Passengers who refuse to use headphones can now be kicked off United flights

https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/21/travel/travel-news-happiest-countries

by edward • 4 months ago

201 232 4 months ago

cnn.com

SilverElfin3• 4 months ago

We need to also ban people taking calls on speaker in public places like cafes or trains.

lagniappe• 4 months ago

Join the conversation, works every time.

Hamuko3• 4 months ago

I've thought about doing that several times, seeing as they're already including me. Just need to become a bit more brazen of a person.

paradox460• 4 months ago

They look at you like you're the rudest person in the world. It's quite the trip

I had one person say

Excuse me, I was having a private conversation

At which point you say "on speakerphone with everyone else able to hear it?"

irishcoffee2• 4 months ago

I don’t think United airlines has the authority to do that.

That is to say, do you really want a federal law passed about this? I vote we go with social shaming. Worked for cigarettes.

SilverElfin3• 4 months ago

Shaming doesn’t always work. I’ve asked politely and been threatened in return by people that look dangerous. That made me want to avoid confrontation in the future.

mikkupikku6• 4 months ago

It didn't really work well with cigs until govs started banning smoking in restaurants, bars, etc. That said, the shaming was important for setting the social stage for such legal bans.

bigstrat2003• 4 months ago

I don't really want that. But I do sometimes fantasize about revoking some people's ability to use speakerphone or reply-all.

balderdash2• 4 months ago

Of course they do - they modified their contract of carriage - which you basically agree to why buy a flight (https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/contract-of-carriage.html) it’s the same mechanism they use to deny you boarding if you are barefoot etc.

eudamoniac2• 4 months ago

Some cultures don't really get phased by shaming in that way, unfortunately.

lokar• 4 months ago

You should be able to report them to apple and google, lifetime smart phone ban.

osti• 4 months ago

[flagged]

quietsegfault• 4 months ago

NO TICKET

lelanthran3• 4 months ago

I wonder how many people got this reference.

Anyway, for those who did not: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCZ86O3PO-U

cobbzilla• 4 months ago

Have you ever tried to sleep while the person next to you watches a movie at full volume?

furyofantares• 4 months ago

[flagged]

chisel192• 4 months ago

[flagged]

saint11• 4 months ago

But kicking someone off mid-flight at high altitude is still a bit harsh. I hope they give them parachutes at least.

integralid• 4 months ago

Either you missed the joke or I missed your sarcasm. I read GP as a joke: being literally kicked out of a flight in air is a death sentence, which is a bit harsh penalty indeed.

andrewflnr• 4 months ago

I'm going to vote with my wallet by moving United up my priority list.

throwaway894345• 4 months ago

Seems like this flew right over a few heads.

widowlark• 4 months ago

and yet the joke fell right into our laps

Hamuko3• 4 months ago

Harsh, but fair.

SOLAR_FIELDS3• 4 months ago

Now explain why it wouldn’t also be fair to kick people off that were loudly emitting disgusting flatulence. Is it because they “might” not have control over it? Can I not claim I also “might” not have the control over my impulsive desire to listen to music or that I can’t use headphones for a medical issue?

I mean such a thing I would say equally detracts from the flying experience, so why not also kick those people off?

Edit: not sure why I’m getting downvoted, this is a legitimate question. I genuinely want to hear the justification.

RobotToaster• 4 months ago

Not harsh enough. They belong in the special level of hell reserved for child molesters and people who talk in the theatre.

rendaw• 4 months ago

For all siblings, I think parent was suggesting "while in flight". i.e. dropping them from 30k feet. Hence harsh...

dmitrygr• 4 months ago

Yes! Now do the same on beaches, busses, streets. Same punishment: banishment from the area.

SilverElfin3• 4 months ago

I often see younger people in parks near me blasting loud music on speakers. It’s so disrespectful to those looking for a peaceful place. Especially when they’re playing explicit rap music with everyone’s families and children around.

wolvoleo• 4 months ago

Yeah or people on bikes with a boombox. They do it because it's illegal to cycle with earphones in in these parts. But it creates its own problem of course.

izzydata• 4 months ago

I was recently in Hawaii in the middle of the forest and this group nearby on the trail were blasting music from a bluetooth speaker. Whether it is compelte lack of self awareness or utter disregard for other people it is just disturbing behavior.

