650 passengers in a year break rule causing planes to be diverted

650 passengers in a year break rule causing planes to be diverted Officials say holidaymakers may be unaware of the strict rule over the new biggest danger to flights Holidaymakers are being warned over an increasingly common item being taken onto planes as pilots deal with multiple incidents and a flight had to be diverted. People are being told not to pack power banks or vapes in their hold luggage as the fire risk posed by lithium batteries is now the biggest safety risk to aircraft. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) says the number of devices found in hold bags has nearly doubled in a year, as the average person now takes four different lithium-powered devices on a flight. The batteries are now common in electrical devices such as laptops, vapes, power banks, mobile phones and smart watches. When the batteries break down, they can start fires which are difficult to control and spread rapidly. Almost 650 incidents of batteries in hold bags were reported to the CAA last year - double the number of reports from 2024, and the number of reports of batteries overheating or malfunctioning also surged to 206. When batteries malfunction in the cabin, they can be detected, and the fire dealt with. If a fire starts in the hold where the luggage is kept during a flight, it may not be spotted until it's too late. The CAA says two lithium battery incidents now occur every week - causing danger and delays. Last month, an easyJet flight had to divert when a power bank was packed in the hold. In October video spread online showing a fire aboard an Air China flight. The CAA is reminding passengers - To take items like mobile phones, vapes and power banks on board in the cabin. - Only two power banks per person are allowed on a flight, and they can never be charged onboard. - To turn off laptops completely if they're going to be put in check in bags. Tim Alderslade, Chief Executive of Airlines UK, said: "Whilst pilots and cabin crew are trained to deal with any situation the best outcome is always prevention, which starts when passengers pack their bags." Giuseppe Capanna, product safety engineer at Electrical Safety First, said: "When these products are packed in your baggage, there is no access to them. So if something goes wrong, they can cause a really devastating fire that can have real dangerous consequences," He added: "It is really important that we make sure that we only bring safe, tested products with us on holiday."