A major airline that operates close to 400 routes across the world has revealed that it will kick passengers off its planes if they do one rude thing. United Airlines, which has hundreds of routes across the United States and the globe, has introduced new rules that prohibit people from playing audio out loud from their devices. Failure to use headphones could result in passengers being removed from flights, according to the new rules.

The airline recently updated its contract of carriage, which outlines the conditions passengers must agree to before boarding the airline’s flights. United Airlines already had a policy of encouraging the use of headphones, but it had not been a solid rule until now. The new requirement states that passengers must “use headphones while listening to audio or video content”. Its agreement states: “UA shall have the right to refuse transport on a permanent or temporary basis or shall have the right to remove from the aircraft at any point.”

The list of reasons a passenger could be removed also includes the assault of staff, refusing to show proof of identity, and lewd behaviour. Playing audio out loud from a phone or other device is a common annoyance for fellow passengers.

Social media users praised the move from United Airlines. One Reddit user shared: “I don’t want to listen to someone else’s s**t for an entire flight. That’s incredibly rude to do to the people around you.”

A United Airlines spokesperson said: “We’ve always encouraged customers to use headphones when listening to audio content — and our Wi-Fi rules already remind customers to use headphones.

Ensure our latest news headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as Preferred Source in your Google search settings.

“With the expansion of Starlink, it seemed like a good time to make that even clearer by adding it to the contract of carriage.” However, the airline did not say if there had been specific incidents which prompted it to introduce the strict new rule.

It is currently the only major US carrier that has this as a solid rule. Other airlines, such as Southwest, have it as a listed requirement for passengers on their website, but it is not in the ticket holder contract.

However, Southwest customers can be refused service for “using portable electronic devices in contravention of instructions from the Crew”.

United Airlines is based in Chicago and operates hundreds of routes between airports in the US, as well as flights between North America and the Caribbean, South America, the UK and Europe. United currently flies from the US to London and Edinburgh, according to Flight Radar.