Major airline silently adds clause banning 'barebeating' on flights
Based purely on the fact that 'barebeating' sounds just so dirty, it doesn't come as a surprise that it's a major airline has banned it.
Just like 'rawdogging', the two travel trends are not as nasty as they sound, as you've no doubt experienced barebeating on public transport.
It's when someone has the cheek of listening to music or watching a film without headphones on.
Forgot your AirPods at home? Tough.
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Unless you're on the London tube, you might actually have to make conversation with the person next to you.
When it comes to flights, however, United Airlines (UA) have taken a stance by updating their rulebook.
UA has 'the right to refuse transport on a permanent or temporary basis', including 'passengers who fail to use headphones while listening to audio or video content'.
“We’ve always encouraged customers to use headphones when listening to audio content — and our Wi-Fi rules already remind customers to use headphones,” a UA spokesperson told the New York Post.
“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 rep added.
The good news is that UA's site states that crew members will provide free earbuds if you forget them - or perhaps just like free stuff.
"Don't worry if you forget your headphones for your flight. If they're available, you can request free earbuds," the airline states.
Travel expert Scott Keyes told CBS News that he thinks UA is the first major US airline to adopt a ban on barebeating.
"This is in line with how the vast majority of travelers comport themselves and would like others to comport themselves," he said.
"It's usually only a small number of folks on airplanes who are making noise by not using headphones, so this is a graceful way to handle those folks."
Travellers seem largely on board with the rule-change as one person tweeted: "Love the program, just curious as to how they remove people from flights in mid-air."
"Now can we have this in restaurants as well please," another requested.
"I would like to see this implemented on NYC Subways and buses, at restaurants, banks and healthcare facilities," penned a third.
"I hope this includes children watching videos and playing games on tablets," someone else said.
"Some parents listen to ping ping ping, wabba wabba wabba all day and have become deaf to it… the rest of us have not."
Anish Vij