Pick seats away from babies on Japan Airlines

I can tell you from personal experience, nothing ruins a flight quite like a baby screaming for hours on end. Any way to keep away from babies would be very welcome.

Happily, the good people at Japan Airlines have come up with a really simple solution to this problem. No, the babies are not being relegated to the cargo hold or wing, so don’t worry!

Keep Away From Babies

Almost everyone who takes a flight is familiar with the seat map. You can usually choose where you want to sit, and symbols denote which seats are available and which aren’t.

Japan Airlines have gone one step further and added babies to the mix. A smiling baby icon lets you know someone has a baby and therefore which seats to avoid sitting near. Simple!

Potential For Profit?

Letting people know where the babies are could also help add to the bottom line on those airlines that charge for seats. I would happily pay a little extra for seats farthest away from the munchkins.

With the potential for wailing being pretty high, perhaps certain cabins should be baby free zones. Many flights have two sections of economy, so one could be kept free for those who don’t appreciate screaming for long periods of time.

Overall Thoughts

Japan Airlines are right to give other passengers a chance to keep away from babies. I know I would appreciate knowing where they were.

Prior to my experience of the flight with the non-stop screaming, I wouldn’t have said it was a big issue. On most flights the babies are mainly well behaved aka quiet. However, nothing quite pierces the eardrums like a constant screamer and having experienced it, I’d have paid to parachute off the flight.

What do you think of Japan Airlines decision to show where babies are located? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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With thanks to BBC News.
Featured image by Paul Hanaoka via Unsplash.
Second seat map via dequinix on Twitter.