Flying to Tenerife with a mobility scooter: rules and tips
Taking your own scooter or powerchair? The battery decides most of it. Here are the rules airlines apply, what airport assistance covers, and how to judge whether bringing your own is worth it.
The battery decides almost everything
If you own a mobility scooter or an electric wheelchair, one question comes first: do you take it to Tenerife, or hire one here? Usually it comes down to the battery. Airlines treat those batteries as dangerous goods, and the rules are strict and not identical at every airline.
Get them right and your scooter travels free of charge. Get them wrong and you can be turned away at the desk. Here is what the rules say.
Lithium batteries: the numbers that matter
The figure to remember is 300 watt-hours (Wh). IATA's 2026 guidance says a removed lithium battery must not exceed 300 Wh in total, with spares allowed up to a further 300 Wh per mobility aid. Airlines usually write it as 300 Wh, or 160 Wh each where a device has two batteries. Three points catch people out.
- A removed lithium battery flies in the cabin, never in the hold. It may stay fitted only if the device's design protects it and holds it securely; otherwise it comes out, following the maker's instructions — and some airlines ask for that either way. Once out it travels with you, in a protective pouch with the terminals covered. Spares too.
- You must be able to show the watt-hours. Lithium-ion batteries have carried the Wh rating on the case for years. If yours has worn away, work it out: volts × amp-hours, so a 24 V, 12 Ah battery is 288 Wh.
- The battery must be UN 38.3 tested — the air-transport safety standard in the UN Manual of Tests and Criteria. Your airline will ask you to confirm it, so check first if yours is a replacement rather than the original.
Some airlines go further. Lufthansa limits permanently installed, non-removable lithium batteries to two of no more than 160 Wh each, and Eurowings has done the same since 1 October 2025. Where more than 300 Wh stays installed, IATA tells airlines to consider extra measures: a fire-resistant cover, or the battery arriving charged to 25% or less. Gel, AGM and other sealed non-spillable batteries follow different rules — removed, they travel in the hold in rigid packaging, with one spare allowed. Confirm the figures with your own airline before booking.
What your airline needs, and how far ahead
Tell the airline when you book, and at the very latest 48 hours before departure. That deadline is in European law: under Regulation (EC) No 1107/2006, airlines must carry up to two pieces of mobility equipment per passenger free of charge, electric wheelchairs included — subject to 48 hours' warning, space on board, and the dangerous goods rules being met.
Have this ready — it is the list IATA tells airlines to work through: make and model; total weight with batteries; length, width and height as presented at the airport; battery type and, if lithium, its watt-hours; whether the battery comes out; how the power is isolated (key, detachable joystick, or unplugging at the battery); and how to engage freewheel mode. Jet2 asks for much the same. The UK Civil Aviation Authority also advises bringing the operating manual, as it may help staff.
Two warnings. A large powerchair does not fit every hold, which is why dimensions are asked for early. And without notice, staff will help where they can, but the device may be refused if the safety rules cannot be met.
Airport assistance: helpful, but not what many expect
Both island airports run Aena's free "Sin Barreras" (Barrier Free) service. Request it at least 48 hours before the scheduled departure time, normally through your airline when you book. Aena recommends arriving two and a half hours before the flight and being at a signposted meeting point at least two hours before departure. From there someone takes you through check-in, security and passport control, on and off the aircraft, and to the baggage hall.
What it does not cover is equipment for your holiday. The airport's wheelchair belongs to the airport. Bring your own scooter and expect to be parted from it: it is usually taken at the aircraft door and returned there or in the baggage hall. Plan for that gap, and for reaching your taxi. If you are hiring instead, we can meet you in arrivals at Tenerife South (TFS) or Tenerife North (TFN) for €25 each way.
When your equipment arrives damaged
It happens often enough to plan for. In the United States, where airlines must report the figure, 1.26% of the wheelchairs and scooters carried in 2024 were mishandled — damaged, delayed or lost — down from 1.38% in 2023.
- Check it before you leave the baggage hall. Switch it on, sit in it, test the brakes and the tiller. A claim is far harder afterwards.
- Report it there and then and get a written damage report before you go. Photograph the device from several angles.
- Keep every receipt for repairs, or for hiring a replacement while yours is out of action.
What surprises people is the limit. Under the Montreal Convention, an airline's liability for checked baggage — a scooter included — is capped at 1,519 Special Drawing Rights per passenger, about US$2,000 on ICAO's figure. European law says you must be compensated for mobility equipment lost or damaged in handling or on board, but the sums still follow that cap, well below what many powered chairs cost. So check whether your travel insurance covers equipment in transit, and ask your airline about declaring a higher value when you hand the device over: the Convention allows that for a supplementary fee.
Bring your own, or hire it here?
Bring your own if the fit is the point. If your seating is set up for you, or the chair is your everyday mobility rather than a holiday aid, no hired machine will match it. Then do the paperwork properly: tell them at booking, confirm the battery figures in writing, label the device with your name and hotel, and carry loose parts on board.
Hire here if your equipment is standard. Sending an ordinary scooter through two baggage systems buys risk and paperwork and little else. Hiring means no battery forms, no questions at the desk, nothing to inspect at the carousel — and a full-size scooter waiting, not a travel model chosen because it would fly.
With us, scooters, wheelchairs and walking aids are delivered and collected free anywhere in Tenerife, north or south. The only extra is €25 each way if you would rather use the airport — €25 for the handover when you land and another €25 if we also collect it there when you fly home. You can also collect free from us at Av. de los Chincanayros 37, Icod de los Vinos.
A middle path works for many: a light manual chair for the airports, a hired scooter for the fortnight. See which scooter to hire, our wheelchair guide, the delivery page, the prices and the FAQs — and ask us if your case is unusual.
Leaving the scooter at home this time?
Pick your dates and we will have the right equipment waiting — delivered free anywhere in Tenerife, or handed to you at the airport for €25 each way.