@harrymccracken Its a “Find My” thing. When you connect them it will tell you they are connected to someone else's account and they'll be notified the location of the AirPods if you connect them to your device.
@Jaseno I figured, but it's just my wife sitting nearby opening up her own AirPods, which I know aren't mine. Why don't I get this message hundreds of times on airplane trips?