A power bank belonging to a passenger caught fire on a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Lisbon on the evening of September 26.
The crew placed the device in a safety bag, but the aircraft diverted and landed in Lyon, France.
Carrying a power bank onto the aircraft and using or charging it during the flight are not the same issue.
3-line summary
1. The aircraft landed in Lyon because of a power bank fire
2. The 198 passengers and 6 crew members were not injured
3. Passengers should check airline regulations even after bringing a power bank on board
A fire near a seat, and flight LH1170’s diversion to Lyon
Lufthansa’s LH1170 was an Airbus A321-200 aircraft that departed Frankfurt am Main, Germany, at 8:47 p.m. on September 26 and was headed for Lisbon, Portugal. During the flight, a power bank near one passenger’s seat caught fire, and the crew secured it in a “Lithium Safe Bag” designed for lithium battery fires.
The flight crew decided to make a diversionary landing in Lyon, France, for safety reasons. The aircraft landed safely in Lyon just before 10 p.m., and after approval from the fire authorities, the passengers disembarked normally via stairs. According to a Spiegel report, there were no injuries.
The 198 passengers and 6 crew members spent the night at a hotel. They could not continue flying to Lisbon because of nighttime operating restrictions, and the passengers were rebooked onto an alternative flight to Lisbon on September 27.
Lufthansa rules: Carry-on is allowed, but use and charging are prohibited
Lufthansa has prohibited the use and charging of power banks during flights since January 15, 2026. However, carrying a power bank itself as cabin baggage is permitted, although it may not be placed in the overhead compartment. It must be stored in the seat-back pocket, kept on one’s person, or placed in cabin baggage under the seat in front.
It is also necessary to confirm that power banks may not be placed in checked baggage. Lithium-ion batteries can overheat or lead to fires, and an aircraft cannot land immediately during a flight. Even when equipment is available to isolate a device that has caught fire, as in this incident, the flight crew may change the landing destination to reduce the risk of an onboard fire.
There are also capacity limits. Under Lufthansa’s rules, 100Wh or larger power banks must be declared to the airline in advance. Before actually boarding, it is safer to separately check each airline’s permitted capacity, storage location, and whether use and charging are allowed. The key point illustrated by this case is that operational safety is directly connected not merely to whether a passenger carries a power bank, but to where it is kept and how it is handled during the flight.
References
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