WHERE’S THAT BABY?

Hate kids on planes? Then Japan’s national carrier is the airline for you

We were all children once — but that’s immaterial to many people when it comes to tolerating little ones on planes. The propensity for adults to find travelling children irritating also causes anxiety for parents, who know that should their little one start fussing — or worse, shrieking — they’re sure to illicit at least one disapproving glare designed to make them sorry for ever procreating at all.

They may be pleased to know about Japan Airlines, which recently announced a new tool for those booking through its website — an addition to the seat plan that will show where children under two years old are seated. Those who fear the shrieks of infants will then be able to reserve their seats well out of earshot.

This is not the first airline to try to cater to the kid-free dreams of irritable passengers.

Air Asia X introduced a “quiet zone” on all of its flights last year, which sets aside eight rows that cannot be occupied by kids under 10; and the budget Indian airline IndiGo introduced a similar measure in 2016, branding extra-leg-room zones as “quiet zones”, where no children under 12 are allowed.

Japan Airlines’ rival All Nippon

Airways claims it was the first to introduce such a tool, as its seat maps have indicated the position of children

“for a while”.

The move has been welcomed in some sectors, but has angered others, who point out that it’s not the pain of flying with small children that’s the problem but rather the looks of disgust and irritation delivered by annoyed fellow passengers.

As the website Fatherly noted, “This will be great news to the certain former babies in the world who insist on whining about being on an airplane with a crying baby as if that isn’t the cost of perpetuating the human race.”

A 2018 survey by Airfare Watchdog found that more than 50% of airline travellers believe that families with young kids should sit in a separate section of the plane.