For travelers who want to avoid babies and kids, one airline will test an adults-only section
One airline is betting that passengers will pay extra to sit away from babies and young children
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.One airline plans to find out if solitude-seeking travelers will pay a hefty extra charge to avoid sitting near babies and little kids.
Corendon Airlines says that it will sell an adults-only zone — no one under 16 — on flights between Amsterdam and Curacao starting in November.
The Turkish carrier says people traveling without children will get quiet surroundings, and parents won't have to worry that their crying or fidgeting kids will annoy fellow passengers.
Corendon announced last week that it will 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 section from the wailing masses farther back.
The airline said on its website that it will charge passengers an extra reservation fee of 45 euros ($49) for the no-kids zone, rising to 100 euros ($109) for one of the extra-legroom seats.
To answer your next question, a flight from Amsterdam to Curacao usually takes about 10 hours.
Brett Snyder, who runs a travel agency and writes the Cranky Flier blog, said Tuesday that there could be demand for adult seats.
“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,” Snyder said.
Then again, he added, people in the back of the adult zone might still hear crying, “so it’s like the old days when you were in the last row of the non-smoking section but could still taste that smoke.”
Corendon is not the first airline to try a section with no small children.
Scoot, a low-cost airline based in Singapore, sells a section where passengers must be at least 12.
Back in 2012, Malaysia Airlines announced it would not allow anyone under 12 in a 70-seat economy section on the upper deck of its Airbus A380 jets. The airline later retreated, saying that if there were too many families with children and infants to fit in the lower deck, it would find room for them in the adult economy section upstairs.