Restart the Steam deck. Disable bluetooth on your iPhone just in case it is connecting to the headset while you are trying to pair. Then try to pair it again.

I had the same issue with mine, also in an airport. I ended up renaming them from my iPhone and was then able to pair them.

Edit to add: I thought pairing them from desktop mode may give me better luck, but it actually made things worse for some reason. Even after renaming them, I wasn’t able to pair them in desktop mode. Immediately after switching back to gaming mode, I was able to pair them.

Download trombone champ and blast at full volume. You won't need headphones and everyone will love you.

Delete the buds and fully "re-pair" it. That fixes 99% of all BT issues I've ever had.

Is it possible they are connecting to your phone and interfering?

AirPods Pro gen 2 are problematic with Steam deck: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1675200/discussions/1/3370405530896320680/?tscn=1689301955

Dozens of people reports issues, most commenters are able to pair but experience various stability issues on top of the headphones not connecting automatically.

With no visible response from Valve, the hope is that kernel and relevant Bluetooth and pipewire packages upgraded in the upcoming SteamOS 3.6 contain some fixes.

AirPods Pro gen 1 are not affected.

I've never used a steam deck, but I know SteamOS runs linux. If you have the terminal easily available, try:

sudo systemctl restart bluetooth.service (might be bluetoothd.service)

If that doesn't work, this almost always resolves my bluetooth issues:

rmmod btusb

rmmod btintel

modprobe btusb

modprobe btintel

If none of that works, your bluetooth card could be disabled due to static discharge, in which case you should hold power button / hard shut down, unplug charger, boot again, plug in charger again.

These are only issues ive encountered on the Linux end. I would recommend troubleshooting the airpods by tapping the "i" button next to them and forgetting them, then attempting to pair with the Steam Deck

Forget the device and pair again. If you paired your airpods with too many devices it won't connect using the old pairing and AirPods simply forgot the Deck. Not sure if it's possible to do fron deck ui, but you can do that easily in desktop

Try resetting them by holding down the button until it starts flashing orange.

I have a similar issue with a pair of bone conduction headphones I have. Often (maybe every couple of days) I have to go to desktop mode, go into the Bluetooth manager, tell it to completely forget the headphones, and then repair them. That consistently works with mine, but I have no idea if it'll help with air pods.

Don't they give you headphones on request on planes now?

When I have a Bluetooth controller that won't connect, deleting the pairing and the repairing it works. Maybe that would work here?

Is that a little Steam Deck cloth? I think I need that for mine

This is what worked for me. Put your deck on desktop mode and from there go to the Bluetooth icon in the taskbar and connect them from there. If you can’t see your AirPods restart the deck on desktop mode. Once connected obviously switch back to regular mode. This worked for me, I had tried all the tricks I saw

https://superuser.com/a/1533067

Maybe that could help?

Hope next time I’m on a plane my Bose 700s work

On some Linux distros you need to edit /etc/bluetooth/main controller mode and change it to bredr to pair, then restart bluetooth, then change it back to dual and restart it again and it should work.

Disable the Find My function on the AirPods

It won't help you on this trip, but for anyone else reading this, you can get decent wired earbuds for $30. They're a good thing to carry with you (along with a USB c to 3.5mm dongle) for situations like this.

i have never used lemmy. can i help?

You'll survive a 4 hour flight without headphones.