> of course the overhead bin restriction would have been difficult to police and enforce.

In China (Mainland of course), they will toss your powerbank at security if it isn't approved, and the approval they are using is rather recent and Chinese specific, thankfully most recent powerbanks made in China have the approval. They are very efficient in snuffing out powerbanks also, their thoroughness would definitely make our TSA blush.

> But the onboard outlets were good enough for anything I needed to do during the 15+ hour flight.

Only if those plugs are actually working....sigh.

Coincidentally, I just checked in early for an upcoming Air Asia flight (first time on this airline, not China) and see that among other restrictions they require power banks to "be carried on your person or in the seat pocket in front of you" and "sealed in a plastic or insulated pouch or kept in their original retail packaging to prevent short circuits".

Agree that China TSA equivalent > US TSA.

Flew from PEK a few months ago and yep, they easily spotted my power bank (wasn't trying to hide it to be fair but they clearly weren't half-assing it) and were very thorough in checking if it had the CCC certification (had bought one specifically with it so thankfully it was let through).