Going on Holiday with Kids – 52% of Brits want Child-free Flights

Going on Holiday with Kids – 52% of Brits want Child-free Flights

Flying with kids make many parents nervous as it can be quite difficult to keep little ones entertained and happy in the confined space of an airplane where they can’t move freely. Some kids get upset too due to pain in their ears, nausea or because they’re scared.

The concern of many is disturbing other passengers and what they’ll think of you. Personally, I’m not that bothered if others find it disturbing if my kids cry if they’re genuinely upset. I will comfort them and any good human being will understand — especially other parents, whatever age they are now. I’ve never had a bad experience travelling with my children but they have been quite well-behaved so far — touch wood! As long as the parents do what they can to keep their kids happy and calm, I don’t find other children disturbing.

Interestingly, a new poll of 2,000 Brits has revealed that more than half of us, 52%, would opt for child-free flights if possible. The survey, carried out by HolidayHypermarket.co.uk, has found that people are more disgruntled at having to travel with children on flights than you might have thought. Nearly 30% of the surveyed stated noisy children and crying babies as the number one annoyance you could experience on a plane.

I once had a steward spill a full cup of tea on my lap when pregnant and with my toddler next to me — for me, that’s more annoying but I can understand that noisy children can be annoying. I get more annoyed with the parents though as they’re the ones that need to keep their kids entertained and at a suitable noise level for a public place.

People get annoyed with other things too, of course, and other things that ranked highly were people taking up personal space (23%) and drunk passengers (21%). Over half of travellers surveyed would pay extra for a more spacious seat over other luxuries and I definitely would too if travelling on my own. When travelling all four of us, we have a row to ourselves which is plenty of space. People also say that they would happily pay extra for better in-flight food and drinks.

Holiday Hypermarket representative Ian Crawford says

“It’s not just children that annoy others on planes and that’s clear from the findings of our survey. It’s a tough call, many travellers have every sympathy with parents of noisy children and I’m sure there are plenty of people who’d like to see family-only flights introduced as well. There have been talks of child-free flights for a while now and with some airlines introducing child-free zones, it’s good to see some compromise.”

“There are so many perks you can now pay a premium for when it comes to travel, I’d be surprised if airlines don’t jump at the chance to cash in on adults-only flights as well.”

Do you think child-free flights are a good idea? Is that something you would choose if travelling without kids?

This is a collaborative post.