I have a couple of laptops. One for work and one for personal use and don’t want to carry it on me. Can I chuck them in the checked in baggage and be done with it? Is there any prohibition for that? If it helps, I am flying out of Melbourne Tullamarine on Hainan Airlines to Abu Dhabi - UAE with a stopover in Hainan (Haikou) - China.
Ignoring the lithium battery issue, and the actual regulations, consider that the checked in baggage will be treated with the same level of care that routinely destroys guitars and suitcases. Maybe you dont want to have your laptops dropped on the tarmac.
Also check with your work, you may have rules that prevent you putting work laptops in checked luggage, as its easiest for them to be stolen from there (or if your really paranoid, easiest for malware to be installed without your knowledge)
towerful@programming.dev 17 hours ago
Lithium ion batteries cannot go in the hold.
They are a huge amount of stored chemical energy that wants to turn into a fire, and fires on airplanes are one of the most dangerous things. Fires in the hold even more so.
Lithium ion batteries need to be carry on, so if they do try and start a fire they can be quickly spotted and dealt with
dgriffith@aussie.zone 16 hours ago
This is inaccurate. OP , look it up for your airline. You’ll find all the information you need for your particular circumstances in a handy guide on their website, because they very much want you to know.
In general though:
Devices containing batteries with less than 100Wh capacity can go in checked luggage as long as they are completely turned off and can’t be accidentally turned on. There are limits to how many, a suitcase full of laptops will be frowned upon.
Spare batteries (for eg power tools) need to go in carry-on and again, there are limits to how many.
Anything > 100Wh, like scooters or biiiiig powerbanks need special permission or are banned outright.