If you fly often, you’ve likely heard the line in the predeparture safety briefing advising passengers to alert a flight attendant if their phone slips between the seats rather than trying to retrieve it themselves. It may feel instinctive to reach into the narrow gap and grab it—but experts say that attempting to retrieve it without assistance can create safety risks to both yourself and the aircraft.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), smartphones that fall between airplane seats can become lodged in the seat’s mechanical components. If the seat is reclined or adjusted while the phone is trapped, the device can be crushed. That’s a concern because, when damaged, the lithium batteries inside phones can overheat and enter what’s known as thermal runaway—a chain reaction where the battery rapidly heats up, releases flammable gases, and can ignite. (It’s part of the same reason you can’t put powerbanks, computers, e-cigarettes, or other electronic devices in your checked bag.)
“Damaged electronics are more susceptible to thermal runaway, so a dropped iPhone or Android is more likely to have a thermal event,” says John Cox, CEO of aviation consulting firm Safety Operating Systems and a former pilot.
That’s exactly what happened on one Southwest Airlines flight departing from Denver to Houston in 2024. Although the phone caught fire while the plane was still at the gate, it ignited a seat, and all 108 passengers had to evacuate the plane via the plane’s rear emergency slides while the crew extinguished the fire.
In 2025, after a passenger’s phone became lodged in a seat on a Hawaiian Airlines flight from Honolulu to Tokyo and began emitting a burning smell near the end of the flight, the pilot declared an emergency, which granted the plane priority landing at Haneda Airport.
And earlier this year, an Alaska Airlines flight from Wichita to Seattle returned to the airport after a passenger’s phone and portable battery pack ignited in the cabin, sending several people for medical evaluation.
FAA data shows at least 106 verified incidents between March 3, 2006, and February 23, 2026 (the most recent reported date), in which lithium batteries in cell phones emitted smoke, caught on fire, or became extremely hot while on a plane. Those numbers have risen in recent years as more people get smartphones. Of those 106 incidents, 21 happened in 2025 alone.
According to a spokesperson from the American Airlines press office, the reason it’s important to notify a crew member is because they know the seats and can access the device before it becomes a safety issue.
“Seats can vary between aircraft, and as part of this training, flight attendants are informed of the various operational intricacies of each seat that customers may not be aware of, and can safely help our customers out should their phone fall between seats,” the American Airlines representative told Afar.
A spokesperson from Delta echoed that sentiment, saying, “There are different seat modifications between cabins and planes, so flight attendants are going to be able to retrieve the phone more easily.” They added that if the phone is really stuck in there, flight attendants can call the destination airport, where someone will be dispatched to meet the plane and use tools, if necessary, to retrieve it. And if the phone gets too hot, starts to smoke, or becomes inflamed, it’s good for the in-flight team to know early so it can prepare fire-safety protocols.
The Delta representative added that calling a flight attendant limits the chances of a passenger accidentally hurting themselves, saying, “Those seats are tight. We’d rather get your phone out for you rather than have you potentially jam your finger.”
Related: The New Rules for Flying With Power Banks and Portable Chargers
This article was originally published in 2024 and most recently updated March 17, 2026, with current information.
