Travel & Hotspots

LET'S TALK ABOUT THOSE CRYING BABIES ON THE PLANE...

Picture this. You step onto the plane, hear a baby crying loudly in the distance, and the only thing you can think is: Let. Me. Please. Not. Sit. Nearby. Then, of course, you end up sitting exactly ONE row in front of the desperate mother whom you secretly feel sorry for, and yes, karma is a bitch.

But now. Ho stop. I just saw something ‘fly’ by on the web that might be the solution and a dream for many travelers: the Indian airline IndiGo is introducing child-free zones on board its planes. So you can read that magazine undisturbed at the start of your vacation or quickly open your laptop to prepare a few emails. Without someone yelling in your ear. Because despite the fact that babies are incredibly cute, they sometimes produce, uh, quite a lot of decibels.

Let. Me. Please. Not. Sit. Nearby.

What exactly does the child-free zone entail? The airline has decided to designate a number of rows of premium seats (= more legroom) as child-free. Traveling with a child under 12 years old? Then you can forget about those spots from now on. social media Of course, it immediately sparks reactions from furious parents, while business travelers (who often fly) secretly find it quite relaxing. Now I definitely understand the whole principle, but it also smells a bit like discrimination. I mean, does this mean you can no longer get extra legroom when traveling with children? And while I see friends reacting on Facebook: ‘HELLO, when is this service coming to the Netherlands?’ Which is of course logical, because if you have a child, you find this unkind, but if you don't have children, this sounds like a super tight plan. Well, maybe I'm not the right person to share my opinion on this since I once experienced an eleven-hour flight with a crying baby behind me. It was so bad that the brand-new mom was also on the verge of crying out of desperation at one point. And so was I.

So say, uh, Dutch airlines, if this plan is also introduced in our country... Will you keep those extra legroom spots free for me? Thanks in advance.