Can I Bring An Electric Fan Onto My Flight?

It’s bloody hot. It’s half-term. And for many, that means it’s holiday season.

However, 2026 fliers might want to check some details before arriving at their airports. It’s not just that multiple airlines have issued advice following new EES checks, or that some routes may have changed following ballooning jet fuel costs.

Recently, a flight was diverted after a passenger reported a charging power bank in another flier’s bag, too (we’ve written before about why that’s a problem, as well as how to tell if your portable chargers are compliant).

So what about other devices, like handheld electric fans?

We thought we’d ask the experts.

HuffPost UK asked Helen North, Head of Dangerous Goods at the UK Civil Aviation Authority, whether all handheld electric fans can come on board.

“Portable electric fans may contain lithium batteries, so they should be carried in the cabin, not packed in your checked bag,” she said.

“Keeping battery-powered items with you will make your flight safer for you and the other passengers you’re flying with.”

Lithium batteries are the same kind of batteries that devices like smart bags and power banks use.

They’re not usually allowed in the hold of planes (i.e., checked luggage).

That’s because they can short-circuit and catch fire, which can be especially disastrous in an unattended baggage space.

Generally, the Civil Aviation Authority said, lithium batteries should be carried as hand luggage.

And they added, “if carried as checked baggage, the devices must be completely switched off (not in sleep or hibernation mode) if the batteries exceed:

1. for lithium metal batteries, a lithium content of 0.3 g per device; or
2. for lithium-ion batteries, a Watt-hour rating of 2.7 Wh per device.”

Yes. Most airlines won’t let you bring more than two power banks onto a plane, and you can’t use them to charge another device while you’re flying.

They generally aren’t allowed in the hold because of lithium battery limits.

Additionally, lithium batteries over 100Wh and under 160Wh will need to be cleared by your specific airline (those over 160Wh can’t come on board).

If you can’t find this, you can work it out from the milliampere-hour (mAh), ampere-hour (Ah), and/or nominal voltage (V).

Once you find these, the UK Civil Aviation Authority said: “You can arrive at the number of watt-hours your battery provides if you know the battery’s nominal voltage (V) and capacity in ampere-hours (Ah) using this calculation: Ah x V = Wh”.