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United Airlines Can Now Boot Passengers Who Refuse To Use Headphones (cbsnews.com) 159

Posted by BeauHD from the no-longer-optional dept.
United Airlines has updated its contract of carriage to require passengers to use headphones when playing audio or video on personal devices during flights. Travelers who refuse could be removed from the plane or even permanently banned from flying with the airline, reports CBS News.

United notes that it will offer customers who forget theirs a free pair of wired earbuds. "Don't worry if you forget your headphones for your flight," the airline states on its website. "If they're available, you can request free earbuds." You'd better hope your device still has a headphone jack...

Further reading: Flying Was Already the Worst. Then America Stopped Using Headphones.
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United Airlines Can Now Boot Passengers Who Refuse To Use Headphones More

United Airlines Can Now Boot Passengers Who Refuse To Use Headphones

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  • It's a start, I suppose (Score:5, Funny)

    by YetanotherUID ( 4004939 ) on Thursday March 05, 2026 @06:10PM (#66025094)
    Why half ass it? Go all the way and install noise activated ejection seats!

    • Why half ass it? Go all the way and install noise activated ejection seats!

      That was the first thing I thought when I read "Travelers who refuse could be removed from the plane", but to do this practically you would really need an airlock.

    • Why half ass it? Go all the way and install noise activated ejection seats!

      If the steward finds a button professionally laser etched with the words “Ejecto Seato” on it, the Hollywood lawyers said they’ll sign off on it.

  • Good. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by crunchy_one ( 1047426 ) on Thursday March 05, 2026 @06:12PM (#66025100)
    It's not just on airplanes. People using the speaker on their devices in public places like coffee shops, restaurants, movie theaters, etc., have become an extreme, difficult to avoid annoyance. I don't want to hear someone's conversation, the music they like, or whatever rage-filled commentator they're addicted to. It's an aggressive intrusion into my sonic space, and I'd like to see rules made against it and enforced.

    • Re:Good. (Score:5, Interesting)

      by aRTeeNLCH ( 6256058 ) on Thursday March 05, 2026 @06:44PM (#66025196)
      What happens if you ask them to be quiet? We've had all types of results, one woman in a restaurant playing loud clips in her language same as the restaurant language started shouting at the staff that we were crazy; cool guy in the train sincerely apologetic; older guy pretending not to speak the language then found I spoke enough of his.... Usually they give in, sometimes passive aggressively, sometimes not. This is all in Western Europe, by the way

      My wife flew to Bangkok recently, night flight, and the 2 rows behind her were populated with very loud Russians, who were just laughing at her and getting even louder after she asked them if they could be quieter so people could sleep... I have no clue why the crew didn't do anything, but they didn't.

      • My wife flew to Bangkok recently

        *giggles*

      • Re:Good. (Score:4, Informative)

        by ArchieBunker ( 132337 ) on Thursday March 05, 2026 @09:04PM (#66025458)

        What happens if you ask them to be quiet?

        An elderly man shoots you dead. https://abc7chicago.com/post/c... [abc7chicago.com]

      • > What happens if you ask them to be quiet?

        What happens if you just blast your own stuff, maybe crazy frog or baby shark louder then tham ? Do they accept it or ask you to stop ?

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by dskoll ( 99328 )

      This is where I have fantasies of an EMI weapon that I can point at a phone and blow the electronics to smithereens. Someone please invent this. (Careful of pacemakers, I guess...)

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by aitikin ( 909209 )

      It's not just on airplanes. People using the speaker on their devices in public places like coffee shops, restaurants, movie theaters, etc., have become an extreme, difficult to avoid annoyance. I don't want to hear someone's conversation, the music they like, or whatever rage-filled commentator they're addicted to. It's an aggressive intrusion into my sonic space, and I'd like to see rules made against it and enforced.

      It gets even worse. People are literally watching videos on their phone in stalls at my office. Regularly. I don't want to be hearing your pundit's analysis of last night's sportsball game while relieving my bladder or bowels. And the worst part is, I've heard multiple different feeds at the same time, so it's not just one bad apple.

    • I tend to whip out Baby Shark or the Baby Shark EDM remix.

    • It's not just on airplanes. People using the speaker on their devices in public places like coffee shops, restaurants, movie theaters, etc., have become an extreme, difficult to avoid annoyance. I don't want to hear someone's conversation, the music they like, or whatever rage-filled commentator they're addicted to. It's an aggressive intrusion into my sonic space, and I'd like to see rules made against it and enforced.

      People like to talk about the price of freedom in terms of blood but really the true cost of freedom is the willingness of members of society to tolerate others.

    • I don't want to be outside and hear your 120db motorcycle or your 4 cylinder car with a fart pipe. I wish those cars, trucks and motorcycles could be booted from the road as well!

    • Restaurants, bars, airports, malls, amusement parks, shops, elevators - all seem to feel the need/right to pollute the air with their "music". Usually obnoxious saxophone or a wailing, screeching woman.

      Look, it is not acceptable to blow smoke in a person's nostrils, why is is ok to blow noise into their ears?

    • Easy way would be install a Faraday cage in each theater.

      "But, I've gotta get to the next level of some Bejeweled clone"

  • Almost unbelieveable (Score:5, Interesting)

    by HotNeedleOfInquiry ( 598897 ) on Thursday March 05, 2026 @06:12PM (#66025102)
    That someone would be so rude as to a) leave their speaker on and b) not turn it off when told to by the cabin crew. Fuck this world.

  • Good! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Murdoch5 ( 1563847 ) on Thursday March 05, 2026 @06:15PM (#66025110) Homepage
    Can they also force people to behave in a decent manner? Descent does not mean giving up your seats because someone else feels entitled, but it covers things like:

    1. Not having a family party on board.
    2. Not taking off your shoes and socks and stomping around.
    3. Being hygienic, so your body order doesn't cause a reaction from other customers.
    4. Being a reasonable size, which also means:
    4a. If you need two seats, you buy two seats, or you don't board.
    4b. Having reasonably sized seats available for physically large people (not fat).
    5. Bring an actual carry on, onto the plan.
    6. Having a reasonable emotion or service animal, WITH PAPERS.
    7. Keeping your kids reasonable controlled, they're still kids, but they can't be feral.
    8. Staying contained to your seat.
    9. Actually cleaning the plane.
    10. Not ramming carts into passengers.
    11. Stopping the service of excessive alcohol, honestly, how bombed do you need to get?
    12. Getting rid of the recline feature in economy, there isn't enough room, period!

    I could keep going, but could we make air travel not a nightmare? The last flight I took was a circus, and certainly most of the people were decent, reasonable, and respectable, but others, were animalistic.

    • Decent ... covers things like:
      2. Not taking off your shoes and socks and stomping around.

      From The Good Place [wikipedia.org], Most Improved Player [fandom.com] (S01E08):

      Michael: This is a quick litmus test. A handful of questions designed to tell whether you are fundamentally good or bad. ...
      Michael: ... Did you ever take off your shoes and socks on a commercial airline?

      Eleanor: And socks? Ew, who would do that?

      Michael: People who go to The Bad Place, Eleanor, that's the point. And unless I can figure out a compelling reason to keep you here, you will spend eternity with murderers, and arsonists, and people who take off their shoes and socks on commercial airlines.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by aitikin ( 909209 )

      Last I flew (last month) I don't think I ran into any of these issues. Plane was clean, reasonable, etc.

      11. Stopping the service of excessive alcohol, honestly, how bombed do you need to get?

      This makes your sig even funnier.

      • Fair, but a beer or two, is fine. The last flight I was on, someone got absolutely smashed, and was bugging people.

        • Re:Good! (Score:4, Funny)

          by ceoyoyo ( 59147 ) on Thursday March 05, 2026 @08:25PM (#66025392)

          On the other hand, I was on a flight where the woman behind me kept demanding booze from the flight attendants before we'd even moved. Eventually they gave her a bottle to shut her up and she fell asleep and didn't bother anybody again.

          Perhaps a registry that keeps track of whether you're more annoying drunk or sober.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mjwx ( 966435 )

        Last I flew (last month) I don't think I ran into any of these issues. Plane was clean, reasonable, etc.

        11. Stopping the service of excessive alcohol, honestly, how bombed do you need to get?

        This makes your sig even funnier.

        I think this is more of an issue if you fly cheap airlines to "party" destinations. The routes I fly typically don't have hens parties on them (London-Madrid, London-Singapore, Madrid-Bogota)... Will be totally different to the Ryanair special to Malaga.

        I drink but don't drink on aircraft precisely because drinking and flying makes me a cranky Carl (I like to enjoy my drinking).

    • - Stop kicking / shoving your knees into someone's seat in front.
      - Keep your hair in your space, don't hang it over the seat.
      - Already heavily drunk people should be stopped from boarding. The culture of heavy pre-flight drinking is just nuisance to others around you who can't escape your odour, drooling, slurring, or even vomiting.

      • Re: Good! (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Murdoch5 ( 1563847 ) on Thursday March 05, 2026 @07:44PM (#66025326) Homepage
        Don't kick the seat, but if you're reasonably tall, your knees have nowhere else to go, hence why seat size should be increased. There was a story a while back about some comically undersized seats, I've been in one of those, and I'm 184 cm tall, and 130kg of muscle. The common question is: Why don't you prebook? I do, but, I have a broken back, and other medical issues, so I need to have a letter from my doctor. That isn't an issue, and I'll certainly provide it, but, it has to be prepared within 24-hours of the flight. I commonly get kicked from my selected seat, into the spare seats.

        Pre-drinking, I strongly agree! A drink or two beforehand, no worries, but, some people are so sauced they can't function. If the lack of functional awareness is due to properly utilized medicine, fair enough, but if it's by choice, they shouldn't let you board.

        One of the last flights I was on, some 200kg woman got up right after take off, took out a family size suitcase. It was so comically large you shook your head, and started handing out snacks, and activities, to her family, being a boorish pig the entire time. She then proceeded to be a complete abrasive passenger the entire flight, and argued with everyone. Her kids ran around the plane, taking things from people, one of them took my game boy, and she would snarl at anyone who showed annoyance with her family.

        I've been on other flights where the person next to me was grossly obese, stunk like rotting fat and sweat, and thought I was in the wrong for being annoyed. If your rolls need their own seat, buy the row, it's not fair to everyone else.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          Hmm, that gives you a BMI of 38.4, which is Obese Class II. I'm sure it's pure muscle in your case, as it always is on the internet, but it would make you one of a very rare breed of people. I'm surprised you have time to post such a lengthy comment between work-outs.

          • You can't use BMI on a single person, it can only apply to a large population, I'm assuming you know that. I've been on TRT for years, and I've been strength training ~10-hours a week, for the last 7-years, pair those together, and I have a ton of muscle mass. That alone is not an issue, I just look like a reasonably tall and fit person. I've said this a few times in this series of threads, but I'm willing to demonstrate my claim, I can take a picture, it's not an issue, or, even better, we can work out

      • > Stop kicking / shoving your knees into someone's seat in front

        If you recline and the person behind you is tall and you're literally crushing their legs, YOU, not them, are the problem.

    • There's a couple of things wrong with your post:

      2. Not taking off your shoes will contribute negatively to point 3, also feet swelling causes discomfort. I agree no one should take off their socks though.
      4. Better option would be to charge based on weight of the passenger. Bonus point, less loud Americans at European tourist sites.
      5. Irrelevant. The carryon rules are standard, and anything that doesn't fit gets checked as it is. The problem is planes were never designed for all passengers to maximise their

      • Just so we're clear, these are my points based off my flight experiences, sometimes they're okay, usually they're not, some have been terrible.

        2. Not taking off your shoes will contribute negatively to point 3, also feet swelling causes discomfort. I agree no one should take off their socks though.

        It's the odour that I really don't want to deal with, and it's happened enough times on flights I've been on, I just want a blanket stop.

        4. Better option would be to charge based on weight of the passenge

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      I would add that the cabin crew should make sure there is decent ventilation during boarding. Some of them like to let the CO2 build to keep the passengers docile and half asleep.

      I wouldn't fly on an airline that got rid of recline in economy, at least not long haul.

      Papers for a service animal wouldn't be allowed in Europe, it would be discriminatory. You don't need papers for a wheelchair.

      • I know you don't need papers, but my issue is people fake claim service animals and emotional support animals all the time. I've flown a few times when someone will bring a large dog on board, who doesn't have a seat because the flight is fully booked, but where the animal is clearly not a service animal, it's completely out of control.

        One occurrence, the dog vomited and took a shit right next to my seat, it was wonderful, and her dog was NOT a trained a service animal. When I pointed that out to the fl

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          That sounds more like an issue with the cabin attendants and policy. If there were consequences for such things, people wouldn't abuse the system.

          • Absolutely, but it should still be a rule, across all airlines. Flying is just terrible, I actually hate the entire experience because of medical issues, but it's required, so can we at least not be civil about it? 9X% of people are, but that other % just really put the cherry on the shit cake.

  • United notes that it will offer customers who forget theirs a free pair of wired earbuds. "Don't worry if you forget your headphones for your flight," the airline states on its website. "If they're available, you can request free earbuds." You'd better hope your device still has a headphone jack...

    My device still uses a pneumatic jack like the old-school airliners. I hope they still have those stethoscope thingies on board, otherwise everyone is going to be listening to my scratchy loop of lounge music.

  • Great! (Score:3)

    by dskoll ( 99328 ) on Thursday March 05, 2026 @06:45PM (#66025204) Homepage

    This is awesome news. Now, can we extend that to restaurants and public transport too, please?

  • No noone should be subjected to hearing other peoples sound/music, especially not on the plane where there's no escape.

    All airlines should mandate this.

    Those who don't listen, should be given a parachute and shown the door mid flight.

