Air Travel

Another Airline is Creating Child-Free Zones on Planes

By Talia Avakian
By Travel + Leisure
Young woman on airplane choosing music on smartphone
Ben Pipe Photography — Getty Images/Cultura RF

Budget air carrier IndiGo recently announced kid-free Quiet Zones on its flights, adding to an ever-growing list of airlines creating adults-only spaces.

It’s a controversial move. Some customers and airlines say the policy gives people traveling for business a better chance to get work done or grab a nap. Others think the policy is discriminatory.

Currently no U.S. carrier has made the change, though a few international airlines—including Air Asia, Malaysia Airlines, and Singapore’s Scoot Airlines—have created policies in the last few years.

In 2013, Scoot Airlines created its ScootinSilence upgrade, preventing children under the age of 12 from sitting in particular rows. Malaysia Airlines banned infants from first class flights in 2011 and introduced kid-free zones in economy a few years later. AirAsia utimately followed suit.

Richard Branson was once interested in developing a separate cabin for kids with nannies who could watch them. The so-called kids class was scrapped due to issues with the Civil Aviation Authority, Branson said in an interview with Condé Nast Traveler in 2014.

Many travelers responded positively to the move, saying they would even pay extra for the option.

https://twitter.com/tizinyourface/status/786644061847490560

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Others are frustrated with the policy, calling it “ridiculous” and discriminatory.

https://twitter.com/Linela22/status/632742619249025028

This post originally appeared on Travel + Leisure.