Holiday Tips

Kids-only section on airplanes?

A fussy baby makes everyone anxious on a plane.

Passengers are angered and sometimes even sent into a rage by the sounds of a crying child.

The actual parents are uneasy because they know the noise is annoying, and then there are the flight attendants who are serving drinks to a plane load of edgy people.

What’s the solution? A kids-only section on the airplane, according to a recent survey conducted by Skyscanner, a fare-comparison website.

Nearly 60 percent of more than 2,000 travelers polled say they want airlines to create such a section, according to USA Today. Nearly 20 percent went as far to say they’d prefer child-free flights.

USA Today reports:

Skyscanner posted the poll on its site Aug. 11-23, after a confidential settlement last month between Qantas and a 67-year-old American passenger who sued the Australian airline after a 3-year-old screamed on her flight last year. The woman complained of excruciating pain in her ears and was taken to a hospital before the Darwin-bound flight departed from Alice Springs.

Most poll respondents in favor of creating a families-only section said they don’t have young children and “want to sit as far away as possible” from them.

Skyscanner spokeswoman Mary Porter says results of the unscientific poll are not surprising. A previous poll found that young children are the “most annoying” factor on flights. “I can still remember that feeling of dread when you found yourself seated next to a baby on a long flight,” Porter says. “However, since regularly flying with my 1-year-old, I am much more aware of what a stressful and often embarrassing situation it can be for parents.”

The Air Transport Association of America declined to comment. But at least two airlines, Southwest and JetBlue, say they have not looked into assigning parts of the plane to families.

What do you think? Should airplanes have a kids-only section?