💻 Laptop charger

Laptop chargers can create a dense, cluttered image on the X-ray belt, which sometimes prompts a screener to ask for a bag search. The charger itself is never prohibited, so after a quick visual inspection you will be on your way. You can help by placing the charger brick and cable separately at the top of your bag or in a tray.

No region restricts laptop chargers — they contain no battery and no hazardous components, so they are treated exactly like any other cable or electronic accessory worldwide. The rules are the same whether you are flying in the US, EU, UK, Middle East, or Asia-Pacific.

Neither screeners nor airlines place any restriction on where you carry a laptop charger, so it can go in either bag. The practical reason to keep it in carry-on is simply that checked baggage is sometimes lost or delayed, and arriving without a charger is frustrating.

No special preparation is required. If you are at an airport that still requires laptops to be removed from bags, placing the charger in the same tray as the laptop keeps your electronics together and easy to repack. Coiling the cable neatly prevents it from tangling around other items and creating a confusing X-ray image.