Government Warns Airline Passengers Not To Charge Phones To 100% To Avoid Cabin Fires

by Gary Leff

The FAA took to social media to tell airline passengers not to fully charge their lithium ion battery-powered devices, like phones and laptops, if they don’t need the full charge for the flight. This is because, the government agency says, “a full charge may increase the chances of a fire.”

This is technically accurate, but a long tail risk, and something airlines are generally prepared to handle. As a result this seems like one of the lower-priority things passengers might worry about, somewhere behind getting them to actually watch the safety video.

A fully charged lithium-ion battery does carry a greater risk of thermal runaway, which can lead to a fire or explosion, because it means more potential energy that can be released destructively if the battery’s protective systems fail.

Electronics fires are usually fully manageable when they occur inside the passenger cabin of an aircraft, but not as manageable when they occur inside the cargo hold of a plane. That’s why a generation of ‘smart’ suitcases were been banned even as carry on bags, since there’s always the chance a carry on with an un-removable battery might have to be checked.

As a result of the risk of an electronics fire, U.S. airlines board fire containment bags and heat resistant gloves on aircraft. That way when electronic devices catch fire they can deal with it. Once the electronics that caught fire is isolated, the fire containment bag gets stored in a metal cart in the galley, to be retrieved when the aircraft lands.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. This seems incredibly rare. The only time I can remember this being a reasonable issue was during the whole Samsung note 7 issue and that was a design issue and the phone was recalled.

    It could happen but the chances seem so low it’s nothing to worry about too much. How many times have we heard a phone catching on fire on a plane in the last 20 years? Outside of an incident in China I have never heard of one.

  2. Thought we weren’t supposed to put items with lithium batteries in our checked luggage?

    We travel with a large number of lithium batteries (photographers) bit we transport them in our carry on in a lipo bag.

  3. If the airlines cannot always get the correct meals on board, why should we believe that they will always load safety equipment? Many power banks have lights that make it difficult to tell of the exact level of charge. That being said, airlines are committed to providing power to personal electronics, like smart phones, that are more at risk of thermal runaway when charging. Maybe the FAA should train cabin crews that aggressive checking of carry-on bags may lead to more at risk devices going in the hold

  4. Over 80% the batteries may get hotter while charging? It wouldn’t surprise me.

    Either way, there are optimal ways to charge a phone to preserve longer term battery health, and sometimes that would mean not charging fully on a flight. Helps to carry an portable charging battery for use on the ground and in the air, as then you have the best of both worlds if carrying around the battery and the cables isn’t a big issue.

  5. While this may be true to some degree (pardon the pun) I would think not turning off Wifi and failure to put devices into airplane mode would cause a lot more overheating issues than having a device charged to 100%.

  6. Maybe they should worry about how hot the passengers are and not how hot the batteries “might be”.

  8. Introducing the new “Battery Drainer” feature in the Delta app. If your battery is 100% at time of boarding, you must open Battery Drainer for 10 minutes. You are now at 95%, and that’s so much safer.

    Oh, no chargers allowed. Can’t have anyone at 100%!

  9. I don’t worry about that. I just carry a battery pack and plug in during flight if my pone or tablit gets to the point of expiring. Works like a charm and keeps me from having “no charge” anxiety.

  10. “While this may be true to some degree (pardon the pun) I would think not turning off Wifi and failure to put devices into airplane mode would cause a lot more overheating issues than having a device charged to 100%.”

    Correct, have we not learned anything from Silicon Valley, end of Season 4?

    What a half assed announcement & plea. Either something is a threat or its not, and appropriate action needs to take place, not voluntary compliance. Sounds like those stupid “did you pack your own bags” questions we were forced to answer for years. Did a “terrorist” ever say no?

  12. It’s a good idea, anyway.
    Charging to only 85% will significantly increase the battery life of your device. I can personally attest to this. I use an app called AccuBattery* on my devices. Easy to use and to set various parameters. It provides an immense amount of information about your device, battery, and charger performance.

    *I have no connection to AccuBattery except as a happy user.

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