Major airline is banning ‘barebeaters’ from its flights

A pet peeve for many

On a flight, disruption is sometimes caused by a passenger who is listening to their music out loud, without headphones, otherwise known as “barebeaters”.

You’ll no longer face this if you’re flying with United Airlines, however.

The US airline, which carried 2.4 million British passengers in 2024, has said staff will now be able to remove them, and the ban could be permanent.

It has added a clause in an update to its “contract of carriage”, and this means that passengers who “fail to use headphones while listening to audio or video content” can be asked to leave the cabin.

UA said that 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 UA’s site states that that crew members will provide free earbuds if you forget them.