Battery pouch with terminal protection
Amazon Australia
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Can you take spare lithium batteries on a plane?
Carry-on: Conditions Checked: No Same on domestic flights
Spare and loose lithium batteries must travel in carry-on, never checked. Tape the terminals or keep each one in its own pouch or original packaging so metal cannot bridge them.
Same size bands as power banks: no approval to 100Wh, airline approval 100-160Wh, banned above that.
Flying within Australia? This rule does not change.
Lithium battery rules are dangerous-goods rules, not screening rules, so they are identical on a domestic flight.
Two rules explain most of this page. Lithium batteries fly in the cabin so the crew can reach them, and the 100ml liquid limit is an international rule. Your flight home is screened under the departure country's rules, which are sometimes stricter than Australia's.
Flying soon? Screening is the easy part
What stops Australians at the airport is more often the passport, the visa or the phone than the bag. Say where you are going and we will show you the entry rules for an Australian passport, what an eSIM actually costs there, and what the insurance covers.
Gear that meets this rule
Chosen because it satisfies the rule above, not because of what it costs. Links go to Amazon Australia and we may earn a commission, which never changes what we recommend.
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Batteries & electronics
AA and AAA batteries
Ordinary alkaline batteries are fine in either bag.
Laptops and tablets
Best in carry-on, where the crew can reach a battery problem.
Phones
Carry it on.
E-scooters and hoverboards
Their batteries are far over the 160Wh passenger limit, so airlines refuse them in both cabin and hold.
Smart luggage
Allowed if the battery is removable.
Drones
The drone itself can fly either way, but its lithium batteries follow the spare-battery rules: carry-on only, terminals protected, the usual size bands.
What is actually worth booking.
New destination guides and side-by-side comparisons for Australian travellers - which eSIM, which travel card, which insurance is worth paying for, and what to sort before you go. Prices in Australian dollars, a few emails a year.
Packing something else? The full A to Z of what you can take on a plane covers 61 items, the domestic flight rules set out what changes when you are not leaving the country, and the pre-departure checklist puts the rest of the trip in order.
Last reviewed 2 September 2026. Screening, dangerous-goods and biosecurity rules change, and airlines can be stricter than the government baseline. For anything unusual, the linked source and your airline's dangerous-goods page are the final word.