European airline sells promise of kid-free flight for extra $80

Would you pay more for the guarantee you wouldn’t be disturbed by children on your flight? An airline is offering passengers the opportunity to do just that.

Would you pay more for the guarantee you wouldn’t be disturbed by children on your flight?

A European airline is offering passengers the opportunity to do just that.

Turkish-Dutch carrier Corendon Airlines will introduce an “Only Adult” zone on board its Airbus A350 jets flying between the Netherlands’ capital Amsterdam and the Dutch Caribbean island Curaçao from November 3. It is about a 10 hour flight.

Nine larger seats with extra legroom and 93 standard seats will be set aside at the front of the plane for people over the age of 16.

The airline says a “quiet and relaxed environment” will be achieved by walls and curtains separating this section from the rest of aircraft.

But it will cost you.

A European airline is charging passengers $80 extra to sit in a kid-free zone. Picture: istock

Passengers will pay an extra €45 ($76) one-way to reserve a standard seat and €100 ($168) for a large seat.

According to a news.com.au poll of more than 29,000 people, 71 per cent voted they would like to see “kid free flights”.

The remaining 29 per cent think kids should be able to travel just the same as adults.

Only those over the age of 16 can enter the new ‘Only Adult’ zone. Picture: iStock

Corendon co-founder founder Atilay Uslu said the airline was trying to appeal to travellers wanting extra peace of mind during their flight.

“We also believe this can have a positive effect on parents travelling with small children,” Mr Uslu added.

“They can enjoy the flight without worrying if their children make more noise.”

Over in Asia, it is not such a rare concept.

Singapore budget airline Scoot has a dedicated quiet zone on select flights called Scoot-in-Silence, which is only available for travellers over the age of 12.

Malaysian-based budget airline AirAsia X has a “Quiet Zone” for passengers over 10 years of age on its A330s, and Malaysia Airlines has a kid-free zone on the upper deck of its A380s for passengers over the age of 12.

Meanwhile, in 2019, Japan Airlines introduced a booking system that shows where babies are seated on flights.

It’s called a “baby map” and travellers who book through the airline website can see seats that have been claimed by passengers aged up to two years old. Those seats will have a child icon displayed.

“This lets other passengers know a child may be sitting there,” the website states.