Can You Bring a Laptop on a Plane?
Yes. A laptop is allowed in your carry-on bag, your personal item and, if you must, your checked bag on every airline. At security it comes out of the bag for screening unless you have TSA PreCheck or the lane has a newer scanner, and any spare battery for it stays in the cabin. The only limit on size is your airline's bag dimensions.
Can you use a laptop on a plane?
Yes, once the seat-belt sign allows it and the laptop is in flight mode. Under the guidance both regulators publish, airlines regulated by the FAA or EASA "are able to permit passenger use of PEDs operating in non-transmitting mode in all phases of flight", and a device that can transmit "must still be selected to 'Flight Mode' or 'Airplane Mode' before takeoff and remain so until after landing" (SKYbrary, updated 6 February 2026).
The catch is the laptop's size. During taxi, take-off and the initial climb, use is permitted "subject to cabin crew instructions and stowage of heavy items before take-off": a phone stays in your hand, a laptop goes in the seat pocket or the bag. And the guidance "is permissive rather than mandatory", so each airline decides how much of it to allow. The crew's instruction is the rule that applies on your flight.
Can you bring two laptops on a plane?
Yes. The TSA's answer for laptops is "Carry On Bags: Yes" with no quantity, and the FAA's battery rule for personal electronics sets no count for the batteries installed in your devices: "Quantity limits: None for most batteries — but batteries must be for use by the passenger." Batteries "carried for further sale or distribution (vendor samples, etc.) are prohibited" (FAA PackSafe, updated 11 August 2026).
Two laptops for your own use are fine. A bag of ten for resale is not, and some airlines set their own limits on the number of power banks you can carry, so check the airline page if you are travelling with more than one spare battery.
Is a laptop allowed in hand luggage?
Yes, and hand luggage is where it belongs. Two things follow from that.
Screening. In the United States: "Please remove the laptops from your bag and place it in a separate bin for X-ray screening", unless you are in a PreCheck lane, where travellers "do not need to remove shoes, laptops, 3-1-1 liquids, belts or light jackets" (TSA, updated 15 July 2026). In the UK, the rule that catches people out is different: "Make sure your electronic devices are charged before you travel. If your device does not switch on when requested, you will not be allowed to take it onto the aircraft" (GOV.UK). Some UK and European airports with new CT scanners let laptops stay in the bag; follow the signs in the lane you are in.
Batteries. "Spare (uninstalled) lithium ion and lithium metal batteries, including power banks and cell phone battery charging cases, must be carried in carry-on baggage only" (FAA). A spare laptop battery of up to 100 Wh needs no approval; "with airline approval, passengers may also carry up to two spare larger lithium ion batteries (exceeding 101–160 Wh)", which covers the larger after-market laptop batteries. Terminals must be protected from short circuit: tape over them or keep them in the retail packaging.
How to carry a laptop through airport security
- Keep it near the top of the bag, or in a sleeve you can pull out in one movement.
- Put it flat in its own tray. In a PreCheck lane, or a lane with a CT scanner that says so, leave it in the bag.
- Have it charged. The UK rule above is enforced; a laptop that will not switch on when asked does not board.
- Put spare batteries and power banks in the carry-on, never the hold, and if your carry-on is taken from you at the gate, take the batteries out first: "all spare lithium batteries and power banks must be removed from the bag and kept with the passenger in the aircraft cabin" (FAA).
What size laptop can you take on a plane?
No regulator sets a laptop size. The limit is the bag it travels in, and on low-cost airlines that bag is small: easyJet's free under-seat bag is 45 x 36 x 20 cm, Wizz Air's is 40 x 30 x 20 cm, and Ryanair's small bag must fit under the seat (each airline's baggage page, read 17 September 2026). A 15-inch laptop in a slim sleeve fits all three; a 17-inch gaming laptop in a padded backpack may not, and a bag that fails the sizer at the gate is charged at the gate rate. Measure the bag with the laptop inside.
Do laptops count as carry-on?
The laptop itself does not; the bag it is in does. If your fare includes one small under-seat bag, the laptop is inside that bag or it is a second item. A laptop sleeve carried separately is a second item on Ryanair, easyJet and Wizz Air, and on Eurowings' and Norwegian's base fares. Two-bag fares (a small bag plus a cabin bag) are where a laptop bag travels as its own item.
Can you put a laptop in checked baggage?
You can, and you should not. The TSA allows it ("Checked Bags: Yes"), but the FAA's reasoning for keeping batteries in the cabin applies to the battery inside the laptop too: "All lithium ion batteries are capable of overheating and undergoing a process called thermal runaway", and "flight crews are trained to recognize and respond to lithium battery fires in the cabin". A fire in the hold has no one to respond to it. Keep the laptop with you; if it has to go in the hold, switch it fully off, pad it, and make sure no spare battery or power bank is in the same bag.
Booking the flight the laptop is coming on? You can book now and pay later on Laters.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you bring a laptop in an airplane's cabin on every airline?
Yes. No airline bans laptops in the cabin; the differences are bag size and the number of bags your fare includes.
Can TSA see a laptop in a checked bag?
Yes, checked bags are X-rayed and can be opened for inspection. That is not the reason to keep it with you; the battery is.
Does a laptop have to be in flight mode?
Anything that can transmit must be in flight mode from before take-off until after landing. Most airlines then allow onboard Wi-Fi to be switched on once at cruise.
Can I charge a laptop on a plane?
Only if the seat has a power outlet or USB port, and only with the laptop, not a power bank charging the laptop from the bag. Power banks are for the cabin and must be within reach, not in an overhead bag.
Buy Now Pay Later, Cryptocurrencies, over 100+ ways to pay
