On 27 March 2026, the ICAO Council approved the first coordinated international standard for portable battery packs in aircraft cabins. Unlike previous rule changes — which came from individual airlines or national regulators — this one is binding on all 193 ICAO member states at once. It didn't invent new capacity limits; the existing 100 Wh / 160 Wh thresholds from the baseline IATA/ICAO rules are unchanged. What it added were three specific, previously airline-optional restrictions that are now a floor every international carrier must meet.
The three things that changed
- Two power banks maximum in the cabin. Regardless of Wh tier, passengers on international flights are now capped at two power banks. Previously the 2-unit cap only applied to the 100–160 Wh approval tier; packs under 100 Wh had no ICAO-level quantity limit at all.
- No charging power banks, and no charging from them, during flight. You can't plug a power bank into a seat's USB port to recharge it, and you can't use it to charge your phone or laptop mid-flight. This folds in the 1 January 2026 IATA passenger guidance that many airlines had treated as optional company policy — it's now a binding baseline.
- No overhead-bin storage. Power banks must stay somewhere crew can see and reach them in seconds — on your person, in the seat-back pocket, or in an under-seat personal item. The reasoning is blunt: a thermal-runaway battery fire needs to be spotted and isolated fast, and an overhead bin delays that by however long it takes to get the bin open and dig through bags.
This is a floor, not a ceiling. Individual airlines can and do apply stricter limits on top of the ICAO baseline — Emirates has capped passengers at one power bank for years, for example. Always check your specific carrier's current policy before flying, especially on the routes below.
Why ICAO moved now
The trigger was a run of in-cabin lithium battery incidents through 2024 and 2025. The FAA had already logged 38 reported incidents in the US alone by June 2025. The case that appears to have forced the issue was Air China Flight CA139, where a power bank ignited inside an overhead locker in October 2025 — a scenario the new storage rule is written specifically to prevent, since crew couldn't reach the source of smoke quickly.
How US carriers have responded
ICAO sets the floor; each airline still publishes its own policy on top of it, and the US majors haven't converged on identical rules. Here's what each has confirmed as of this writing:
| Airline | Overhead bin | Cabin limit | Wh cap | Effective |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United | Banned — must stay on person, seat pocket, or under-seat item | 2 power banks | Up to 160 Wh | 1 March 2026 |
| American Airlines | Must stay visible and within reach | 2 power banks | Up to 100 Wh each | 1 May 2026 |
| Southwest | No published overhead-bin rule beyond ICAO baseline | 1 power bank | Up to 100 Wh | 20 April 2026 |
| Delta | No published overhead-bin rule beyond ICAO baseline | 2 power banks | Up to 160 Wh | Aligned with ICAO, 27 March 2026 |
| JetBlue / Alaska | No airline-specific update published | ICAO baseline applies (2) | Up to 160 Wh | ICAO baseline, 27 March 2026 |
Two things stand out. First, United was first — its overhead-bin ban predates ICAO's own effective date by nearly four weeks, making it the first major US carrier to move. Second, Southwest and American are stricter than the ICAO floor on capacity: both cap passengers below the 160 Wh ICAO ceiling, at 100 Wh, and Southwest allows only one unit rather than two. If your power bank is rated between 100 Wh and 160 Wh, it may be fine on Delta or United but rejected at the gate on Southwest or American — check the specific carrier, not just the ICAO baseline, before you pack it.
What this means if you're flying soon
- Pack no more than two power banks in carry-on, and check your airline's page if you're carrying two — some carriers now allow only one.
- Keep it out of the overhead bin on every airline, even where it isn't yet a written rule — crew increasingly enforce this as informal practice ahead of formal policy.
- Don't plug it into a seat power outlet or USB port, and don't use it to charge another device mid-flight.
- If your pack is rated 100–160 Wh, confirm your specific airline still allows it — several US carriers have quietly tightened to a 100 Wh ceiling in 2026.