What Not to Pack in Checked Luggage

Updated August 2026 · Vacation Checklists

Two separate lists get confused constantly. The first is prohibited: spare lithium batteries, power banks, e-cigarettes and vapes, most lighters, and non-toiletry aerosols cannot legally go in a checked bag, and packing them can get your bag pulled off the aircraft. The second is unwise: medication, travel documents, laptops, jewelry, and anything irreplaceable are perfectly legal down there and still belong in your carry-on, because roughly one bag in every few hundred shows up late.

Not sure about a specific item? Our free TSA item checker tells you carry-on, checked, both, or neither, in about ten seconds.

Updated August 2026. Battery and dangerous goods rules changed in March 2026 and airlines apply their own stricter policies on top of the federal ones. Confirm current rules at tsa.gov and on your airline's dangerous goods page. The screening officer and the airline have the final say.

A note on numbers. No dollar figures on this page. Airline liability caps, fees and replacement values differ by carrier, by treaty and by year, and a printed amount would be wrong for most readers. What you get instead is which rules apply to your trip and where to read the current limit yourself.

The Prohibited List: Things That Cannot Go in the Hold

These are not preferences. They are federal hazardous materials rules, and they exist because of fire.

Devices with batteries installed are a different case from spare batteries. A laptop, phone, tablet, camera, or electric toothbrush can technically be checked, as long as the device is completely powered off (not sleeping) and packed so it cannot be crushed or switched on by accident. Airlines increasingly discourage even that, and there is no good reason to do it: your laptop should be with you anyway.

Smart luggage with a non-removable battery is refused by most airlines outright. If the battery pops out, take it out and carry it with you, and the bag can be checked.

Why Lithium Batteries Are Banned in the Hold

The reason is worth understanding, because it explains every other rule on the list, and it makes the rule stick in your memory.

A lithium battery in thermal runaway does not burn like paper. It produces its own oxygen as it decomposes, so smothering it does not put it out. It reaches temperatures around 1,100°F (about 600°C), it vents flammable gas, and when one cell goes, it heats its neighbors until they go too.

In the cabin, that fire has a crew standing next to it within seconds. Flight attendants are trained for exactly this, aircraft carry extinguishers and thermal containment bags, and the standard response is to douse the device in water or a non-alcoholic drink to cool the neighboring cells. It becomes a smelly, alarming, survivable incident. It happens more often than passengers realize, and it is almost always handled.

In the cargo hold, nobody is standing there. The hold's built-in suppression is designed for ordinary fires, and it works by displacing oxygen, which is precisely the thing a lithium fire does not need. A battery fire down there can burn undetected and unchallenged, next to a hundred other bags, for the rest of the flight.

That single difference is the entire policy. It is not about the battery being dangerous, it is about who is present when it fails.

The Power Bank Rules Changed in March 2026

This is the newest thing on the list and the one most travelers have not caught up with. As of 27 March 2026, international standards tightened how portable chargers may be carried:

• Carry-on only. No power bank in a checked bag, ever.
• Two spare power banks per passenger is the maximum.
• They must stay accessible at your seat, not in the overhead bin. Seat pocket, under-seat bag, or on your person.
• No charging in flight, and no charging the power bank from the seat power either.
• Under 100 Wh: allowed without asking anyone.
• 100 to 160 Wh: allowed only with your airline's prior approval.
• Over 160 Wh: banned from passenger aircraft entirely.

Individual airlines add stricter rules on top, and several now require power banks to be visible rather than merely accessible. Check your carrier's page before a long-haul flight.

Worked Example: Is Your Power Bank Legal?

Power banks print milliamp hours (mAh) on the case. Airlines regulate watt hours (Wh). The conversion is simple:

Wh = (mAh ÷ 1,000) × voltage

Most power bank cells run at 3.7 volts, and that is the number to use unless the case says otherwise.

• A 10,000 mAh bank: (10,000 ÷ 1,000) × 3.7 = 37 Wh. Fine, no approval needed.
• A 20,000 mAh bank: (20,000 ÷ 1,000) × 3.7 = 74 Wh. Fine, no approval needed.
• A 26,800 mAh bank: (26,800 ÷ 1,000) × 3.7 = 99.2 Wh. Just under the line, which is exactly why that odd capacity is so common.
• A 30,000 mAh bank: (30,000 ÷ 1,000) × 3.7 = 111 Wh. Needs airline approval before you fly.
• A 50,000 mAh bank: (50,000 ÷ 1,000) × 3.7 = 185 Wh. Not allowed on a passenger aircraft at all.