JumpCrisscross6• 4 months ago

It’s so disrespectful to those looking for a peaceful place

Idk, they’re not looking for “a peaceful place” and are using a public space without damaging it. Nobody is forced to use the park at the same time as them. This seems like a difference in preferences which is fine.

JumpCrisscross6• 4 months ago

beaches, busses, streets

Bus, sure. On beaches and streets you have the option of moving away. It’s obnoxious. But in the same category as a large group walking slowly.

7jjjjjjj• 4 months ago

Playing music on the street is acceptable if and only if the music is good.

OptionOfT• 4 months ago

And on hiking trails.

I was hiking in Zion. Large sign: be quiet, owls are nesting.

Multiple people with those speakers hanging off of their backpack: we don't care.

And even the rangers don't feel empowered to say anything anymore.

keiferski2• 4 months ago

I first interpreted the title as meaning you must use the cheapo free headphones and aren’t allowed to use your own.

temporallobe• 4 months ago

Good.

gnabgib• 4 months ago

Discussion (18 points, 15 days ago, 15 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47276399

binarymax• 4 months ago

I want to echo the top comment in that post. Apple removing the headphone jack from iPhones was absolutely criminal.

mikkupikku6• 4 months ago

At cruising altitude, I hope.

raggi• 4 months ago

Ok, but how about kicking sick people off of flights, particularly trans continental?

JumpCrisscross6• 4 months ago

how about kicking sick people off of flights

Difficult for the airline to do given the myriad of health privacy adjacents.

sebastiennight2• 4 months ago

What if we asked the President to give us a quick rundown of each passenger's health?

INTPenis2• 4 months ago

I'm behind this 100%.

I got a SARS virus flying to Udon Thani in 2019. We were seated next to two thai guys who were so sick they could barely sit up straight. We offered them help and treats because they looked like they were about to vomit.

Plane lands, next day I'm sick. I was laid up for 2 weeks with fever, the shits, and I had a weird spontaneous cough for over 1 month after I got better.

I bet most of that plane got sick, and it was so damn avoidable.

IncreasePosts• 4 months ago

The problem is there can he huge penalties for not flying when you booked. You might not be able to rebook your flight or hotel or days off so you're stuck either getting everyone sick or perhaps being out thousands of dollars or not going on vacation at all.

tayo42• 4 months ago

What's the threshold for sick?

It'll never happen becasue everything around travel is to hard to reschedule.

pjmlp3• 4 months ago

Is this really a thing?!? Blasting the others with unwanted noise.

I never been in a flight, or train across Europe where passengers showed just lack of respect for the others.

The only ones pumping anything loud, on trains or busses, usually get quickly pointed down by other passengers, personal or security.

Ah, and then there are the rebellious kids or gangs, as the other exception, which usually don't take flights anyway.

mikkupikku6• 4 months ago

In America, a small number of people derive pleasure from being disruptive to everybody, and blasting music on public transit with captive audiences is a very "traditional" way of fucking with people and expressing your broad contempt for their society. I'd estimate that maybe one in five times you get on a city bus in America, you'll encounter somebody like this.

Very rarely does anybody call them out or otherwise try to reign it in, because you're as likely as not to be physically attacked and in America, the odds of bystanders coming to your rescue are... Not zero, but not great.

JumpCrisscross6• 4 months ago

I’ve absolutely seen this nonsense in the UK.

LaurensBER• 4 months ago

20%? That's a bit insane. This does happen in Europe but is heavily looked down up on and usually quickly corrected.

On the other hand I did get a chewing out from an older guy for having a conversation with friends on a train once, so some people take it perhaps a bit too serious.

slg2• 4 months ago

is a very "traditional" way of fucking with people and expressing your broad contempt for their society.

Motivated in large part as a response to society saying fuck them. I'm not defending assholes being assholes, but I think what we have been seeing in the US over the last 5 or 10 years is classic collapse of the social contract stuff. The less a society cares about its people the less its people will care about the rest of society.

CalRobert• 4 months ago

Happens elsewhere too. Can be an issue in Dutch trains

hallole• 4 months ago

I don't think I'd have the wherewithal to jump in and do something if I were a bystander. I'm not the sort to throw hands, I don't carry, and these disruptive types are already a bit feral.

I'm not sure it's contempt they're expressing, or if they're expressing anything at all. There really are people who enjoy and defend it, too; "it's just a guy playing music, mind your own business." Truly alien.

andy993• 4 months ago

Pretty sure on planes this is more ignorance than malice. It’s self absorbed people that are too selfish to consider someone else might not want to hear what they’re watching, rather than some deliberate anti society thing.

Regardless, no punishment is too harsh, this should be considered the equivalent of lighting up a cigarette on a plane.

striking• 4 months ago

Sure, but also you might be on a city bus for... half an hour? It's not pleasant to have someone blast noise but it's nothing like a multi-hour flight. Why bother?

wanderingstan2• 4 months ago

My go-to technique has been to offer the offender a pair of headphones, saying something to insinuate that they must forgotten theirs or be too poor to afford them. Most of the time they say “oh I have headphones!” and then realize that they’ve outed themselves. (I stockpile the free headphones from gyms or airplanes, or get the $2 ones from AliExpress)

johnfn• 4 months ago

I mean, you are painting it as some moralistic judgement, but if you’re asking me for on one hand listening to some annoying music, and on the other hand having some chance (however slight) of bodily injury, knife wound, or whatever… I know which one I am going to choose.

kQq9oHeAz6wLLS• 4 months ago

and in America, the odds of bystanders coming to your rescue are... Not zero, but not great

Yes, because there's been a recent push to more heavily punish good Samaritans than perpetrators. When good men get metaphorically crucified for helping, they stop helping.

If that seems like a common sense outcome of such policies, you're right. But as we've seen time and again, common sense is not a flower that grows in everyone's garden.

baal80spam• 4 months ago

I can guarantee you that's not only America's problem.

boxedemp2• 4 months ago

Happens in Canada too. Calling them out can be dangerous, people have been injured.

gspr2• 4 months ago

I've definitely experienced this on public transit in cities in several different countries here in Europe. It's not an everyday experience, but it definitely happens.

pjmlp3• 4 months ago

Yes, but that isn't a flight.

nslsm• 4 months ago

That's because in Europe certain demographics don't catch many planes or trains. But they do catch the tube or the bus, so get on one of those and enjoy the experience.

DaSHacka3• 4 months ago

Lol was wondering how long I would have to scroll before someone pointed out the obvious. People talking about the "collapse of the societal contract", like I wonder how that happened....

Findecanor• 4 months ago

I've experienced it all over Europe. Trains with reserved seats tend to have a separate "silent car" for this reason.

Aurornis3• 4 months ago

Agree. It’s funny to see comments trying to act like this never happens in Europe, only America.

verall• 4 months ago

From what I can tell, if no rule is enforced, about 2-5% of people think it's totally normal to scroll tiktok or instagram at full volume in public.

So on a crowded bus you've normally got 1 or 2. Behavior is actually much better on airplanes, usually (maybe 1-2 in ~150 passenger plane), and I have never seen someone who did not silence their phone after being asked politely by the attendant.

NikolaNovak• 4 months ago

I am astonished how many people now use speakerphone as their default interaction. On subway, go train, in grocery stores, on the streets, sometimes even in the office, they blast their conversations with zero care.

And so yes, I've definitely seen and experienced people watching inane tiktoks on speaker in subway or bus or airplane. It's the epitome of complete lack of empathy or self awareness to me, but I guess that's the way culture is going.

lostlogin2• 4 months ago

Phone makers deleted the speaker is the ‘courage’ I want.

dataflow3• 4 months ago

I've seen it everywhere except airplanes. I don't recall ever seeing it on planes. How often have you seen that? Do passengers or flight attendants do anything? How does the person respond?

tzs3• 4 months ago

I'm curious what people think of people who use their speakerphone in public, but have the volume set low enough and themselves speak low enough that the conversation is no louder than an in person conversation would be.

Still annoying?

If so, is the problem usually the loudness of the speakerphone, or the loudness of the person who is there? I've noticed some people talk louder when on speakerphone than when on regular phone (and some people talk louder on regular phone than when talking to someone in person).

Back before mobile phones there was a tendency for people to talk louder on the phone at first, but after being reminded a few times that just because the other person is far away doesn't mean you have to shout most people learned to talk at normal volume.

I wonder if loud talkers don't get that feedback now? With old phone handsets there was pretty much only one position for them, so the mic was about the same distance from the mouth for all speakers. Talk to loud and it would be annoying on the receiving end.

But with modern phones there are a variety of positions people hold them in, which can lead to quite different mic positions. My understanding is that they do a lot more automatic gain control and other processing to try to keep the level the same despite all those different positions. Perhaps this means that the person on the other end doesn't know you are talking loud and so unless someone on your end tells you to keep it down you might never realize you are a loud phone talker.

pjmlp3• 4 months ago

Agreed, but not on a plane.

halapro4• 4 months ago

It's a thing everywhere except very well-behaved places/countries. This means it's almost everywhere.

The last time I had an uncle blast his Doujin feed at full volume next to me, I suggested he lower the volume, he didn't care, so I blasted my own feed at louder volume. He got it then. Sadly people a few rows back did the same on the next train...

Hamuko3• 4 months ago

Local trains are full of them.

balderdash2• 4 months ago

It is - there are three groups of people that do this generally the completely self absorbed, people from places where it’s culturally acceptable, and people that like the feeling of empowerment that comes from inconveniencing others (the same people that will walk out into traffic with no light / crosswalk)

callamdelaney• 4 months ago

How is walking over a road without a light inconveniencing anyone? I’ll cross the road when it’s clear. I don’t blast music in public places though.

bluecalm• 4 months ago

My experience is the opposite. People blast music or other sounds on flights all the time. In Europe it's also very common to smoke in public, including beaches, restaurants, areas around building entrances. Literring is also very common.

Even Switzerland is dirty because cigarette buts are everywhere. It's just that some % of the population are inconsiderate assholes and only heavy enforcement works vs than. Unfortunately this is something our current society is not willing to do.

cjbgkagh• 4 months ago

Very much a thing and one of the many reasons I'm becoming more of a recluse, shared public spaces are becoming rather unpleasant. Mostly in the US and LatAm, a fair amount in the UK, not so much in Germany.

plagiarist2• 4 months ago

There are fewer and fewer shared public spaces every year anyway. It feels like everything is getting taken over by franchises that want to maximize customer throughput.

wolfi1• 4 months ago

it's usually some guy on the neighbouring table at McDonald's

jraines• 4 months ago

Last time I flew my family was very early to the gate; it was me, my wife, my 5 and 3 year old girls, and a very elderly lady in a wheelchair who was blasting Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” from her phone speakers.

maccard• 4 months ago

I was on a 2 hour flight this week. The guy in front of me listened to a political podcast on speaker that was loud enough it cut through my noise cancelling earbuds. There was absolutely no chance I was risking my safety calling him out on it in that scenario.

usually get quickly pointed down by other passengers, personnel or security

I’ve never, not once, heard a member of staff ask someone to use headphones on transport.

jghn5• 4 months ago

I can't remember the last time I've been on a flight, train, or bus where there wasn't at least one person playing audio of some sort without headphones.

tombert3• 4 months ago

On planes I've mostly seen it with people playing stuff for very young children.

I've heard a lot of Cocomelon crap at full volume on planes because I guess parents don't want to have their kids use headphones. I sort of understand it but at the same time I also think it's pretty inconsiderate for the rest of the people on the flight who likely do not want to listen to their kid's awful YouTube show.

In the NYC subway I've seen dozens of people who will blast their terrible music very loudly with a bluetooth speaker. These are full-grown adults. I don't know why they do that, I suspect it would sound better on the train with headphones. Maybe it's some form of evangelism, where they think the music is utterly fantastic that everyone should listen to it.

_se• 4 months ago

Usually it's because the kid won't wear headphones. Not really an excuse, but a lot of the time the kid is just going to do what they want. What the parents should do in that situation is make them watch without sound, but that's harder than the alternative, so they just do whatever.

arikrahman• 4 months ago

I am already embarassed when my headphone jack slips and everyone can hear a targeted ad putting me on blast. To do so intentionally never occured to me. It would be mortifying.

Aurornis3• 4 months ago

I never been in a flight, or train across Europe where passengers showed just lack of respect for the others.

In my European travels I’ve definitely seen it. It depends entirely on the region. Europe is a big place. I’ve encountered it in Asian countries too. Again, Asia is huge and diverse.

Not coincidentally, it’s the same in the United States. I’ve never seen this on the local commuter train with people traveling to and from work. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen it on a flight (flight attendants did intervene and request they stop).

Let’s not try to make this into another “America bad” topic because this is not a uniquely American problem.

akudha• 4 months ago

I have been in flights, elevators (not joking), coffee shops where people were listening to music or were on phone calls, on speaker.

There are some weirdos amongst us. There were a handful of reports of people singing religious music, in planes while on flight. I haven’t had the pleasure of listening to this, thankfully

nunez• 4 months ago

Big time!

I fly every week. There's always ONE F**ING GUY who needs to have Instagram or TikTok going at full blast.

mvdtnz• 4 months ago

It's a problem everywhere. People on the golf course walk around with bluetooth speakers audible to players in front and behind. Mountain bikers play music audible to other trail users. Many people have absolutely no regard for others around them and this manifests through noise nuisance.

hysan• 4 months ago

Yes, at least in my experience on flights in the USA. It’s very rare but it does happen. I was lucky one time that the person doing it sat next to me and I politely asked them to use headphones and no fuss was had.

MattPalmer1086• 4 months ago

It never used to happen in the UK but now people do it every day on tubes and trains. I had to move seats twice last week due to these assholes blasting their stuff out.

I don't know what changed exactly. It was definitely seen as antisocial behaviour in the past. I'll just leave this clip here of Spock dealing with a noisy punk on a bus.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Zf5iwGZNY_Q

adapiz• 4 months ago

Yes, it is. I've been on a long distance train and there was some guy watching a movie on his tablet. Sleeping. In the quiet zone.

Rude, loud people usually don’t react kindly when you call them out on their behavior. It’s practically asking for trouble. That may be one reason why many people avoid conflict, even if it bothers them a lot.

HPsquared2• 4 months ago

I assume it's about blasting others with noise, not company sponsored headphones.

mindslight• 4 months ago

A disinforming clickbait headline strikes again. This isn't about it being mandatory to use headphones, ala TNG "The Game". Rather it's about using speakers that broadcast sound for everyone to "enjoy". I haven't been molested and crushed^w^w^w^wflown in quite some time, but with the noise floor on airplanes being so high to begin with I'd imagine the result is much worse than somewhere that is at least quieter to start.

ashwinnair99• 4 months ago

Airlines have been quietly expanding what they can remove you for. This isn't really about headphones. It's about how much discretion crew have now and how little recourse you have at 35,000 feet.

leptons2• 4 months ago

You might blame the airlines, but passengers have become more rude and entitled year after year. It's really everywhere now, not just on airplanes. I personally am fine with removing passengers who think they are entitled to annoy the rest of us when we can't just get up and leave the place.

0x3f• 4 months ago

The airlines could alway remove you for literally any reason. Even if it was discriminatory or otherwise illegal, you'd still definitely be getting off the plane, at least.

lelanthran3• 4 months ago

Look... if me and 199 other passengers are going to abide by restrictions we were informed about before we paid any money for a ticket, it's completely unfair that the authorities make an exception for one passenger who accepted the same contract we all did.

