Friday, February 15, 2013

Freebie Friday: Would You Pay Extra To Sit In A Kid-Free Zone on the Plane?

That's the question raised by the debut last week of Air AsiaX (the long-haul arm of Air Asia) new "Quiet Zone". The first 7 rows of its economy class are strictly for those over the age of 12. For some reason, that translates to "quiet" in the minds of airline execs and some passengers. (Ha! Wait until a drunken passenger or a chatty Kathy books one of those seats. But I digress...).

For the privilege of sitting in the youngster-free area, passengers pay an additional $11 to $35 (the variance has to do with the amount of leg room offered.)

Now, I can see how booking the first three or four rows of this section might make sense to particularly sensitive travelers. But in the seventh row? Well, you're just as likely to have a kid kicking the back of your chair as you are in the cheap seats.

It'll be interesting to see if this experiment works out for the airline.
Posted by at

2 comments:

  1. UnknownFebruary 15, 2013 at 10:25 AM

    To be honest, I can't recall a real problem with kids kicking me from behind; when it's happened the parents either put an end to it themselves, or on my request.

    The bigger issue is the people in front of you, of any age, who abruptly drop the seat as far back as it can go (and it makes no sense that it can go that far), turning your tray table into an acute angle that will support neither beverage nor laptop.

    I think I'd pay a few bucks extra for a guarantee that the seat in front could only go back one notch. Fortunately, few have refused when I've asked them to please have mercy on me!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousFebruary 15, 2013 at 3:13 PM

    Hi Pauline,

    If this policy by Air Asia X makes money,I hope they send a commission check to our friend Garry RF LOL. (or a free flight in that " Quiet Zone" section) He posted this two years ago Travel Rob

    Would you Pay $20 extra to sit in a Child-Free Zone?

    posted at 3/3/2011 6:40 AM EST

    GarryRF
    Posts: 2340
    First: 9/23/2006
    Last: 2/10/2013
    Now that Travel Companies are looking for more ways to part us from our Cash - would you be happy to pay $20 to sit in a "Child-Free" or maybe a "Quiet Zone" ?

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)