Two 20,000 mAh banks at 74 Wh each are fine, because the limit is per battery, not a total. Three of them are not, because two spares is the cap.

What Not to Pack in Checked Luggage Even Though It Is Allowed

This second list is where most actual regret lives. Nothing here is illegal. All of it is a bad bet, because the airline may hold your bag for a day and there is nothing you can do about it.

Medication. Every prescription, in the carry-on, always. Bags get delayed, pharmacies in another state or country cannot fill your prescription on a Sunday, and the hold is not temperature controlled. Our full guide to flying with medication covers screening and labeling.

Travel documents. Passport, visas, vaccination records, printed confirmations, driver's license, the second form of ID. If your bag is late, you may need these before it arrives. The travel document checklist has the complete set.

Electronics. Laptop, tablet, camera, headphones, e-reader. High theft targets, easily damaged by baggage handling drops, and expensive to replace. Airline liability rules also frequently exclude or limit electronics in checked bags, so a claim may pay you nothing.

Jewelry, cash, and valuables. Same reason, and airline contracts of carriage explicitly disclaim liability for these categories in checked baggage. If it is worth money, it does not leave your hands.

Keys. House keys, car keys, the key to the rental you are picking up. Losing these turns a delayed bag into a locksmith call.

Glasses and contacts. Bring the spare pair with you. Twenty-four hours without your prescription glasses is a genuinely ruined day.

Chargers and adapters. People check the charger and carry the phone. Then the bag is late, and the phone dies at 6 p.m.

Anything irreplaceable. Photos, gifts, an urn, a manuscript, the hard drive with the only copy. The rule is simple: if losing it would ruin the trip, it rides with you.

Anything you need in the first 24 hours. Wedding clothes, the presentation suit, ski boots for the first morning, the swimsuit for the first afternoon. See the 24-hour kit below.

Fragile items. Checked bags get dropped from waist height routinely. Ceramics, glass bottles, instruments, and framed items either travel in the cabin or travel packed as if they will be thrown, because they will be. Our guide to flying with a musical instrument covers the cabin options.

The 24-Hour Kit That Makes a Delayed Bag Survivable

A delayed bag is annoying with a good carry-on and miserable without one. Pack the cabin bag as if the checked bag might not arrive until tomorrow evening, because sometimes it does not.

In your carry-on, every trip:

• One full change of clothes, including underwear and socks
• All medication for at least three days, in labeled containers
• Toiletries in a 3-1-1 bag: toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, any skincare you actually need
• Phone, charger, and cable
• All documents and ID
• Glasses, contacts, and solution
• Any electronics you would be genuinely upset to replace
• Trip-specific first-day gear: swimsuit for a beach trip, one work outfit for a business trip

Trip-specific additions: on a beach vacation, the swimsuit and sunscreen are the first-day items. On a cruise, the carry-on rule is stricter, because the ship leaves without your bag. On a camping trip, the boots go in the cabin.

That is roughly a personal item plus a small carry-on. Our packing list generator builds the list around the trip, and the carry-on size checker confirms the bag will actually board.

What to Do If Your Bag Is Delayed or Lost

Speed matters, and most of the money is in the first hour.

1. File before you leave the airport. Go to the baggage service office in the arrivals hall and file a report in person. Get the file reference number, usually a five-letter and five-digit code. Filing later, by phone, is slower and weaker.
2. Give a delivery address, not just a phone number. Airlines deliver recovered bags to hotels and homes at no charge, and most delayed bags turn up within 24 to 48 hours.
3. Ask about the interim expense allowance. Airlines routinely reimburse reasonable essentials while you wait: toiletries, underwear, a shirt. Ask what the daily cap is and keep every receipt.
4. Know the bag fee refund rule. For US domestic flights, if the airline declares your bag delayed, it is required to refund the checked bag fee you paid. You generally have to ask.
5. Photograph the bag and its contents before you fly. Thirty seconds of your phone camera on the open suitcase makes a claim dramatically easier.
6. Understand the liability caps. Airlines do not owe you whatever your bag was worth. On US domestic flights the maximum liability for lost, damaged, or delayed baggage is a fixed per-passenger cap that the Department of Transportation adjusts periodically and publishes on its own site. International trips fall under the Montreal Convention instead, whose cap is set in Special Drawing Rights rather than dollars and is meaningfully lower than the US domestic one, which catches people out on a codeshare that turns out to be the international leg. Look both up before you fly rather than after, because they change, and because the gap between the cap and what is actually in your suitcase is exactly what travel insurance or a homeowners rider is for.
7. Check your credit card and travel insurance. Many travel credit cards carry baggage delay coverage that starts at 6 hours and pays out faster than the airline does.

