Most airlines’ rules technically permit a laptop in checked luggage, but several airlines and safety authorities specifically recommend against it, and it’s worth treating that recommendation seriously rather than just checking the rulebook.
Checked baggage handling involves more impact and rougher treatment than a laptop bag carried by hand, and checked bags carry a real, if modest, risk of theft or going missing — a genuinely painful combination for an expensive, fragile, data-carrying device.
There’s also a battery consideration: some guidance specifically flags a lithium battery device in checked luggage as a fire-risk concern less easily managed in an inaccessible cargo hold than in the cabin, similar to the reasoning behind the separate rule requiring power banks in carry-on only. Carrying a laptop in cabin luggage, ideally in a padded, suspended compartment, avoids all of these risks at once.
Check with your airline and read the label before you follow anything here. Lithium battery watt-hour limits, liquids allowances and lock policies differ by carrier and by country, and change over time — the figures published by the airline or security authority you are actually traveling with take precedence over anything written on this site. A power bank or spare battery is carried exactly as its manufacturer and your airline specify, never estimated. We report what is published — a watt-hour rating, a size limit, a lock's official recognition — and this site describes the equipment only: nothing here is a guarantee about what a specific checkpoint will allow on a specific day.
Last reviewed 26 August 2026