff aren't just a danger on planes but in general.

All a blanket ban does is encourage the uptake of the battery pack rental business which likely would aim for the cheapest packs - which goes to helping create more demand for the coughpier products. Or maybe even just buying a cheap pack at destination then binning it at the airport when leaving.

A well built battery should be very very unlikely to catch on fire. Remember our phones is also a battery and its not like the battery in our phones are magically vastly different chemically to the ones in battery packs. It's just that they're built to higher standards.

I agree. If they started banning battery packs, they'd then have to start banning phones, tablets and laptops which after all, use the same types of battery as the battery packs.

 

[mviy]

I pretty much always travel with at least 2 power banks in case I forget to charge one or it stops working unexpectedly.

The crackdown means before any trip I'll need to check if the rules have changed for the airline(s) I am using when deciding how many to bring.

 

[Himeno]

Any ban is also going to result in airline staff or airport security calling out and attempting to remove batteries which aren't impacted by any such ban.
They could ban Li-ion batteries and result in people trying to claim that NiMH and alkaline are subject to a ban.
They could ban batteries over 200Wh, then claim that 100Wh batteries aren't allowed.

There are already airport security staff who get "upset" when you tell them you don't have an ipad after they say "do you have an ipad". They assume that all tablets are ipads. Tell them that batteries of x type and capacity are banned and they'll assume that any battery they come across are of that type and capacity.

 

[serfty]

Any ban is also going to result in airline staff or airport security calling out and attempting to remove batteries which aren't impacted by any such ban.
They could ban Li-ion batteries and result in people trying to claim that NiMH and alkaline are subject to a ban.
They could ban batteries over 200Wh, then claim that 100Wh batteries aren't allowed.

There are already airport security staff who get "upset" when you tell them you don't have an ipad after they say "do you have an ipad". They assume that all tablets are ipads. Tell them that batteries of x type and capacity are banned and they'll assume that any battery they come across are of that type and capacity.

Certainly already happens ...

Dunno, I was relieved of two spare AAA Alkaline batteries departing NZ last month at security. I said "Alkaline"; they said "Batteries".

 

[Beano]

I disagree with the concept of a blanket ban. There's clearly been a shift in coughpier batteries popping up causing the problem. Improving manufacturing standards would be a better solution overall as you end up with less trash and coughpy quality products in general. The coughpier stuff aren't just a danger on planes but in general.

All a blanket ban does is encourage the uptake of the battery pack rental business which likely would aim for the cheapest packs - which goes to helping create more demand for the coughpier products. Or maybe even just buying a cheap pack at destination then binning it at the airport when leaving.

A well built battery should be very very unlikely to catch on fire. Remember our phones is also a battery and its not like the battery in our phones are magically vastly different chemically to the ones in battery packs. It's just that they're built to higher standards.

You have to consider misused batteries, even if they were originally top brand.

 

[33kft]

Sometime you simply cannot argue ... even if you know their interpretation is incorrect.

Post in thread 'Portable battery banks'

Mar 25, 2025

The problem is what do you define as "lithium battery pack". ...

Dunno, I was relieved of two spare AAA Alkaline batteries departing NZ last month at security. I said "Alkaline"; they said "Batteries".

• serfty

• 

They are correctly enforcing the rule, assuming you didn't have the batteries packaged, or the terminals taped. I had the same happen to me. Alkaline batteries do need to be taped in carry on luggage in NZ or we will be relieved of them at screening:

https://www.aviation.govt.nz/passenger-information/travelling-with-batteries

Batteries must be protected by packaging or terminals covered.

 

[serfty]

They are correctly enforcing the rule, assuming you didn't have the batteries packaged, or the terminals taped. I had the same happen to me. Alkaline batteries do need to be taped in carry on luggage in NZ or we will be relieved of them at screening:

https://www.aviation.govt.nz/passenger-information/travelling-with-batteries

Batteries must be protected by packaging or terminals covered.

They were separated in individual small sealable plastic bags:

 

[33kft]

They got it wrong then. I also carry spare batteries for the same reason as you (wireless mouse) but didn't have them taped or bagged. Wasn't aware of the requirement but it makes sense and is good practice. NZ is the only place I ran into an issue on departure so I guess it's something they are actively enforcing.

Flew many many places prior to that without challenge so it did come as a surprise.

 

[anat0l]

I disagree with the concept of a blanket ban. There's clearly been a shift in coughpier batteries popping up causing the problem. Improving manufacturing standards would be a better solution overall as you end up with less trash and coughpy quality products in general. The coughpier stuff aren't just a danger on planes but in general.

All a blanket ban does is encourage the uptake of the battery pack rental business which likely would aim for the cheapest packs - which goes to helping create more demand for the coughpier products. Or maybe even just buying a cheap pack at destination then binning it at the airport when leaving.

A well built battery should be very very unlikely to catch on fire. Remember our phones is also a battery and its not like the battery in our phones are magically vastly different chemically to the ones in battery packs. It's just that they're built to higher standards.

The proliferation of battery banks was well and truly after scares of low quality, dangerous phone batteries; see Samsung Galaxy Note 7.

If it seemed so easy that a good phone battery should lead on that a good battery bank is easy to produce, then I guess we're not seeing it.

Part of it, of course, is capitalism (and the certain desire to create something that encourages the immediate gain of money but might not go the distance in use, usually perpetrated by a certain culture) demands making things for the lowest cost in order to maximise profit. Can't imagine any battery manufacturer asking, "Do you think what we're making is safe?" (At best, the answer is, "Yeah, well it passed the QA test, right?")

The airline industry may not have the patience to wait for the overall industry that makes battery banks to pull their socks up and stop selling essentially indiscriminate firebombs to unsuspecting customers. Commercial aviation is one of the few parlances where policy will overshoot and only "correct" slowly afterwards. They know that everyone is just going to have to comply, so they're not exactly thinking about how this will impose on anyone. And it seems some people in the thread couldn't care less anyway ("who needs battery banks?"), and they know this, so that cuts out a large swathe of the potential resistance.

Any ban is also going to result in airline staff or airport security calling out and attempting to remove batteries which aren't impacted by any such ban.
They could ban Li-ion batteries and result in people trying to claim that NiMH and alkaline are subject to a ban.
They could ban batteries over 200Wh, then claim that 100Wh batteries aren't allowed.

There are already airport security staff who get "upset" when you tell them you don't have an ipad after they say "do you have an ipad". They assume that all tablets are ipads. Tell them that batteries of x type and capacity are banned and they'll assume that any battery they come across are of that type and capacity.

Don't doubt this at all. They weren't all that good in the first stages of the LAG control; some couldn't even tell that 50 mL is less than 100 mL, or if the volume isn't in fl oz then it was no good (be damned if it was in metric). With them trying to discern something that requires some modicum of technical knowledge, forget it.

I'm not sure which authorities would err on the side of allowing versus erring on the side of confiscating, though I do know that 99% of the time that raising a dispute may be detrimental to your legal, mental and/or physical existence.


My skin in the game? I need a portable battery bank to use my CPAP in-flight. It's a special battery bank that provides enough DC power to run my CPAP machine, but it is still under the 100 Wh limit. It also happens to have a USB-A port for secondary charging. The bank can't be charged via USB - it can only be charged via the DC-in port (common with the CPAP DC port). If that is banned from in-flight use then I guess I'll just have to snore and have apnea episodes.