Southwest charger and bag rules

Southwest is tightening two things travelers notice immediately: what you can bring to your seat and what you pay to put in the cargo hold. Starting Sunday, April 20, the airline says each passenger can bring only one portable charger, and it has to be 100 watt-hours or less. (southwest.com, faa.gov, foxbusiness.com) That 100 watt-hour cap is not a random Southwest number. The Federal Aviation Administration already treats 0 to 100 watt-hours as the standard size allowed on passenger aircraft, while bigger lithium-ion batteries from 101 to 160 watt-hours need airline approval and anything above 160 watt-hours is forbidden. (faa.gov, faa.gov) Southwest’s new rule goes further than the federal baseline on quantity and use. Federal rules generally allow personal spare batteries in carry-on bags, but Southwest is cutting that down to one portable charger per person and telling passengers not to use that charger onboard. (faa.gov, thetravel.com, foxbusiness.com) The reason is the same one airlines and regulators keep circling back to: lithium batteries can burn fast if they are damaged or short-circuit. The Federal Aviation Administration says these batteries should stay in accessible carry-on baggage, not buried where a crew cannot reach them quickly. (faa.gov, faa.gov) Southwest is pairing the restriction with a promise meant to soften it. The airline says it plans to add in-seat power across its fleet by mid-2027, which would give passengers a built-in outlet instead of relying on a battery brick in a backpack. (thetravel.com, indexbox.io) At the same time, Southwest is charging more for checked bags. In a newsroom update published April 7, the airline said fees for the first and second checked bags would rise by $10 for reservations ticketed or voluntarily changed on or after April 9, 2026. (swamedia.com) For many passengers, that means the first checked bag is now $45 and the second is $55 on Basic, Choice, and Choice Preferred fares. Southwest’s fare pages now say bag fees apply to those three fare types, while Choice Extra still includes two free checked bags. (swamedia.com, southwest.com, southwest.com) The free-bag exceptions now work more like a loyalty ladder than a blanket airline perk. Southwest says Rapid Rewards A-List Preferred members and Choice Extra customers still get two free checked bags, while A-List members and Southwest Rapid Rewards credit cardholders get the first checked bag free. (southwest.com, southwest.com) That is a sharp break from the image Southwest sold for years, when “bags fly free” worked like a simple promise instead of a fare-class benefit. In April 2026, the airline is moving closer to the rest of the industry on bag pricing while moving ahead of some rivals on portable-battery limits. (abcnews.go.com, usatoday.com, swamedia.com) So the new Southwest routine is simple but less forgiving than it used to be: one small portable charger in your carry-on, no charging that battery during the flight, and higher bag fees unless you bought up to Choice Extra or earned status. The airline is trading old simplicity for tighter safety rules and more segmented pricing, one policy change at a time. (foxbusiness.com, southwest.com, swamedia.com)