It’s not professional, I’ll agree. But, speaking as a former scareactor, moments like that should happen once or twice over thousands of interactions (a scareactor, if active, can individually scare 2k-3k people a night). They are exceedingly rare. That rarity can make the moment a highlight from the other side of employee’s perspective.
It can also be very hard for scareactors to recognize friends in the moment, unless the friend IS distracting. The darkness, noise, and rhythm allows scareactors in houses to kinda zone out and go on autopilot.
I say all that, acknowledging HHN management isn’t a fan of those moments either. They want every guest to get the same experience. If a guest is ruining every scare specifically because they know the cast (this will sometimes happen later in the season when performers get the night off and go through), you can say something at the end of the house—though that will likely result in some sort of reprimand to whoever that employee is and the house cast getting lectured. So, your mileage may vary.
*shakes off Cats and Combs PTSD*