Would you pay extra for a child-free flight? Airline to create an adults-only zone on airplanes
Flights can be tiresome and overwhelming, especially for kids. Since they don’t always know how to best express their needs and wants, their reactions can add stress to the flying experience. As most of those things happen in a plane, many of the passengers can be affected by it. For parents, it can be difficult to help their kids have a pleasant experience, and for others it can be hard to deal with a noisy trip. To help solve the dilemma, one airline is creating a child-free zone on its flights.
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What does the child-free flight looks like?
Corendon Airlines, a Turkish-Dutch company, is behind the child-free airplane section. According to Forbes, the flights with the special zone will start operating on Nov. 3, only on its flights between Amsterdam and the Caribbean island of Curaçao, a flight that usually takes about 10 hours, according to The Associated Press.
According to Forbes, the Airbus A350-900 aircraft will have 93 seats, and nine extra seats offering extra legroom, strategically positioned at the front of the plane. The area will be exclusive for passengers ages 16-older.
“The zone is physically separated from the rest of the aircraft by means of walls and curtains, creating a shielded environment that contributes to a calm and relaxed flight,” said the Corendon press release.
The press release says that the zone is intended for travelers without children and business travelers who want to work in a quiet environment. It says the zone also has a positive impact on parents traveling with kids. “They don’t have to worry as much about possible reactions from fellow passengers if their child is a bit busier or cries,“ said the press release.
Would YOU pay extra to travel on a child-free flight? Airline divides opinion as it launches adults-only section where babies and kids are BANNED from the rest of the aircraft https://t.co/AR3gH7D3R5
— Daily Mail Australia (@DailyMailAU) August 31, 2023
How much does it cost for a child free flight?
The adult-only zone will cost an extra reservation fee of 45 euros ($49), with extra legroom seats costing 100 euros ($109) according to AP.
“For a heavy leisure airline like Corendon, which is probably full of families with little kids, I can see the appeal for someone traveling without kids to pay extra to be away from them to have more peace and quiet,” Brett Snyder, who runs a travel agency and writes the Cranky Flier blog, told AP.
He added that people in the front of the plane may still hear the crying, “so it’s like the old days when you were in the last row of the nonsmoking section but could still taste that smoke,” Snyder told AP.
Even though Corendon is leading the change in Europe, there are already child-free zone flights in Asia, with passengers needing to be at least 12 years old, says Forbes.
