After a serious childhood accident, Richard and his family wanted to find a powerchair that would suit his environment, daily routines and, of course, his personality.
A quick-reference companion to our ultimate airline travel guide, designed to give you the essential wheelchair travel info for flights.
I can’t recommend this enough. You need to become an expert in all things assistance, batteries and powerchairs in relation to air travel!
You might expect airline and airport staff to be experts in this, but unfortunately that’s often not the case. Procedures are frequently mixed up, and powered wheelchairs in particular cause confusion. With high staff turnover and limited training, many people either haven’t been trained properly or don’t handle powerchairs often enough to remember the details.
If you understand the procedures, and the reasons behind them, you can stay one step ahead and help keep things on track when you hear something that doesn’t sound right.
This guide is about air travel with powered wheelchairs, but I will cover assistance codes because they go hand in hand.
You will often be asked if you can do stairs, or if you can walk to your seat, they ask these questions because they are trying to determine what assistance code they should assign to you. The codes are:
The below is a combination of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) current edition of the Battery-Powered Wheelchair and Mobility Aid Guidance Document and my own experience. In my experience there are four key things to know to travel with a powerchair.
All major airlines accept powered wheelchairs, but not all airlines accept all types of powered wheelchairs. There are four main types of powered wheelchairs according to IATA guidelines, but only three of them are relevant these days.
If you have a lithium powered chair, this bit is absolutely key to understand and remember.
The biggest danger to a lithium battery is an external event that upsets the internal balance of the battery and causes it to overheat. The most common cause of lithium battery fires is being dropped or crushed. This is why they tell you to ask for help if you drop your phone in your seat.
Products with lithium batteries are generally not allowed in the hold, because if something happens, there is little they can do about it until the plane
Removable lithium batteries are considered more dangerous because they can be dropped, crushed, or damaged. This is why you must remove them and take them with you in the cabin to basically keep an eye on them. They also have a strict 300-watt hour limit to reduce the risk of a severe fire.
Non-removable lithium batteries in powerchairs are considered much safer because they are protected by the chairs chassis and structure from being damaged, this is why the IATA guidance used to say there was no watt hour limit for these chairs.
But, things are changing, and it’s not that simple anymore.
Prior to 2025, the difference between removable and non-removable lithium batteries in powerchairs was pretty clear with most major airlines and on IATA guidance.
However due to many recent incidents of lithium battery fires, particularly with power banks, airlines are increasing their safety measures. With power banks, you are now generally not allowed to charge them on board, you need to keep them within sight and not in the overhead locker, and some airlines have banned all use of them all together.
Products with lithium batteries are generally not allowed in the hold, because if something happens in the hold, there is little they can do about it until the plane lands. Whereas in the cabin, an overheating or damaged battery can be put in a special container to reduce the risk of a severe fire.
Powerchairs with non-removable lithium batteries are still accepted by most major airlines, however, due to the increasing incidents with products like phones and power banks, many airlines are starting to restrict what they are willing to accept. And IATA no longer say there is no watt hour limit for non-removable lithium battery powered wheelchairs and instead say it’s airline/aircraft dependent.
For example, the Lufthansa Group has introduced a maximum limit of 2 non-removable lithium batteries with a 160wh limit each. And Southwest does not accept non-removable lithium batteries at all.
This is a fast changing and complex topic with many different stakeholders.
If you have a powerchair with a lithium battery, always check with your airline that it meets their requirements, even if you’ve used them before.
And just to add another layer of complexity, even if an airline accepts non-removable lithium batteries without a watt hour limit, they sometimes don’t explicitly say this on the website, they only tell you about the 300wh limit if it’s removable, but not what happens if it’s not removable! It’s also very common for airport and airline staff not to know about this crucial difference, and you may need to go through this with them several times.
If you are travelling with a lithium powered wheelchair, you may also be asked for a copy of the UN38.3 test report for the battery, also referred to as the UN report. This is a test report that shows your battery has passed a number of tests required for transportation. You may be asked to email this in advance or show it at the airport.
You may also be asked for a Material Safety Data Sheet even if you have a dry cell battery.
These documents can usually be obtained from your powerchair manufacturer, or from the battery manufacturers website if you know it.