A bag is normally "lost" only after 21 days. Until then it is delayed, and the overwhelming majority come back. What does not come back is the day you spent without your medication, which is the whole argument for the list above.

TSA Locks, and Why TSA Can Open Any Bag Anyway

Every checked bag in the US is screened, and a percentage are opened and hand-inspected. That authority is not negotiable and it does not require your presence.

How TSA-recognized locks work. Locks branded Travel Sentry (a red diamond logo) or Safe Skies (a torch logo) can be opened by a master key that screening officers hold. Your bag stays locked to everyone else and opens for inspection without damage.

A non-approved lock gets cut. If an officer needs into your bag and the lock does not open with the master key, the lock is cut off. Your bag is not delayed for it, and the lock is not replaced.

You get a notice, not a warning. If your bag was opened, you find a printed Notice of Baggage Inspection inside. That is normal and means nothing bad about you or your packing.

Locks are a deterrent, not security. Most suitcase zippers can be popped open with a ballpoint pen and re-zipped shut, leaving the lock intact and the bag apparently untouched. A lock stops the opportunist and slows the casual thief. It does not protect anything genuinely valuable, which is the argument, again, for not checking anything genuinely valuable.

Better than a lock: a bright, unmistakable bag. Theft and mis-collection both drop when your suitcase is the only orange one on the carousel.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you check a power bank in your luggage?

No. Power banks and all spare lithium batteries must go in your carry-on, and since 27 March 2026 they must also stay accessible at your seat rather than in the overhead bin. The limit is two spare power banks per passenger, with anything over 160 Wh banned from passenger aircraft entirely.

Can I put my vape or e-cigarette in a checked bag?

No. E-cigarettes, vaping devices, and their batteries are prohibited in checked baggage and must travel in the cabin. You cannot use them or charge them during the flight, and most airlines want the device carried on your person or in your under-seat bag.

Are lithium batteries allowed in checked luggage at all?

Spare or loose lithium batteries are not, under any circumstances. Batteries installed inside a device may be checked if the device is fully powered off and protected from damage and accidental activation, though most airlines discourage it and some prohibit it. Keep the device with you and the question disappears.

Can I pack aerosols in checked luggage?

Toiletry aerosols like deodorant, hairspray, and shaving cream are allowed in checked bags in limited quantities, with the caps protected so nothing discharges in transit. Non-toiletry aerosols, including spray paint, insecticide, and self-defense sprays, are prohibited in both checked and carry-on bags. Our TSA item checker resolves the specific can.

Should I lock my checked bag?

Use a TSA-recognized lock if you use one at all. It lets screening officers open the bag with a master key instead of cutting the lock off, and it deters casual tampering. It is not real security, so the answer to "is this valuable enough to lock up" is usually "valuable enough to carry on."

What happens if TSA finds a prohibited item in my checked bag?

Most of the time the item is removed and disposed of, and you find a Notice of Baggage Inspection in your bag on arrival. Hazardous materials are treated more seriously, and undeclared dangerous goods can carry significant civil penalties. If your bag is already loaded, it may be offloaded, which is how people miss flights over a forgotten power bank.

Can I bring full-size liquids in checked luggage?

Yes. The 3-1-1 rule applies only to carry-on bags, so full-size shampoo, sunscreen, and contact solution are fine in the hold. Alcohol has its own limits, and anything flammable is prohibited. The TSA liquid rules guide has the complete breakdown, including the exemptions.

How long until a delayed bag is officially lost?

Airlines generally treat a bag as delayed for 21 days before declaring it lost and moving you to a claim. Most delayed bags are returned within 24 to 48 hours. File the report in person before leaving the airport, keep the file reference, and save every receipt for essentials you buy while you wait.

Pack the hold with the replaceable and the cabin with everything else. Our TSA item checker settles the individual items, the packing list generator splits the list between the two bags, and the carry-on size checker makes sure the important bag actually boards with you.