Can you take lighter fluid on a plane?

Lighter fluid and refills on flights in and from Japan

The rule for lighter fluid and refills comes from the Civil Aviation Bureau's list of restricted items and is the same on domestic and international flights.

Butane cans, lighter oil and refills: fuel outside the lighter

Lighter fuel may fly only inside the lighter you are allowed to carry. A can, bottle or refill of it is banned on every dangerous goods list we read.

Inside the lighter, yes; in a can, no

Japan's list keeps the fuel rows in the same section as the lighters: lighter fuel, gas and oil alike, is × in both columns, while the lighter that holds it is allowed on your person. CASA draws the same line with a pair of entries: Liquid fuel inside cigarette lighter, which may be carried on the person, and Lighter fuel in can, which is not permitted.

Butane is named as well as oil

The gas refill is covered as clearly as the liquid. The TSA has separate No and No entries for Lighter (Fluid) and for Butane. Hong Kong's CAD forbids lighter fuel and lighter refills and, on the same list, flammable gas such as butane and propane. South Korea's dangerous goods page names lighter fuel among flammable liquids and butane gas among gases.

Taiwan lists it among things passengers often pack

Taiwan's CAA puts lighter fuel and lighter refills in a short note of dangerous goods that passengers commonly carry but must not place in hand baggage, on the person or in checked baggage. Its neighbours in that note are strike-anywhere matches and jet lighters. Hong Kong's table prints the same ban directly beneath its lighter allowance.

Australia's security list and CASA read differently

Australia's security screening page lists lighter fluid, with matches and lighters, among flammable items that are not prohibited items. That page is about security screening, and it says CASA administers the rules for dangerous goods. CASA's own list marks lighter fuel, lighter fuel in a can and lighter refills as Item Not Permitted, so the fuel does not fly.

Lighter fluid and refills: the rule country by country

The carry-on answer for lighter fluid and refills is the same in all 6 other places we checked.

Each row comes from that authority's own page. Airlines can be stricter, and the screening officer has the final say.

If security in Japan will not let lighter fluid and refills through

What to do

Lighter fluid and refills cannot go in checked baggage either. Leave them behind or hand them to someone who is not flying. Narita Airport states that anything given up at the checkpoint is discarded and cannot be returned.

If it gets on board

Taking an item that is restricted from the cabin onto an aircraft is punishable under Japan's Civil Aeronautics Act: up to 2 years' imprisonment or a fine of up to 1,000,000 yen.

Related items

• Lighters
• Matches