Airline caters to cranky adults by offering ‘child-free’ zones during flights

Cassandra Stone
·2 min read
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If there’s one thing that’s become abundantly clear during the last few years, it’s that lots of adults aren’t comfortable with the fact that children exist. Especially when those children are traveling on airplanes. Now, one airline is trying to solve this “problem” by offering child-free zones on their flights.

Corendon Airlines says that it will sell tickets for an “adults-only zone”—meaning no one under 16 can sit there—on flights between Amsterdam and Curacao starting in November. The Turkish airline says people traveling child-free will be able to fly amid quiet surroundings, and parents of children won’t have to worry that their children will become viral fodder because a grown adult will launch into a full-on tantrum simply because they’re crying.

AP News reports Corendon plans to set aside 93 regular seats and nine extra-legroom seats in the adult zone in the front of its Airbus A350 jets, which have 432 seats in all. A wall or curtain will separate the child-free section farther back on the plane.

“On board our flights, we always strive to respond to the different needs of our customers. We are also the first Dutch airline to introduce the Only Adult zone because we cater trying to appeal to travelers looking for some extra peace of mind during their flight,” Corendon said in a statement. “We also believe this can have a positive effect on parents traveling with small children. They can enjoy the flight without worrying if their children make more noise.”

While the airline makes it seem like this is a best-case scenario for child-free passengers and parents traveling with children, it’s important to remember that we live in a society. And living in a society means everyone is entitled to take up space in public, and no one is entitled to shame or modify public spaces to fit their personal preferences. And, most importantly of all, let’s not forget that when a baby is crying on an airplane, no one is suffering more than that baby’s parents.

Then again, who knows? Maybe this is the best solution for the future of airline travel. For now, those who aren’t a fan of babies on planes who aren’t traveling on Corendon Airlines should invest in a good pair of noise-canceling headphones.