If Southwest Airlines had a theme song for 2025, it would have to be Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are a-Changin’.”
Not only has the carrier ditched its much-beloved/much-maligned grab-a-seat-wherever policy, adopting instead three classes of service as on any other airline, but Southwest has also added the always-loathed checked baggage fee, no longer allowing every passenger two checked bags for free starting next week.
Also starting next week—May 28 to be precise—Southwest will be taking a cue from Asian carriers such as Thai Airways, Singapore Airlines, and Air Asia by disallowing portable chargers not only in checked bags—a recent FAA rule—but also from being stored in overhead bins.
You can still fly with power banks and chargers, but you’ll need to keep them with you at your seat.
Unlike adding the damn luggage fee—a naked money grab—there’s a good reason for the latest move. The lithium-ion batteries in portable power banks and other chargers can overheat and start fires. South Korean officials suspect that’s what happened during a scary incident recently aboard an Air Busan plane.
Lithium battery incidents have become so common that the FAA has a web page devoted to the topic. In 2025, there have already been 22 verified incidents so far.
Southwest’s new restriction requiring passengers to keep chargers in plain sight in the cabin—i.e., not in checked bags and not in overhead compartments—seems like a smart safety move.
What’s unclear is how Southwest will police the rule. Will a new part of the boarding process include a check of carry-on bags to make sure there are no phone chargers or power banks tucked away? Or will the honor system be used?
Other airlines will likely be watching closely how Southwest’s implementation process goes.
