"Headphone dodgers" have become a more contentious issue in recent times, with some suggesting playing music out loud in public amounts to anti-social behaviour
By Emma Wilkes 6th March 2026
The Black Eyed Peas and LMFAO. Credit: James D Morgan/Getty
United Airlines has said that flyers who play music or videos without headphones risk a permanent ban from their aircraft.
The new rule is now listed under their Refusal of Transport section, which was updated along with the airline’s conditions of carriage at the end of February. United Airlines now say they reserve the right to deny boarding to anyone playing audio from personal devices on speaker, or even to ban them permanently.
Advertisement“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. “With the expansion of Starlink, it seemed like a good time to make that even clearer by adding it to the contract of carriage.”
The airline will allow passengers who forget their headphones to use a free pair when they board their flight.
Playing audio out loud from a phone on public has become an increasingly contentious issue in recent years. Last year, the Liberal Democrats made headlines when they called for “headphone dodgers” to face fines of up to £1,000 for playing loud music on public transport.
Already, there are laws in place that ban various forms of anti-social behaviour on public transport in the UK. On trains and at stations, this includes using equipment to produce sound without permission which comes as an annoyance to others.
According to a survey carried out by Savanta for the party, 38 per cent of the 2,000 participants asked experience people playing music out loud on public transport on a regular basis. Of these, over half (54 per cent) said they would not feel comfortable asking the person responsible to turn down the sound.
RecommendedAlready, the proposition has support from some Labour and Tory MPs, although it is unlikely to get much momentum without full backing from the Labour government.
