If you’re catching a flight on Southwest Airlines soon, you need to know about an important new rule that affects how you charge your phone.
In a statement to Business Insider last week, the airline said passengers are now required to keep any portable chargers fully in sight while in use. You’re still able to bring these chargers and keep them in your bag (not in your checked bags, though). You just can’t have your phone tucked in your carry-on or overhead bag while plugged into a charger.
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Passengers first started becoming aware of the new rule about two weeks ago when a message appeared in the Southwest app. “If you use a power bank during your flight,” it read, “keep it out of your bag and in plain sight. Do not charge devices in the overhead bin.”
Why is Southwest making this change?
Several other airlines around the world have enacted similar policies, but Southwest is the first American-based carrier to do so.
The mindset behind this change is that portable chargers, like laptops and other electronics, run on lithium-ion batteries that can overheat and catch on fire. Making sure the charger is visible doesn’t lessen the chance of a fire, but if a charger is always in sight, it’s much more likely that someone will spot a potential problem before it becomes a larger issue.
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While a major problem is rare, the National Business Aviation Association says, “a smoke, fire or extreme heat incident involving lithium ion batteries takes place aboard an aircraft more than once per week on average in the US.”
One of the more notable incidents was earlier this year when fire spread through the cabin of an Air Busan plane in Seoul shortly before takeoff. Local media said the fire may have been started by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin.
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I’ve reached out to Southwest Airlines since the policy doesn’t seem to appear officially anywhere, and will update this article with a response.
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