British Airways: vapes, lighters and cigarettes on board

BA's restricted and prohibited items page says smoking, including personal vaporisers such as vapes, e-cigarettes and e-pipes, is completely prohibited on board. For safety, any smoking or vaping device must be in your hand baggage, carried in the cabin, and packaged to prevent accidental activation. Liquid components follow the aviation security liquids rules.

BA adds that if you check in your larger cabin bag, or it is taken off you at the gate and put in the hold, you must remove vapes and e-cigarettes and carry them in your smaller bag or on your person. The UK Civil Aviation Authority gives the same instruction for all UK flights: carry vapes in the cabin and never vape onboard, and keep spares in the cabin bag rather than in checked luggage.

BA also says national laws on using and selling smoking and vaping devices change frequently and some countries have banned their use and import altogether. That matters at the other end of the flight; see the destination links below.

BA allows one small packet of safety matches or a small cigarette lighter that contains no unabsorbed liquid fuel other than liquefied gas, for personal use, carried on your person but not in your hand or checked baggage. Heathrow's banned-items list reads the same way for lighters.

Forbidden: lighter fuel, lighter refills, strike-anywhere matches, blue-flame lighters and cigar lighters.

A vape battery is a lithium battery, so BA's battery rules apply. Spare batteries are forbidden in checked baggage and must be carried in the cabin, protected against short circuit (original packaging, a protective case or bag, or tape over the terminals). BA's limit is a maximum of 4 spare batteries per person, of which up to 2 may be power banks; lithium-ion batteries must not exceed 100 Wh. Batteries of 100 to 160 Wh need BA's approval for each passenger.

Power banks have their own limits on BA's page: up to 2 per person, capacity rating displayed on the unit, no more than 100 Wh, stored in the seat pocket or in a bag under the seat in front. The seat power supply is for personal electronic devices, not for charging power banks. The CAA also says not to charge a power bank on any flight.

We did not find a BA rule on how much tobacco you can pack. The limit that catches travellers is the customs allowance where you land, not the airline's. The UK's own figure for arrivals is on the United Kingdom rules page. For BA's long-haul network, check the rules before you fly to places that treat tobacco and vapes strictly:

• United States
• India, where vapes are a banned import
• United Arab Emirates

Heated tobacco devices are not named on the BA page. Its wording covers "any other smoking tool or device"; if you carry a heated tobacco holder, treat it like a vape: cabin, protected, never used on board. This is our reading, not a BA statement.

BA's two London airports are Heathrow and Gatwick. Both have a page on this site listing the smoking areas and whether they are before or after security. Nothing can be used once you are on the aircraft.

BA's rule is a flat ban on smoking and vaping on board. We found no published fine for it, from BA or from the CAA, so we give none. Our general guide covers fines in other countries: can you bring a vape on a plane.