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Some airlines have created cabin classes to avoid the mix of surly babies and intolerant travellers from mixing. Photo / Getty Images
“Why isn’t there such a thing as adult only flights? I would pay SO much money.”
Such was the plight of one woman whose three-hour flight was pierced by the screams of an unhappy toddler.
With her noise-cancelling earphones not working, Tiktok creator, Mo couldn’t help but share the pain in a viral video.
“The child was WELL over 5 years old, and they sat directly behind me while kicking my chair as the mother slept,” she added.
Over 70,000 viewers have sided with her since she first posted the clip last month.
Sadly, however much you are willing to pay, there are currently no commercial airlines which offer an adults only passenger experience.
That doesn’t mean that airlines don’t also see the appeal. It has featured in April Fools jokes of both Ryanair and Westjet, suggesting the budget carriers know a baby-free cabin is high up on the wishlists of many travellers and would charge for it if they could.
A social mischievous media campaign to “Ban Babies in Business” fell on deaf ears, with most airlines saying it was not a practical option.
But short of chartering your own private jet, is there a way you can be sure not to not be seated in front – and within kicking distance – of a hyperactive child?
It’s a pet peeve for passengers, especially in the small hours of a pan-Pacific flight to Auckland. And for travellers with children, who can’t help but shrink in embarrassment when their toddler tears through a cabin of sleeping travellers like a pint-sized hooligan.
Wouldn’t a creche class cabin be in the interest of all involved?
That doesn’t mean some airlines haven’t tried.
Here are five airlines which promise child-free zones for passengers with low tolerance to toddlers.
Air Asia X
When Air Asia’s low-cost subsidiary announced it was coming to New Zealand from November, the budget trans-Tasman flights weren’t the only thing that caught travellers’ attention.
Since 2013 Air Asia X has flown a ‘quiet zone’ cabin class at the front of the economy section. Open to passengers aged 10 and over, for a small fee passengers can book seats to guarantee some shut eye. Occupying the first seven rows of their Airbus 330s it promises to be a child-fee oasis.
Of course that comes with the caveat that adults keep the noise down, too.
Malaysia Airlines
The fleet of double-decker Airbus A380s belonging to Malaysia Airlines have carved out a child-free cabin area in the upper deck.
The airline is also one of the few to have made the decision to ban travellers under 12 from flying first class in their A380 or 747 fleet. However, infants are still permitted in the business class cabin, which has the capacity for six cot bassinets.
Japan Airlines
The national airline of Japan courted controversy in 2019 by allowing passengers to choose seat selection away from babies under 2 years old.
Although not strictly a baby-free cabin, the airline’s online booking system still shows smiling baby icon for sensitive travellers to avoid. Although the airline says it is not a perfect system “it lets other passengers know a child may be sitting there”.
Scoot Airlines
Singapore Airlines’ low-cost sister company offers a “ScootinSilence” opt-in fee to be seated away from children under 12. There is a specific quiet zone between business and economy classes aboard Scoot’s A320 fleet. The carrier also says it comes with the benefit of speedy disembark ahead of economy class seats. Shh!
Indigo
One of India’s largest airlines saw the appeal of a baby-free cabin class, blocking travellers under 12 from booking seats in rows 1 to 4 and 11 to 14. The airline said the zones were “created for business travellers who prefer to use the quiet time to do their work.”
Although it was pointed out that some of these seats were around rows with emergency exits, where infants are prohibited from seating anyway.
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