The US Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration is making it a little bit harder for fliers to haul lithium-ion batteries to new destinations.
Under new rules revealed today, passengers are banned from storing lithium-ion cells or batteries on cargo during commercial flights. There’s also a new ban that prevents companies from shipping batteries with more than 30 percent charge on cargo-only flights.
Most consumers probably won’t notice a difference with the new rules. You can still bring batteries on the flight in your carry on. The ban was put in place to prevent fires from busting out in the cargo hold. However, if you’re a photographer/videographer that usually puts your haul of batteries in your checked cargo, you may have to switch up your gameplan.
The ban may prevent iPhones, iPads, external batteries and other electronic devices from shipping with a full charge. Apple usually ships its devices with nearly a full-charge but might not be able to so for much longer.
The FAA urged airlines to consider a ban on all batteries on flights back in 2017. Travelers flying from 10 Middle Eastern countries were banned from bringing laptops, tablets and other large electronic devices on flights entering the United States from European airport that same year. That ban was allegedly put in place after terrorists planned to create an iPad bomb to take down a plane.
