The controversy continues: Should airlines offer child-free flights?

Child-free spaces are a controversial topic, but more people are warming up to them than you might think.

In February, an Italian restaurant in New Jersey sparked conversation after introducing a new policy, banning children under 10 from dining in. “We love kids. We really, truly do. But lately, it’s been extremely challenging to accommodate children at Nettie’s,” the restaurant wrote on its Facebook page.

A week later, another restaurant, a Chick-fil-A location in Pennsylvania, received attention for introducing a similar policy.

In March, Daily Hive conducted a poll to see how our readers felt about these policies, and the results may be surprising.

Just over 76% thought the policies were “great” and wanted to see other establishments adopt them. Nearly 16% thought child-free dining was not great, but a fair ask on the restaurant’s part. However, almost 8% believed it was “unfair and discriminatory” to exclude children from the experience.

Curious about these results, Daily Hive held another poll in May to gauge how our readers feel about child-free air travel.

“Should Canadian airlines offer child-free flight options?” we asked. The poll received 784 responses.

A minority of responders (16.2%) disagreed and said children should be allowed on all flights.

Over 25% preferred the concept of child-free seating zones over a fully adult-only flight, and a non-Canadian airline is putting something like that into practice soon.

Last month, Turkish-Dutch Corendon Airlines said that starting November 3, it will begin testing an “adult-only zone” on its flights between Amsterdam and Curaçao.

The airline said this zone is meant for passengers without children and business travellers who want to “work in a quiet environment.”

But that arrangement might not satisfy everyone in the no-kid air travel camp.

Nearly 60% of people who responded to our poll were thrilled about not having children on the craft in any zone.

Around 44% of those in agreement said they would pay a premium to be put on a flight without children, but 56% thought airlines should provide child-free flights without an additional charge.

What are your thoughts?

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