Arrest them on board, handcuff them and lead them away in handcuffs at the destination. No sympathy from me, especially since the only way the handcuffs route is going to happen is if the passenger in questions ignores the instructions from the flight crew.

I also have to note that on most flights, whether domestic or international, the it's already a criminal offence to ignore an instruction from the flight crew. The airline here did not need to make publish a new rule, they could have simply had the flight crew inform the annoying passenger.

standardUser3• 4 months ago

The ones with limited recourse are the flight crew who are trapped with you and a hundred other asshole for hours with no escape and very limited options in case of a serious disruption. If there is one space that has justification to act as temporary dictatorship, it's an aircraft in flight.

polski-g• 4 months ago

Good. You want to be an asshole? Do it in your car, driving alone, to your destination.

austin-cheney• 4 months ago

I agree with the policy but this is such a mild offense. Just a few years ago in the US there was an epidemic of drunk people savagely beating flight attendants.

People who cannot figure out how to share use of shared space should lose access to those places.

halapro4• 4 months ago

Yes and no. I don't want to be a Karen, but also I think it's fair to not cause discomfort to others. Imagine if every flight was as noisy a city intersection. For 5 hours. And you can't hide.

paxys• 4 months ago

Good, now do the same for public transit.

verdverm3• 4 months ago

An app you can use to play back their audio on a short delay that messes with the brain

https://github.com/Pankajtanwarbanna/stfu

MiddleEndian• 4 months ago

Pretty sweet. Do you have it hosted anywhere? Seems github doesn't want to let you load HTML directly (for obvious reasons lol)

verdverm3• 4 months ago

Not mine, I'll keep this limitation in mind when I redo my personal site and add it in so it's easy to remember (for me at least ;)

standardUser3• 4 months ago

They should be stripped of all citizenship and left to live out their life roaming the airport. But this is a start.

hxorr• 4 months ago

This sounds like a USA problem..

penguin_booze• 4 months ago

1 of n problems.

zeroonetwothree2• 4 months ago

I have definitely seen people use speakers in countries other than the USA.

petermcneeley• 4 months ago

Obligatory Spock https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr82dZpCr48

lucasay• 4 months ago

Feels less like malice and more like people just not thinking about others. Still, on a plane you’re stuck for hours—rules like this make sense.

latand6• 4 months ago

I was a passenger that was asked NOT to use the headphones regularly. Not from USA though

general1465• 4 months ago

On one hand I understand why this exists, but on the other hand, I don't think it is even necessary. There is so much noise during the flight, and combined with lower atmospheric pressure I can barely hear what steward standing next to me is saying.

dalmo3• 4 months ago

PSA: get an etymotic in ear phones, play some quiet music, and forget you're flying. Those things become your eardrums.

https://etymotic.com/product/er2xr-earphones/

unsupp0rted• 4 months ago

They're pretty good, but not great. Just passive noise cancelling.

My AirPods Pros block noise better actually, but I have after-market foam eartips on them.

Regardless, the problem is less speakerphone music and more shrill child voices and screams. No eartips can block those frequencies well it seems.

b3ing• 4 months ago

They tell people not to do it on busses but it still happens, typically people are more respectful at night but not always. However I never worry about terrorists on the bus, they would get jacked up fast

btreecat• 4 months ago

Blasting your phone at volumes louder than the ambient noise is social terrorism

pas• 4 months ago

what's the goal? without a goal it's just noise pollution, the audio equivalent of drunk driving and bumping into a lot of people just a bit

userbinator• 4 months ago

I don't understand how people can stand the sound of the plane itself and whatever they're listening to on top of that. I consider IEMs or ANC TWS to be necessary whenever I'm on a flight, and that's even without listening to anything else.

kuba-orlik• 4 months ago

How do you kick someone off a flight?

Passengers who refuse to use headphones can now be kicked off United flights

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