“What A Sad World We Live In”: The Internet Reacts To Airline Introducing A Child-Free Plane Section

Air rage, delays, and horrible food come nowhere close to the terror induced by seeing someone board a plane with a child. Veteran fliers know that, within moments of the doors closing, the baby will attempt to outscream the plane’s engines and on some occasions, it will succeed.

So the Dutch-Turkish airline Corendon has introduced a pretty novel feature to some of its flights. For an additional cost, passengers will be able to select seating in an adults-only zone that will be additionally separated from the rest of the plane. The airline hopes this will create less stress and less embarrassment for the people flying with children.

"Would you pay extra cash money to fly in an 'adults only' section of an airplane? So that would mean no one under the age of 16 is allowed. One airline is about to find out whether people are going to pay for this. It's called Corendon Airlines, a European carrier."

"And they've got an experimental service beginning on flights from Amsterdam to Curacao where the first 100 seats of this 400+ seat plane will be for adults only."

The list of things that make air travel difficult is long and exhausting, to such a degree that it often masks the miracle of flight altogether. The average trip begins with getting to the airport, which generally is some distance from any place you actually want to be, and, depending on your flight, often means getting up particularly early or staying up late. Then begins the process of passing through multiple checks, filed with similarly annoyed passengers, before you get to your gate. If you are late, too bad, the plane is gone. If you are early, congratulations, enjoy the most overpriced food you have ever encountered. As comedian Jerry Seinfeld noted, the entire airline industry appears to be a front to trick us into buying overpriced sandwiches.

This is all before the flight has even started. Assuming there are no delays, overbooking, or cancelations, you can now board the plane. Depending on what sort of tickets you purchased, your degree of comfort will vary pretty greatly. There are a myriad of annoyances on most planes, limited legroom, cheap seats, the AC is way too powerful or the heating is turned up too high, the air is dry and irritating, other passengers are constantly, moving and making noise, and the entire time, the engines are rumbling in the background.

First-class seats no doubt alleviate some of these issues, but there is one notorious equalizer, regardless of where one sits. A small child can not really comprehend the air pressure changes, noise, and temperature of an airplane and will, inevitably, fill the fuselage with a barrage of endless screams. This is an occurrence so common that just the sight of a child by the gate will leave other passengers in a state of abject terror. It’s also a rare case where cheaper seats are better since splurging for first-class, then enduring endless wailing seems like the travel equivalent of burning money to warm your fingers.

By sitting in what has to now be thought of as the “child area,” parents are absolved of any irritation their offspring may bring. Not only does the airline get some additional funds by selling tickets but passengers sitting near a crying child will consider purchasing a “child-free” ticket in the future. Corendon Airlines is not the first airline to limit where children can sit, although it is the first in Europe. AirAsia X maintains a “quiet area” on certain long-haul flights, which is limited to people 12 and older. Similarly, the wonderfully named Scoot, a low-cost Singapore-based carrier, offers the same service, obviously, at a premium price.

In general, child-free travel is growing in demand. While parents might find this disconcerting, in general, the trend seems to be charging extra for sitting in an area without a child, instead of paying extra to bring a child. Certain train lines and even buses are working on spaces that would not have any children in them, though this raises the question if young parents will find it increasingly difficult to find spaces on any transportation in the future. However, sometimes the real babies are passengers who can’t deal with the noise, so perhaps removing this stressor is better for everyone in the long run.