“It’s a shame when they have to mandate good manners.”
You may have heard in the news that United Airlines, one of the biggest global air carriers, has banned passengers from listening to devices without headphones, or, as we call it where I am from, loudcasting or bear bating. This is music to my ears, and something that I have been waiting for businesses to take seriously for years.
Just before the announcement came out from United, I read an article that passengers can be prosecuted on flights to India for doing the same thing, yet last year when I flew back from Delhi with Etihad Airways I endured a young child watching loud cartoons on his mum’s phone the entire flight – the same cartoons that he could have watched with headphones using the in-flight entertainment system. I’ve been on EasyJet and British Airways flights where they still ask passengers to use headphones, but this is not enforced. I have been on even older planes where they still have a no phones light (that everyone ignores), and flown Wizzair, Ryanair and Vueling who have shrugged when passengers have loudcasted and refused to do anything at all.
I’m not writing this blog just to rant (ok, maybe a little), but to detail how United Airline’s actions are a sign of positive change and how turning down the volume can benefit business as well as customers. As a potential customer myself (and I have flown United Airlines a couple of times) the guarantee of a quieter journey and some much needed enforcement would definitely be in my mind when booking a flight to North America. I don’t expect total silence, I just expect a comfortable environment where everyone is respected, especially when I am in a tin can thousands of miles above the ground with no where to get away from the noise.
Complaints about noise from other people’s phones are nothing new. Even music players turned up too loudly can be heard by others, as this London Underground poster from 1991 shows, and on trains there is a railway bylaw prohibiting disturbing others with your noise (you can be prosecuted, but train staff seem to have forgotten that this law exists). Complaints about noise and too much talking from other people’s phones have been an issue since mobile phones have existed, and this used to be policed. I worked at the New Theatre in Cardiff whilst at university, and it was part of my job to ask people to put their phones away if I saw them being used during any show.
The contract of carriage
A quick search on United Airlines’ media site interestingly doesn’t have a press release shouting about the new rule like I would have expected. According to reports, United Airlines promoted the new rule by updating their terms of carriage, or in layman’s terms: the terms and conditions that you agree to when you book a ticket. According to CBS news, other American airlines also have rules requiring you to wear headphones, but the big difference between them and United is that they haven’t added it to the terms. United’s rule isn’t just added to the terms and conditions, but added under the section of right to refusal, giving them the right to remove passengers from the flight, and ban them if they continue to violate the rules. The other big difference is that United Airlines staff are actively enforcing this new headphones policy (trigger warning: the video is very shouty), and they seem to be the only ones doing so.
Lots and lots of press coverage
United Airline’s new rule about headphones has resulted in wall-to-wall coverage across major global news outlets. This is likely because we’ve given in to people behaving how they want to, despite the fact that most of us hate loudcasting, and we’re not used to seeing anything enforced any more. In a 2025 study by not-for-profit More in Common, 93% of people don’t like loudcasting. This is almost exactly the same percentage of people who voted “Talking loudly on a mobile phone” and “Listening to music loud enough so that others can hear it” as their top most witnessed inconsiderate behaviours in a TfL Considerate Travel Study from 2008. TfL and other UK rail operators also have just cause to fine and kick people off trains, as Railway Byelaw 7 explicitly bans unauthorized noise that annoys others.
93% is a huge number
The data around noise annoyance has been consistent for decades, and it continues to be consistent and relevant, so businesses, this is your time to shine. As a customer, I have left restaurants earlier and skipped desert because someone has ruined the environment scrolling TikTok (sometimes the staff), or not entered a restaurant at all because there’s a toddler watching cartoons. I parted ways with a gym due to video calls being taken in the changing rooms, and left a bad review for a Novotel that wouldn’t act when a couple watched football on a tablet at the poolside (from inside the pool). Customers like me are largely invisible, but when the data is this strong there is a very strong probability that there are many of us, and you are losing out if you are not enforcing noise policies and ensuring that your environment is fair and comfortable.
Just look at the coverage that United Airlines has received from not only making a policy, but also visibly enforcing it.
United Airlines still promotes their mobile app
A press release might be missing from United’s Press site, but interestingly there is a press release dated 14th January which promotes their mobile app and the fact that customers can use it to order food ahead of flights. Having phones to hand all of the time are part of the reason that we cannot bear to put them away, and we have become too used to using them all the time for everything. So it’ll be interesting to see how the new rule works alongside the fact that United are encouraging customers to use their app, on their phones.
I did reach out to United Airlines with some questions for this article, so let’s see if they get back to me. I’d love to do a follow up article with them.
And finally, thank you United for taking the lead and turning off the noise.
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Louisa Guise is a Digital Marketing and Communications Professional and the author of How to Leave a Group Chat, a book about communication and smartphones which is also available as an audiobook too. Subscribe to All About Digital Marketing for more gems like this.
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