British Airways, Ryanair and easyJet warn travellers against travelling with this bag

A famous journalist was recently unable to board her flight due to the type of carry-on bag she had. Photo / Pexels

A famous British journalist claims she was banned from boarding a flight because she had the wrong kind of carry-on bag.

Pandora Sykes, well known for her podcast The High Low with fellow journalist Dolly Alderton, tweeted in August about an experience with easyJet where she was refused entry onto the plane because her carry-on suitcase.

"Beware anyone being so foolish to fly easyJet," she tweeted.

"Captain just refused to let us board our flights because our checked-in suitcases have USB ports (aka "smart bags").

According to Sykes, the airline recently changed its rules to ban the bags but did not communicate with passengers.

“EasyJet quietly changed their Ts&Cs a few weeks ago without telling their customers,” she wrote.

Beware anyone being so foolish to fly Easyjet - captain just refused to let us board our flights because our checked-in suitcases have USB ports (aka “smart bags”). Easyjet quietly changed their Ts&Cs a few weeks ago without telling their customers

— Pandora Sykes (@PINsykes) August 13, 2022

One person commented on the tweet and asked Sykes if she had followed all of the other airline rules, particularly those concerning batteries.

"Did you remove the battery? There's a list of things you're not allowed to keep in your hold luggage and we tick the box to confirm we do not have these items so I guess the pilot was acting from a point of safety."

Another agreed, saying easyJet was not at fault.

“Hate to break this to you, it’s not easyjet,” they wrote.

“The rules on Li-Ion batteries being disconnected and only allowed to be taken if you can take them in the cabin have been in place for years. They’re part of IATA’s [international Air Transport Asociation] Dangerous Goods regulations.”

However, Sykes replied and said she often flew with this kind of bag and had never encountered issues before.

While she didn't have a problem with airlines changing their policy, she said airline staff should have warned them prior to arriving at the gate.

"It just would have been decent to have a reminder at check-in on the screen, or even get called before we get to the gate so we can remove it and still catch our flight!" she said.

She said she was not offered a refund for the flight.

According to easyJet's terms and conditions, lithium batteries or power banks must be disconnected before flying for safety reasons.

If you are unable to disconnect the battery, you will be unable to fly with the bag.

Ryanair has a similar rule, while British Airways goes further to say that if the smart bag battery is more than 160Wh or you do not know the Wh (Watt hours), it is not allowed on the plane.

In New Zealand, the Civil Aviation Authority states passengers can check in and carry-on smart bags with lithium batteries, as long as they "do not exceed 0.3g or 2.7Wh".

Air New Zealand also enforces this regulation on their flights.

This story originally appeared in New Zealand Herald Travel here.