Good: United Threatens To Kick Off Passengers Who Don’t Use Headphones

United Airlines has just updated its contract of carriage to add a new requirement for travelers, and it’s something that I’m very happy to see (thanks to Gino for flagging this).

United puts headphone etiquette into contract of carriage

Airline contracts of carriage are what stipulate the policies that airlines have, and also spell out what’s expected of passengers. Along those lines, United has just updated section 21 of its contract of carriage, which covers reasons the airline can refuse to transport passengers.

This contract of carriage has a “safety” section, which covers nearly two dozen reasons that passengers may be removed from an aircraft for their behavior. We’ve just seen the number of reasons on this list increase from 21 to 22, with the newest reason being the following:

Passengers who fail to use headphones while listening to audio or video content.

So there you have it — you can now be kicked off a United flight for listening to audio without headphones (presumably there would first be multiple warnings, but this assumes passengers are unwilling to cooperate).

I’m a fan of putting this language in the contract of carriage

While many airlines will make announcements or have an unpublished policy asking passengers to wear headphones when listening to audio or watching videos, it’s rare to see this actually be a formal part of the contract of carriage.

I’m a big fan of United formalizing rules in this way. Passengers not using headphones at airports and onboard planes is one of my biggest travel pet peeves, and it amazes me how many poorly behaved passengers there are, who just have no consideration for others.

This is only becoming a bigger problem over time, between the increased use of personal devices, the public consuming more short form video content, and the increasing availability of fast and free Wi-Fi. With United installing Starlink Wi-Fi, I imagine this is becoming more of an issue than ever before onboard flights.

I hope this contract of carriage update also comes with some additional guidance and training on enforcing policies.

Bottom line

United Airlines has updated its contract of carriage to now formally require passengers to wear headphones when listening to audio or watching videos. The contract of carriage is really what dictates behavior passengers have to adhere to, so I’m happy to see this being addressed, given that this is an increasing problem (with Starlink soon becoming the norm).

What do you make of United updating its contract of carriage regarding headphones?