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GURGAON, India — One airline’s introduction of “quiet zones” on its flights has many parents making a great deal of noise, while frequent flyers seem to be light as air.
IndiGo — India’s largest domestic budget airline — will forbid children under the age of 12 from sitting in specified rows in an attempt to provide “a hassle-free experience for our customers,” the company said in a statement.
In short, travelers can pay extra to avoid sitting near families traveling with children.
“These zones have been created for business travelers who prefer to use the quiet time to do their work,” the statement reads.
The designated rows also happen to be the premium seating with extra leg room — a fact that has many parents furious.
“The policy is discriminatory,” traveler Anshuman Sinha told the Hindustan Times. “It means that you cannot ask for more leg space while traveling with your children.”
Sinha said the policy doesn’t even make sense, seeing as how children can still be heard from the zones in question.
“It’s clear that they do not want children to disturb flyers paying extra for these seats, but then why permit children in the nearby rows either?” she said.
George Hobica with Airfare Watchdog agrees, calling the policy a “gimmick.”
“Of course, people would love to avoid screaming, crying kids on flights, but it just isn’t practical from an operations perspective,” he told Today. “Just like when airlines had smoking sections, if you’re only a row or two away from the kids-free zone, you’ll still be bothered by a child with strong lungs because like smoke, sound carries.”
But not everyone is unhappy with the new policy. In fact, regular travelers are singing its praises on social media. One only needs to search the hashtag #childfreeflights on Twitter to find IndiGo’s biggest supporters.
Great initiative, all airlines should have #childfreeflights as standard. Now, who's starting #childfreerestaurants? https://t.co/whgd10f0ya
— Nakkiran Sunassee (@Nakkiran) October 8, 2016
“Great initiative, all airlines should have #childfreeflights. Now, who’s starting #childfreerestaurants?” tweeted one user.
“An airline has introduced #childfreeflights and I feel like the world is answering many people’s prayers right now,” tweeted another.
Several other Asian airlines — including Malaysian — have implemented similar “quiet zones,” however experts in the U.S. doubt the concept will wing its way to the states anytime soon.
“It’d be a logistical nightmare,” said Hobica. “The best solution is for parents to bring a supply of foam ear plugs for seat mates and for seat mates to bring noise-canceling earphones with Led Zeppelin at max volume.”
