[Hannah Brandler]

Corendon Airlines is set to trial adult-only zones on its flights between Amsterdam and Curacao in the Caribbean from 3 November.

The carrier’s “Only Adult” zone will be available to passengers aged 16 and above, with a total of 102 seats at the front of an A350-900.

The child-free zone will be separated by walls and curtains, with seats starting at €45 one-way.

Singapore Airlines’ subsidiary Scoot has a similar initiative, with its ‘Scoot-in-Silence’ cabins available for passengers aged 12 and above.

[cwoodward]

In the several decades that I have been flying and now I estimate a couple of thousand flight I have been seriously bothered a couple of times. Some though lack tolerance it is being suggested but I suspect that this is very few.

My view is that such schemes are unnecessary and possibly if tested illegally discriminatory in some duristrections.

What are the benefits to airlines? Few I would suggest and none that would outweigh the negative downside of additional administration and inventory plus aircraft restrictions ( per the restricted zone mentioned above) plus the negative implications of not being ‘family friendly’ given that many that travel with children do for family holidays or in an emergency.

This type of scheme just won’t happen with major full service airlines and neither should it – is my view.

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BackOfThePlane, Montysaurus

[stevescoots]

Agree with Cwoodward on this, millions of miles and only 4 incidents i can remember, 2 of them in the rear on loco’s in Europe. the other 2 on J and more due to the lack of parenting skills. I would not pay extra for adult only cabin, adults can and often are worse than kids!

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BackOfThePlane, Montysaurus

[TonyR]

I always remember a story told here on the letters page many years ago of someone whose life was being made a misery by two kids whose parents were travelling up front. Said person asked the cabin crew to get one of the parents to deal with the kids. Dad turned up and after a quick conversation said “I’ll stay here with them, why don’t you take my seat for the rest of the flight”. All very normal until the killer last sentence of “and now I’m having a secret affair with his wife” 😳🤣🤣

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Catalina, tomyam42, fluffymitten

[LondonAndy70]

I guess Corendon wouldn’t do it unless they thought there was a business advantage in doing so. My kids are now older, but have travelled in all the cabins since they were born – at the end of the day it is public transport…..

[GivingupBA]

cwoodward said “In the several decades that I have been flying and now I estimate a couple of thousand flight I have been seriously bothered a couple of times.”

My record is better. I have been flying frequently, usually long haul, since 1972. I have NEVER ONCE been bothered by children or babies: not to the slightest degree (and I have often sat near them). However, I remember 3-4 flights where I was seriously disturbed by adult passengers’ noise and commotion (they were drinking).

I once mentioned to my mother-in-law that one restaurant we knew was planning to ban kids in the evening. She hated the idea and immediately said, “What?! Are kids not humans?” I really liked her reaction, and comment.

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cwoodward

[esselle]

No view either way on adult only cabins, but the comment about adults behaving badly resonates.

I remember a flight in F when a mother decided it was appropriate to change her infant’s fully loaded nappy on the stand at the front normally dedicated to a help yourself bar.

Maybe there should be a cabin dedicated to thoughtless, inconsiderate grown-ups?

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Lydia, LuganoPirate

[TonyR]

From my days travelling with the kids, some airlines/planes have no changing facilities in the toilets and we’ve had to use the floor on the aisle or by the exit doors to do a needed change. So spare a thought for the mother changing her baby’s nappy in First. She may have been making do in the absence of any other options. You can’t just leave a full nappy on.

[esselle]

Perhaps, but I’ve never been on a longhaul aircraft that didn’t have drop down changing tables in the loos.

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Lydia, cwoodward

[TonyR]

“Perhaps, but I’ve never been on a long haul aircraft that didn’t have drop down changing tables in the loos”

I have many times. Most people only do occasional trips with their children so don’t get much exposure. Ours (twins) racked up 5 transatlantic returns in their first year and a load of others so we got to experience nappy changing on a wide range of flights. All it needs is a fold down table in the toilets but quite.a few don’t have even that basic.

Also the thing that people notice most about young kids on flights is the crying but a lot of that is down to parental lack of awareness of the effects of pressure changes on their ears and the simple steps – give them something to suck on – that can alleviate the pain and therefore the screaming on departure and approaches.

[Nick Pike]

Perhaps I’ve been unlucky, but I’ve been regularly bothered by children on aircraft, from screaming babies to badly behaved older children(which also involved a lot of screaming). I’ve also had a couple of occasions where lounge visits have been interrupted by children doing likewise.

Baies do scream from time to time- it comes with the territory-and more so on aircraft where I understand that pressurisation can play painful havoc with young ears. As other posters have said, commercial aircraft are part of public transport. But i’d happily pay extra for an adults only quiet zone.

Badly behaved older children are more of an issue, especially as there now seems to be what I’d term an entitled attitude with some parents that if they have paid for a ticket they are entitled to use the facilities provided with that ticket and if their children disturb what would otherwise be quiet space, so be it. That’s irrespective as to the suitability of those spaces for small children.

When I was a child- i am 60 now- there were clearly defined, albeit unwritten, adult only spaces. My parents would never have taken me to a first class lounge as a toddler unless there were children’s facilities there (not that they could have afforded first class tickets in any event). As an older child, I’d have been allowed in to those adult only spaces but if I misbehaved I’d be led out. That doesn’t seem to happen now. it’s a shame, but it means I’d very happily pay more for the quiet zone.

I also agree that adults can can a problem too- but a quiet zone on an aircraft would address that too.

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Lydia, Locod190

[esselle]

Tony I was referring to first class cabins, where the babygate incident took place.

[TonyR]

Again I remember a letter to BT complaining about the noise the cabin crew made during a night flight and asking for them to be asked to be quieter. The airlines response was not thanks for the feedback and we’ll remind them but to point to their fragranced pillows to aid sleep. So perhaps a zone that banishes cabin crew and their trolleys too 😉

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LuganoPirate, esselle

[LuganoPirate]

I cannot recall being disturbed by screaming babies in all my years of travel. However, Mrs. LP flying with Swiss on Wednesday had to put up (as did all the other passengers in Business, with a screaming baby, non stop, from 2300 – 0130. She was in that small business cabin but could still hear the cries from the baby way back in the larger Business cabin.

However, while in deep sleep at 5 am, there was a loud “wake me up, wake me up” continuously which woke the whole cabin – except for the fellow in 5K (wife in 4K) whose alarm it was, and who had forgotten to turn it off. It was ironic that he slept right through it and had to be woken up to turn it off. He was very apologetic though 😉

[Maaki]

Maybe I´m too old to understand this: Why is it necessary to fly with Babies at all? I´ve been to many destinations, where babies/children up to 5-6 years had to accompany their parents and were totally cheesed off, because of a boring flight, an unknown (sometimes threatening for them) environment and so on.
Just take the Baby with you, because you “need” an exciting trip to an ultra-cool place in the-middle-of-nowhere? Maybe there is a reason to see grandma across the pond, but I believe mostly it is the decision of the parents to have a nice trip and the poor baby has to suffer (much more than the other people on a flight).

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Lydia

[Author]

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