United Airlines and Delta Air Lines have announced that humanoid robots are not allowed on their flights, including in passenger cabins and checked baggage. The policy follows Southwest’s earlier ban on similar items. Across the reports, the rationale centers on safety concerns involving batteries—particularly lithium batteries—used to power humanoid robots. Airlines typically regulate battery handling and transport under aviation safety rules, and the new restrictions treat humanoid robots as items that cannot be carried due to the associated power source risk.
The two airlines are described as the latest U.S. carriers to apply this restriction, indicating that the practice is spreading beyond a single carrier. While the underlying concern is the safety of transporting batteries on aircraft, the shared reporting emphasizes that the bans are specifically targeted at humanoid robots rather than all battery-powered devices. The accounts do not indicate that robots are permitted under any specific conditions, nor do they provide timelines for enforcement beyond the companies’ stated adoption of the ban.
