A budget airline has imposed a new policy banning children below 12-years-old on certain sections inside the plane. IndiGo, which operates in India, launched the "Quiet Zones" for its flights. These child-free zones are meant to encourage business travelers to take trips without having to stress about crying and fussy kids sitting beside or behind them.
The Quiet Zones at IndiGo's child-free flights are from the first to fourth rows. In addition, the airline company also designates its row 11 to 14 as child-free sections on the plane.
"These zones have been created for business travelers who prefer to use the quiet time to do their work," the company said in its statement, according to The Telegraph. Rows 12 and 13 have emergency exits, where children aren't supposed to sit as well.
Conde Nast Traveler reports that IndiGo's child-free flights policy has drawn mixed reactions from the public. Some have called out IndiGo for the discrimination against children but there are also other flyers who support the idea of separating "kicking and screaming brats" from other passengers.
Flyers on plane with families with little kids know too well what this situation is like, especially during long flights. It is mostly the frequent flyers who have commended the child-free flight policy. "People smile at babies everywhere, except on planes," JetBlue's Elizabeth Windram told Independent.
IndiGo CEO Campbell Wilson, however, points out that the company has no intention to discriminate families with kids. "You still have the rest of the aircraft," Wilson said in the same Independent report.
Such a policy is not new to the airline industry in Asian countries as AirAsia and Malaysia Airlines also have its child-free flight sections. However, Western carriers have yet to uphold the same practice. Last summer, JetBlue in America awarded a select set of passengers free plane tickets because their flight from New York to California had five crying babies.
