United Airlines is winning rare praise online after updating its passenger rules to target one of modern travel's most universally hated behaviors: people blasting audio without headphones.
The company's revised "Contract of Carriage" states that it has the right to refuse service to passengers who listen to audio or watch videos without headphones.
United Airlines' new headphone rule
On Feb. 27, 2026, United Airlines updated its passenger conduct rules to include a headphone requirement.
In the contract, United states that it "has the right to refuse transport" to passengers who "fail to use headphones while listening to audio or video content."
Such a flyer might be eligible for a ticket refund, but might not.
Those who forget their headphones at home can get free earbuds from United upon request.
"We’ve always encouraged customers to use headphones when listening to audio content—and our Wi-Fi rules already remind customers to use headphones," said the airline in a statement.
Griping about people who go about in public listening to their devices without headphones—forcing the rest of us to listen as well—is a storied internet pastime that draws near universal approval. This behavior is all the worse when you're trapped in a cramped sky tube for hours on end.
United may be the first airline in some time to earn public praise for a policy change. The company is seeing far better reactions to this on social media than anything Southwest Airlines has done for a while.
"Everyone deserves a little peace at 35,000 feet"
United Airlines not only made a brilliant PR move, but it also accomplished a rare feat for the 2020s. This policy change pleased both the political right and the left, garnering praise from leftists and members of the Trump administration.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy praised the move, writing on X, "Using headphones on board is a sign of RESPECT for your fellow passengers."
"Everyone deserves a little peace at 35,000 feet… remember CIVILITY IS THE BEST CARRY-ON," he tweeted.
"Using headphones on board is a sign of RESPECT for your fellow passengers."
This sentiment went even further right, all the way to self-described theocratic fascist Matt Walsh.
"If anyone around you can hear any noise coming out of your phone, ever at all, you should be arrested and flogged and then thrown into the Pacific," he wrote.
"Not using headphones on an AIRPLANE should result in a lobotomy actually," wrote journalist Ashley Reese.
"Good. Ban their a**es," said liberal veteran Charlotte Clymer.
Self-described "terminally-online deviant leftist" @suchnerve had a simple reaction: "YES!!!!!!!! YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
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