In a 2017 survey from the air travel site Airfwarewatchdog revealed that a little over half of respondents want the families with children aged 10 and under should have to sit in a designated section apart from other passengers. This demand for child-free seating has gained traction on Reddit.
Some of the popular international airlines, including Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, Scoot Airlines, and IndiGo have actually introduced “kid-free” zones where customers can purchase seats without the risk of sitting next to a noisy child. However, none of the US airlines has implemented it.
Business Insider’s content editor Tracy Stewart said that “if you’re a parent and you live with that kind of behaviour, you’re probably pretty resigned to kicking and screaming. If some stranger calls out your kid for misbehaving on a plane, those situations escalate so quickly,” and also that airlines do not want more controversy.
Given the crisis airlines have faced around their rules for allowing emotional support animals on flights – policies that affect a small percentage of passengers – it’s not difficult to imagine the PR nightmare that would follow child-free seating policies, even if the current system causes as much stress for parents as those sitting around them.
As the situation is like now, it is unlikely that any US airline will introduce child-free seating anytime soon.
