Do the earphone / headphones handed out during a flight need to be returned to the airline? Or is it ok to take them?

On long flights, the flight attendants normally distribute earphones/ headphones.

When landing at an airport to enter / return to a country, is it OK to "take" the earphones and make them mine permanently? Or does the airline need them back?

I have always left the earphones on my seat before getting off the plane.

Leave them on the aircraft.

If you paid for them, no
Otherwise no. In the old days, yes but almost all airlines use the cheap ear buds so it would be unsanitary to reuse them.
However… In First or Business class, they have have Bose headphone which do have to be returned

They are cheap and not worth keeping.

Usually you keep them for sanitary purposes airline won't reuse them

I don't think the airline will really care that one person took their earphones. When I was around 14, I took a United Airline's plastic cup because it had the airline's logo on it and I thought it looked cool.

I have never been on a flight where the crew haven't come round to collect them in the last hour of the journey.

Majority of the ones that they hand out, you can keep. Though it would probably be best to buy your own and carry them with you. Usually the ones that you get on a flight are not meant for long term use.

The headphones almost always must be returned.

Who would want the really crummy ear buds airlines give away? I carry my own.

The cabin crew collect them before landing.

Most of the flights that I have been on that gave out headphones let people keep them. They are cheap and not worth the expense of cleaning. I think I have a bunch of them in a box somewhere. I'm sure there are a few airlines out there that ask for them back, though.

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