DENVER — The next time you fly, you might want to leave e-cigarettes at home after the U.S. Department of Transportation banned them from being brought on commercial flights.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, use of electronic cigarettes will not be allowed on any U.S. commercial airliner. The ban goes into effect starting next month, the USDOT announced Wednesday.
Some individual airlines had already banned electronic cigarettes, but now it applies to passengers on all U.S. and foreign airlines with flights within or in and out of the country.
Battery-powered electronic cigarettes have been banned from checked baggage since October.
The Transportation Security Administration clarifies on its official blog that you can travel on a plane with e-cigarettes, but just like tobacco cigarettes, you cannot use them on any commercial plane.
E-cigarettes can also be stored in carry-on luggage. They cannot be charged while on board an aircraft. Traditional smoking has been banned on airlines for 30 years.
“This final rule is important because it protects airline passengers from unwanted exposure to aerosol fumes that occur when electronic cigarettes are used onboard airplanes,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said.
Though the impacts of e-cigarettes are not fully known, the USDOT said it was taking a “precautionary approach,” especially taking into account the concerns of “children, the elderly, and passengers with respiratory issues.”