The verdict is in: People don’t want babies on flights
The results are in: People don’t want babies on flights anymore.
A new survey conducted by insurance company InsureandGo asked 1,100 Australian parents how old a child should be before it was OK for them to be taken on-board domestic and international flights.
It turns out that Australians have some pretty strong opinions about the appropriate age children should be taken on a flight as well as whether or not cabins should be “baby-free zones”.
About 60 per cent of people said domestic flights were not suitable for children aged under one year old, and 76 per cent said the same about international flights.
The overwhelming majority of people said it was not acceptable for newborns to fly domestically (87 per cent) and internationally (92 per cent).
The strict stance seems to be for newborns only as people generally got more relaxed about older children flying. Only a quarter of people said that domestic flights were not okay for children aged five and up.
About 45 per cent of people said that kids under five shouldn’t be on international flights and 14 per cent said that children should be at least 12 before travelling internationally.
InsureandGo spokesman Jonathan Etkind said that from a health and wellbeing point, heading overseas provides children with unique threats.
“This can take the form of anything from infections and diseases that may be present in the country to which you’re travelling, to the pain children sometimes feel due to cabin pressure at the takeoff and landing of your flight,” he said.
Many people still maintain that they don’t want to be disturbed by children while flying.
Another survey said that 52 per cent of travellers thought that families and children should be grouped together in a separate section of the plane.
Others explained their reasoning saying that they’d pay more for a flight to sit in a child-free area.
“Some believe there should be a separate aeroplane cabin for those travelling without children but I will do you one better — there should be an entire AIRLINE that guarantees child-free travel,” one Twitter user said.
Another person added: “There are child-free hotels, why not child-free flights?”
IndiGo, an Indian airline, has already introduced “child-free zones” to some of its services in response to this demand.
Don’t expect this on international airlines however, as Tracey Stewart from Airfarewatchdog said that it would cause an outrage.
“It’s probably hard for parents to be super objective for this stuff. Whenever this comes up, people get so upset about it,” she told Business Insider.
“It would be great if an American carrier would give it a shot, but I would be surprised if anyone takes it on.”