Children on planes: is there a solution?

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This was published 13 years ago

Children on planes: is there a solution?

By Jane E. Fraser

No, you can't put noisy children in the cargo hold. But there might be a solution.

NEARLY 60 per cent of travellers would like children to be contained to a "families only" section on flights, according to a survey by price-comparison site Skyscanner.

Not surprisingly, non-parents were the biggest supporters of the idea, with just 8 per cent of those surveyed arguing that families should be able to sit wherever they like and the majority saying they wanted to sit "as far away as possible from children".

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A quarter of non-parents surveyed went as far as saying they would prefer their flights to be completely child-free.

Yet nearly half of the parents surveyed rejected the idea, saying they didn't want to sit next to "other people's horrors".

The survey follows a recent furore over a woman who complained a child made her ears bleed on a Qantas flight.

The complaint went all the way to court, with Qantas reaching a confidential settlement with the passenger.

Some of the more imaginative suggestions put forward by Skyscanner users included the provision of a baby nursery, only allowing well-behaved children to fly and (presumably in jest) putting children "in the hold".

Skyscanner suggests airlines could charge a premium for an adults-only area.

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