Without going into too much detail, I’ll cover these terms as you will get asked for these sometimes. These numbers only really matter if it’s a lithium battery, but staff tend to ask regardless, and often they don’t really know what they are asking or why they are asking.
You’ll always be asked for the weight of your chair, so make sure you know it. You may also be asked for length, width, and height, with height usually being the most important.
If your chair is under 120cm high, it will generally fit in Airbus A320s and larger without needing the backrest folded, as well as most Boeing aircraft (except the 737). On a Boeing 737—which is very common on short-haul routes—you will almost always need to fold or remove your backrest, as the cargo door is only 84cm high, unless your backrest is very low.
On smaller regional aircraft, width can also be important (see Aircraft hold dimensions below for full details of major aircraft types).
Some airlines list maximum sizes and weights online (for example, a 32kg limit), but these often relate to other mobility devices, not powerchairs. Staff can misread these rules, so it’s important to check in advance that your chair will be accepted and that the correct policies are being applied.
If you know you need to fold your backrest, I suggest you come prepared and know what you need done before they take your chair to the hold. Research the aircraft type you are flying with in advance by looking at booking websites such as Google Flights or using flight tracker tools. Don’t rely on staff to know this for you.
If you have a powered or manual recline, use this to put the seat back to the required height.
If you need to unscrew something, make sure it can be done, if you need a tool like an Allen key, bring it with you. Some airlines say on the website you cannot use tools to fold your backrest, but in reality, staff are very grateful if you come prepared.
Powered wheelchairs must always be disconnected or immobilised when put in the hold.
The main risk with powerchairs in the hold is that they turn themselves on or get turned on, start driving against something in the hold, overheat and start a fire. This actually happened, a bag fell on the joystick and turned it on, the joystick got jammed forward and the motors overheated.
There are five main ways to make sure your chair is safe in the hold, the first is the easiest and simplest, followed by the next best option:
This is a simple one, know how to disengage your powerchair brakes so it can be pushed, take some photos or videos on your phone to show staff at your destination if they are struggling to find it. Some call it freewheel mode, some ask where the brakes are, some ask how they unlock it or push it, it’s all the same thing.
As we all know, powerchairs unfortunately do get damaged during air travel, in my experience its mostly cosmetic damage to my Series 5, but I have had other chairs be so badly damaged I couldn’t use them in the past. I like to think that severe damage is getting less frequent, but that’s my experience. Nevertheless, it’s important to know what to do if the worst happens.
If you notice any damage to your chair, it’s always the airline’s responsibility, even though it’s the airport staff that usually damage it. You either need to report it to the airport on arrival to get a damage report to send to your airline, or report it to your airline online. Do this as quickly as possible, as most airlines have a 7-day limit for reporting damage or they won’t cover the costs of repair.
After you make a claim, what will usually follow is filling out some forms and submitting a damage report and quote for repair. The airline will then respond with a settlement offer. I suggest you seeking a repair provider and getting a report and quote yourself rather than relying on them to do it.
The Montreal Convention specifies a maximum liability on baggage of 1,288 SDRs (approximately £1,365 or EUR1,600). However most major airlines don’t apply this limit to powerchairs. If they do, they have been cases were some social media and press attention gets the airline to cover the full cost.
Some places like the US will also arrange a rental chair for you, if yours is unusable.
I strongly recommend having insurance for your powerchair and travel, in case the absolute worst happens and you need to come home immediately with a broken chair and the airline won’t cover it. Find an insurer that covers repairs to mobility aids and cancellation/curtailment (the cost of getting you home).
After a serious childhood accident, Richard and his family wanted to find a powerchair that would suit his environment, daily routines and, of course, his personality.
Adam is a photographer and musician, whose life changed dramatically after a helicopter crash while working as an aerial photographer in Montana. The accident caused a serious brain injury and complete paralysis on the left side of his body.
Katharina has been a powerchair user for over 20 years. Energetic, determined and fiercely independent, she’s always looked for equipment that supports her lifestyle rather than limits it.
Test drives can be booked at home, at work or at our office.
Freedom One Life Ltd (FRN: 1044465) are an appointed representative of Koze Group Ltd, a credit broker not a lender.
Koze Group Ltd are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 811281) registered in England (08357963).
We offer finance products from a panel of lenders. Credit subject to age and status.
For information on how to make a complaint, please refer to Hiber’s official complaints procedure: