Air Canada is wanting their passengers to either upgrade to using an audio headset for 3 dollars or use their own, hoping that they can cut down on handing out the flimsy, free headphones, of which are usually thrown away after they have only been used during one flight. As the largest carrier for the country, Air Canada will begin offering their passengers who are seated in the economy class on flights within North America the choice of using the free headset or paying a fee for a headset of higher-quality, which will start on October 1st.

Peter Fitzpatrick, a spokesman for Air Canada, said on Wednesday of last week that people have told them that they want better sounding headsets, and the carrier wants the passengers to reuse the headphones or bring their own on-board. Flight Attendants end up holding onto spaghetti strands of the wires when flights have ended, he continued, and the passengers aren’t really thinking about how wasteful it is. The flights that Air Canada operates overseas during the fall will receive complimentary upgraded headsets.

Calgary’s WestJet Airlines already charges a fee of 3 dollars for their headphones, finding the fee spurring customers to save them for many trips, as well as defray costs, according to Robert Palmer, a spokesman for the airline. While Air Canada will continue offering the flimsy headsets free of charge, WestJet doesn’t, saying that passengers would only throw them away anyhow, and spending the time and money to clean the headphones to be reused doesn’t make any sense.

Visit www.aircanada.com for more information.