Can you take a fire extinguisher on a plane?

Fire extinguishers on flights in and from Japan

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

Fire extinguishers are refused as compressed gas, whatever the size

None of the official lists gives a fire extinguisher a size limit or an approval route: it is refused in both bags as a pressurised cylinder.

Listed with gas cylinders in Japan

Japan's main list carries the fire extinguisher in its table of oxygen cylinders and gases, on the line after gas cylinders for cassette stoves, crossed out for the cabin and for checked baggage. The line has no quantity, no size and no note.

The reason given is the pressurised gas

CASA states it in a single line: a fire extinguisher is classified as compressed gas and is forbidden. The TSA files it under the title Fire Extinguishers and Other Compressed Gas Cylinders, refused in carry-on and checked bags alike. Korea's aviation security site lists the fire extinguisher under gases in its examples of dangerous goods, between butane gas and LPG.

No small-size exception

Japan's list does make room for small gas cartridges: those with no flammable or toxic gas, 50ml or less each, up to 4 per person. That row is written for cartridges used in devices such as carbonated water makers and portable bicycle pumps. A fire extinguisher is not among its examples, and its own row offers no size under which it would pass.

• Gas canisters and camping gas
• Oxygen cylinders

Fire extinguishers: the rule country by country

The carry-on answer for fire extinguishers is the same in all 3 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 fire extinguishers through

What to do

Fire extinguishers 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

• Aerosol cans (general)
• Pepper spray and bear spray
• Deodorising and sanitising sprays
• Insecticides and fumigation products
• Gas canisters and camping gas
• Oxygen cylinders