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NEED TO KNOW
- The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) shared a friendly reminder about how to pack electric toothbrushes
- “Traveling with your electric toothbrush, or other items that buzz? If they have an installed lithium battery you should pack them in your carry-on bag,” the TSA explained in an X post
- The TSA confirmed to PEOPLE that this is not a new regulation
This might be a buzz kill for airline travelers.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) shared a reminder about how to pack battery-operated devices — specifically electric toothbrushes — that buzz when accidentally turned on in bags. However, the friendly reminder is for another reason pertaining to safety.
“Traveling with your electric toothbrush, or other items that buzz? If they have an installed lithium battery you should pack them in your carry-on bag,” the TSA explained in an X post on Sept. 4.
The same guidance applies to smartphones, laptops, tablets and other electronics containing lithium batteries, as listed on the Federal Aviation Administration’s PackSafe page about battery-operated devices.
The TSA confirmed to PEOPLE that the X post is not a rule-change announcement — it’s just a reminder: “This is not a new regulation and has been in place since 2008,” a TSA spokesperson says.
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The 2008 rule change states that “passengers will no longer be able to pack loose lithium batteries in checked luggage … to reduce the risk of lithium battery fires.”
The regulation “will continue to allow lithium batteries in checked baggage if they are installed in electronic devices, or in carry-on baggage if properly protected from short circuiting in their original packaging or by placing them in individual plastic bags or a protective travel case.”
Batteries not installed in devices aren’t permitted in checked bags.
“Any spare or uninstalled lithium batteries must be placed in a carry-on bag,” the TSA’s Sept. 4 X post added as a final reminder.
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The reminder comes weeks after the TSA and the FAA updated their prohibited items list to include popular hair styling tools in checked luggage: cordless curling irons or flatirons containing gas cartridges, butane-filled curling irons and flatirons, and gas refill cartridges for these tools. These items must be packed in carry-on bags.
For a complete list of items and how to pack them, visit this TSA page.
