14
Japan to ban in-flight use of power banks starting in April
(www.asahi.com)
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 28 Feb 2026
14 points (100.0% liked)
World News
55319 readers
726 users here now
A community for discussing events around the World
Rules:
-
Rule 1: posts have the following requirements:
- Post news articles only
- Video links are NOT articles and will be removed.
- Title must match the article headline
- Not United States Internal News
- Recent (Past 30 Days)
- Screenshots/links to other social media sites (Twitter/X/Facebook/Youtube/reddit, etc.) are explicitly forbidden, as are link shorteners.
-
Rule 2: Do not copy the entire article into your post. The key points in 1-2 paragraphs is allowed (even encouraged!), but large segments of articles posted in the body will result in the post being removed. If you have to stop and think "Is this fair use?", it probably isn't. Archive links, especially the ones created on link submission, are absolutely allowed but those that avoid paywalls are not.
-
Rule 3: Opinions articles, or Articles based on misinformation/propaganda may be removed.
-
Rule 4: Posts or comments that are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist, anti-religious, or ableist will be removed. “Ironic” prejudice is just prejudiced.
-
Posts and comments must abide by the lemmy.world terms of service UPDATED AS OF OCTOBER 19 2025
-
Rule 5: Keep it civil. It's OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It's NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
-
Rule 6: Memes, spam, other low effort posting, reposts, misinformation, advocating violence, off-topic, trolling, offensive, regarding the moderators or meta in content may be removed at any time.
-
Rule 7: We didn't USED to need a rule about how many posts one could make in a day, then someone posted NINETEEN articles in a single day. Not comments, FULL ARTICLES. If you're posting more than say, 10 or so, consider going outside and touching grass. We reserve the right to limit over-posting so a single user does not dominate the front page.
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
Lemmy World Partners
News !news@lemmy.world
Politics !politics@lemmy.world
World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world
Recommendations
For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/
- Consider including the article’s mediabiasfactcheck.com/ link
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Do you need to be intellectually challenged to understand this?
Political class whore: "Should we regulate the corporations producing these faulty batteries?"
Corporate Lobbyist: "nah, let's just ban consumers from using them when they need them the most"
Political class whore: "yes, master"
They're doing that too:
The concern driving this ban is primarily centered around defective units already in circulation, and the acceptance that they cannot realistically be certain about their ability to prevent manufacturers in other countries from shipping in more potentially defective units. Most modern airplanes I have seen have in-seat USB charging ports, which at least cuts down on the need some, and a few hours without a charged device is not going to end the lives of anyone traveling (especially since this rule has carve outs for medical devices, I'm told).
You probably shouldn't trust those to actually work. Or even to be safe enough to not kill whatever you plug into them.
Also you shouldn't plug your phone into random USB ports, although i guess carrying a charge pass through adapter is an option.
If you're that worried about it (and don't have at least a passthrough charging cable), you can just turn your devices off and bring a book. I don't know why you'd be worried about it killing your devices though, if a plane's electrical system has failed so badly it's going to fry things on the USB bus then you've got much bigger problems.
Just use your regular charger, there are typically outlets under the seat in front of you on B737/A320 and larger. Even many regional jets have them these days. I never plug into a random USB port.
And they're so loose that's it's a miracle if your charger stays in. Maybe if there were updates and changes to prevent this I would understand but as someone who's working 99% of the time while traveling, it's a surprise when the ports work and I rely on battery banks heavily
shit you're lucky to get paid wifi on a crj, let alone an outlet.
Shockingly, when I travel abroad I'm usually out and about for the most days. And that's where power bank is needed.
If can't have them in my checked luggage and and I can't have them in my carry on, am I expected to buy a power bank every time I fly and then throw it away?
On the topic of in-seat charging ports: your luck may wary. Even if you do find a plane which has these and they actually work, the power is not usually enough to charge more power hungry devices - bigger phones, tablets, steam deck. Don't get me started of you actually want to use your laptop during the flight.
Yes, if you fly business there are usually power sockets which you can use, but who has money for that?
It's almost like the whole issue is that airports involve passengers crossing borders where the laws are different.
If you really really need to charge your phone on a plane, all modern ones have AC and USB.
Have you tried using them though..? Half of the time they’re broken/unpowered for some reason or the internal retention springs are so utterly fucked that it doesn’t maintain consistent contact with the plug and your charger just falls out.
In my experience, the USB plugs are even more uncommon, and USB-C ones doubly so - and they’re always low power ones, so you’re fucked if you’re trying to drive a laptop off of that.
Yes, I haven't had any issues like that.
And if you can't charge your laptop off the USB port, that's what the AC outlet is for.
I'd be wary of just plugging your phone in a random USB port.
laughs in outdated aircraft that always run my route
angry spirit airline noises
What flights are you on that you need a powerbank? Any decently modern phone will last for 24h on flight mode playing video. I've done 12-13h flights (Germany to Singapore) with 60% of battery remaining.
As @SpeedRunner@europe.pub said in another post, it's not necessarily just about the time on the flight, but when you might need them after. Later this year, for example, I'm planning on heading to Europe and will attend a music festival while I'm there. I'll be out all day, and would like to be able to use my phone to stay in touch with my travelling buddies, take pictures, maybe get a cab back to the hotel, or whatever else. It would be pretty nice to have a powerbank to keep my phone charged then, as well as for other days where I'm planning on being out sightseeing all day. If you're already forbidden from storing them in your checked bag, and now you'll be banned from bringing them in your carry-on, what exactly are you meant to do, then? Buy a new powerbank every time you travel? Just for my trip and travel group, we'd need to purchase and discard 4 of them on this trip, as we'll be staying a few days in one country for sightseeing before hopping on a plane to the opposite corner of Europe for the remainder of the vacation. That's a lot of added e-waste and expense.
If you need them after: you can take two powerbanks on you, just not use them in the air.
"It's not the corporations' fault for producing and selling fire hazards under lax regulations -
it's the consumer's fault for not spending money on brand-name products every three financial quarters!"
Of course it's the corporations fault, but once they are sold we cannot just rely on thoughts and prayers, we need to regulate the world we have and prevent people from using them on planes. The world is not America.
Older phones, game boy advance, faulty batteries don't last as long.. noisecancellation headphones don't last 12 hours.. What if I didn't charge my phone to 100 before getting to the plane.. Are you dense?
Noise canceling headphones don't last 12h? My 5 year old Microsoft Surface last 12h easy. Nowadays some cheap Anker ANC last 40h. Use a realistic argument at least...
What if you didn't charge your phone? What if you didn't bring your passport? What if you bought the wrong ticket? What if my grandma had wheels?
Muh airpord pros
Good news: Those you don't need a powerbank to charge!