Majority of Brits Want Child-Free Flights

It’s a situation that many of us have experienced. You’re settling in for a long flight at the start of that well-earned holiday, only to have a child or baby start crying as soon as you take off.

Babies and children are always going to be loud, but our fuses seem to get a lot shorter on a plane and our tolerance just disappears.

It now seems that the majority of us want airlines to do something about it. A recent survey has found that more than half of Brits would like to see the introduction of child-free flights.

It was found that nearly two thirds of people count loud children as their biggest in-flight pet hate, while 53 per cent support child-free flights.

Loud children were found to get on the public’s nerves more than poor airline food and even a lack of legroom.

Two fifths of Brits said that the small amount of legroom on airlines meant that reclining seats should be removed from all aircrafts – as passengers who put their seat back was another bugbear.

This isn’t the first time that the issue of child-free flights has surfaced, as a number of surveys in recent years have revealed that many passengers would like to see them introduced.

So far airlines have decided against the controversial measure, choosing to avoid a potentially divisive debate.

But one airline is testing the water this week. Malaysian Airlines has announced plans to ban children under 12 from the top deck of its A380 aircraft.

The airline’s first A380 service will fly between London and Kuala Lumpur, and will be partly child-free. Malaysian Airlines’ chief executive said the move was in response to a barrage of Twitter complaints from passengers of loud and misbehaving children on flights.

The move could see more airlines introduce a similar policy, but would a child-free cabin make that long-haul flight any more enjoyable?