  • I am only surprised it wasn’t already the policy. Anyone who would not only do this, but not stop when asked; doesn’t deserve to be in a confined space with other more civilized folks. It would be even better if the policy included the words “early evacuation” and “parachute” in an affirmative fashion somewhere in the clauses you acquiesce to when you buy your ticket.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

      Airlines already have the right to remove or otherwise deal with disruptive passengers, where "distruptive" is pretty broad. Just not obeying a crew member is illegal most places. American airlines just find it a good idea to also put specifics in the actual contract so they can point to it when they get sued.

  • Will there be an ejection option on each seat as part of the flight attendant controls?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by sk999 ( 846068 )

      No need for an ejection seat. The blowout door plug, available as an option from Boeing on the 737 Max, is the ideal way to remove unruly passengers.

  • Wow (Score:3)

    by cascadingstylesheet ( 140919 ) on Thursday March 05, 2026 @08:38PM (#66025410) Journal
    They couldn't before? Seriously? Some arse could just blast their music or stupid videos all they wanted to?

    • You can also talk to the person sitting next to you using your outside voice. Or the person 4 rows back.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mjwx ( 966435 )

      They couldn't before? Seriously? Some arse could just blast their music or stupid videos all they wanted to?

      This is one of those things where lawyers will get involved and say "this was not explicitly mentioned in the terms of carriage so therefore my client is owed compensation for being told not to be an arsehole". It's mainly an American thing as the courts in most countries will accept the "failed to follow instructions from the cabin crew" part.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by hawguy ( 1600213 )

        This is one of those things where lawyers will get involved and say "this was not explicitly mentioned in the terms of carriage so therefore my client is owed compensation for being told not to be an arsehole". It's mainly an American thing as the courts in most countries will accept the "failed to follow instructions from the cabin crew" part.

        Yeah, my HOA is going through an expensive lawsuit now over a detail in a contract -- the HOA fined a member for violating the rules "No alcohol or groups over 12 people in the pool area" after the police were called to break up his party, the member sued both for the fine and for unfair treatment by having the police called because they weren't using the pool, they were using the BBQ that's in the pool area so the rule shouldn't apply to his 20 person drunken party.

  • I double up with earplugs and noise cancelling headphones for the crying babies and when I want to sleep. I've never come across someone so arrogant or oblivious to not use headset devices watching on their own devices. It must happen frequently enough, and it sounds like these people also refuse when asked. So I am mixed on this rule, but also feel it's pathetic people are so difficult this is needed for the flight crew to punish these idiots

  • I read that first sentence as "contract of carnage"...

  • The wording is a bit odd.

  • >"United Airlines has updated its contract of carriage to require passengers to use headphones when playing audio or video on personal devices during flights."

    Good. And please let this spread to libraries, restaurants, buses, trains, waiting rooms, stores, etc.

  • chucking someone out of a plane in flight is a little harsh.
  • Can they boot people for turning their OLED phablet up to maximum brightness on a redeye flight? Or what about not showering?

  • Is anyone aware of an airline that won't allow a person with overly offensive BO to fly? Have you ever seen such a person refused boarding? What about getting kicked off the plane after boarding? I'm talking really, really offensive smells. Think Andy Defresne crawling out of a sewer pipe smelly. I've never encountered anything near that bad but it must surely have happened.

  • People put on music in am airplane without using headphones? Kids these days.
  • So they can boot them, but can they also install updates? Or maybe boot from USB into quit mode?

  • I'm here, so fuck you (Score:3)

    by NotEmmanuelGoldstein ( 6423622 ) on Friday March 06, 2026 @06:31AM (#66025910)
    Mobile phones are now like cars: It's a personal space where nobody else has rights.

    It seems, that in-between recording other people for TikTok entertainment value, people today bubble-fy the world. "World owes me" has always existed but today people truly believe they are not responsible for their lifestyle choices spilling onto others. Contradicting that, is the tribalism of MAGA and Christian Nationalism ("World owes us"): Where they decide certain lifestyles and choices are less valuable.

  • Even bus drivers have been trained to tell people to turn that thing off because to everyone else, that buzzing sound is annoying as f-all.
    Pl
    The bus will not move until the abuser complies. All it takes is one guy who just came off a double shift with no break, to help enforce that authority.
    There's always that one guy. He doesn't have to be from Jersey

  • It's a long way down if one is discovered without headphones mid-flight.

  • United notes that it will offer customers who forget theirs a free pair of wired earbuds. "Don't worry if you forget your headphones for your flight," the airline states on its website. "If they're available, you can request free earbuds." You'd better hope your device still has a headphone jack...

    If your device doesn't have a headphone jack and all you have is wired headphones, then don't use your device.

    I carry a backup set of wired headphones with a USB-C headphone adapter so if my bluetooth buds don't work, I have a backup.

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