Travelers recently reported encounters with “gate lice” and “seat squatters,” but there is another controversial trend in planes that are causing fiery debate on social media.
The flyer invites fellow passengers to use earphones to play music or watch videos loudly.
“R/United Airlines” Reddit forums include: “Is there a term for fellow passengers who don’t use headphones?
The “Gate Lice” run-in has flyers calling for more airline crackdowns on nasty travel trends
Users also dealt with the way travelers who cut off the line on board were given the name “gate lice.”
“I hadn’t heard it before and it made me laugh,” the user wrote.
Social media users are calling flyers that use earphones on their devices to skip and choose to play the audio loudly. (istock)
Users visited the Comments section to discuss travelers listening to audio on their devices without headphones.
“Speaker Scum” was written by multiple users and suggested nicknames to travelers.
Another post, “I’m all for the upcoming free wifi, but I’m afraid of everyone with free wifi streaming, calls and blasting music.”
“Aisle Lice” is the annoying nuisance of the latest air travel to spark social media debate
“United added to their announcement asking Pax to silence the device or use headphones,” Flyer said.
Fox News Digital contacted United Airlines for comment.
Reddit users (not in the photo) asked other travelers how they felt about fellow passengers who were not using headphones. (istock)
“I have some free airline headsets in my bag. Giving them to those doing this usually earns points,” one wrote.
“Unfortunately, people using speakers cannot hear announcements about the sound of the speaker,” another user commented.
“Hundreds of flights a year, I’ve never come across it. I don’t know either way, as it probably helps me wear headphones. I know I’ll (hear) this on my next flight,” one user said.
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“I’ll make it part of the announcement of ‘Welcome to the Friendly Sky’. “Silence your personal devices and use your headphones to be polite to fellow passengers, or tell everyone to educate you why headphones are important,” another wrote.
“I have some free airline headsets in my bag. Giving them to anyone doing this usually earns points,” suggests one user. (istock)
“The number of times that’s happened to me in the last four months is stupid. The longest time this has happened was a passenger sitting next to me for 6.5 hours in a row. No breaks. Nothing.”
Airlines share “Traveler Pro Tip” on the United website listed under “Inflight Entertainment.”
“Don’t worry if you forget your flight headphones. If available, you can request free earphones,” the airline says.
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Brandon Bruwett, the Texas-based author of “How to Avoid Strangers on a Plane,” told Fox News Digital that he’s always watching this.
“Most of the time, people are scrolling through reels, YouTube shorts, or tiktok, or playing mobile games with sound effects,” he said.
Blewett said he noticed that several airlines were adding quiet cabin policies at the end of their pre-flight announcement.
“They now remind passengers that if they want to see or play with something on their device, the sound needs to pass through the headphones and mute in the case of children,” he said.
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Bruett said he saw the flight attendants intervene when others were not considerate.
“There are sometimes innocent Bluetooth hiccups and people can learn how to scramble and reduce volume (including myself) with pure panic,” Blewett said.
